Security of the One Who Trusts in the Lord

Psalm 91 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Security of the One Who Trusts in the Lord.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
³ For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

⁵ You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
⁶ Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
⁸ You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
⁹ For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
¹⁰ No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.

¹¹ For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
¹² They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

¹⁴ “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
¹⁵ “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶ “With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.”

Yesterday we looked at the timeliness and relevance of Jesus warning about the things that will happen in the last days before He returns. We saw that things will continue to get worse. There will be more conflict, more division, uprisings and war. There will be more natural disasters, plagues and famine. In light of that, today’s text, Psalm 91, titled: Security of the One Who Trusts in the Lord, is also timely and relevant.  The psalmist says:  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  1 John 5-10 says:  God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.  God’s shadow is not like the dark shadows of evil. If we dwell with God, if we abide in His shadow, we will be walking in light and we will be cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus.  We cannot dwell with God and walk in the darkness of the world. If we dwell with God, His word must also dwell in us.

The psalmist says:  I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence.  In Psalm 23:4 the psalmist says:  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  Even death is nothing to be feared if we dwell with God.  Even death has no lasting power over us. God will deliver us either in this life, or into eternal life.  The psalmist says:  He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you.  Fear is prevalent in our society today and those who seek to control us use fear as their primary tool. Fear though, is the opposite of faith. It is trusting and believing more in the things we don’t want, than in the things we do want. Here is the thing, even if our faith is shaken by the things around us, it is God’s faithfulness that really matters. If we will dwell with and abide in Him, nothing evil can approach us.  Romans 8:31-39 says:  If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The psalmist says:  You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made the Lord, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent. For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.  They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.  You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.  Not only will God protect us and watch over us, He will give His angels, His heavenly army to guard us. We will not only be secure and protected, but we will be victorious, overwhelming conquerors through Him.

Finally, God Himself speaks through the psalmist saying:  “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.”  In His warning of the times we face, Jesus said:  “The one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved.”  In truth though, we are not just to shelter in our refuge, hiding from the world. In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus says:  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”   Amen. Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. Amen.