The theme statement that my Bible gives for this psalm, right there under the title, is ‘security of the one who trusts in the Lord’.
I propose to you this morning, that the entire script of the Bible, whether specifically or by implication, addresses the security of the one who trusts in the Lord.
Throughout the Old Testament, from the moment God made garments for the man and the woman in the garden (Gen 4:21), to Malachi’s closing remarks:
“But for you who fear My name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in it’s wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. And you will tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
...from beginning to end, we hear God’s promises of security for the believer, and we see examples of the consequences, of both belief and unbelief.
Through the Gospels Jesus is preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God. He is shouting, “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel!” “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink!” “If anyone believes in Me, he will never die!” “I am the Bread of Life!” “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest!”
And the letters of Paul and Peter and James and John and Jude center on the way to be right with God and appropriate to one’s self, security through trust in the Lord.
There are some chapters, in various books, that turn the focus knob and sharpen the picture, and zoom in on this message of security in Him, and Psalm 91 is one of those chapters.
What we generally see in the Psalms, is the result of some historical figure, whether it be David, or Solomon, or some unnamed troubadour, waxing poetic about a time of great trial in his life, and how the Lord saved him through it.
Now, since most of us will never know what it is to have a hunter trying to catch our feet in a snare, or have arrows flying at us in the daytime, or be in a battle, seeing thousands fall dead all around us, in order to profit from the truths stated in this Psalm, we have to see past the surface; past the possible historical application, and ask, “What does the eternal Holy Spirit of God want to relate to me through this song He has provided and preserved and drawn me to?”
For the sake of clarity, I’ve broken it down to these points:
Our PROCLAMATION, His PROTECTION, and His PROMISE
OUR PROCLAMATION
I’ll go briefly to another Psalm and borrow an exhortation from there, that goes hand-in-hand with the opening verses of Psalm 91
Psalm 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary”.
The first application we see from Psalm 91 then, is that the Psalm is giving us a description of the justified. The redeemed. Those, purchased back to God. Those declared right with God, through faith in the shed blood of Christ and His resurrection.
Now of course, the name of Jesus is not mentioned in the Psalm; nor is His death or resurrection. But we know from Biblical doctrine that the one who believes in the promise of a Redeemer ~ the one who believes that God is able to raise men even from the dead, and call into being that which does not exist, is the one who is reckoned right with God.
So Psalm 107 is referring to the one who has saving faith in God, when it says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so”, and Psalm 91 verse 2 is also addressing the redeemed; the justified; when it says, “I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”
That is our proclamation, believers, and if you can proclaim from the heart that the Lord is your refuge and your fortress, and the One in whom you trust, then you are speaking as one of the Redeemed.
On the other hand, it must be said before going further, that if you cannot honestly declare to God that you have made Him the object of your trust, then none of this Psalm applies to you at all...unless, that is, you are honest enough to include yourself as one of those referred to in verse 7, as one of the thousands who will fall.
Either you is, or you ain’t. There is no in between ~ there is no fence-straddling in your relationship with God. There is left and right, but no middle. There is hot and cold, but no tepid. There is black and white, but no gray. There is Redeemed, and there is dead in trespasses and sins. There is no ‘night of the living dead’ in the Kingdom of God.
God is a shelter. In His shadow is protection and safety and rest. That is what is implied in the first verse of the Psalm. But we must put ourselves there. How? By simple faith.
This is confirmed to us in this very Psalm; verse 9
“For you have made the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place”.
The children of Israel, enslaved for 400 years to the Pharaohs of Egypt, were given instructions for the night they were to be delivered. After slaying the Passover lamb and sprinkling it’s blood on their doors, they were to go inside, and roast the lamb, and eat of it and the other elements of the meal, and stay there until morning.
That was all they had to do; enter in, and stay, and partake of the lamb.
In Psalm 91:1, the Holy Spirit is repeating to us, the instructions given to those children of Israel so long ago. “Enter in. Dwell in the shelter of the Most High. Stay inside. Abide in the shadow of the Almighty”.
And, resting in His shelter and His protection, proclaim Him to be your refuge and your fortress and the One in whom you trust!
LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO!
Let the redeemed of the Lord say, “...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, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
The Psalmist goes on then to talk about HIS PROTECTION
The protection the Lord gives to the one who puts his trust in Him.
To what degree should we trust in the Lord for protection? What, exactly, should we expect the Lord to protect us from?
The snake handlers of West Virginia take a very interesting approach to the words of Christ in Mark 16:18, when He says that some of the signs following those who believe in Him, will be that they will pick up serpents and not be harmed, and drink poison and not be made sick.
Of course, He is indicating that these things will happen, to be a sign for unbelievers and to protect those doing His work. Common sense tells us that these isolated things will not happen to everyone who believes.
But common sense is not allowed to dictate everyone’s life and religious practice. The snake handlers of West Virginia, are just that. They handle snakes. They dance and chant and work themselves into a trance-like state, and they pick up venomous snakes out of a box and dance with them. This is an expression of their faith.
Once in a while one of them drops dead; and I have to guess that they explain that away by asserting that the poor fellow didn’t have enough faith...and they continue on.
Is that the kind of protection we should trust in the Lord for? Should we roller-blade against traffic on Hwy 550 to Ridgeway (the highway of death), and expect His protection?
Of course not. No sane person would...so why would any sane person presume to put himself in deliberate danger and expect the Lord’s protection?
Satan’s demonic challenge to Jesus, to throw Himself from the temple pinnacle, quoted ~ or should I say, misquoted, this very Psalm.
Satan said, “If you are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, “HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CONCERNING YOU’ and ‘ON THEIR HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE’.”
The Passage he was misquoting, Psalm 91, verse 11, says, “FOR HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CONCERNING YOU, TO GUARD YOU IN ALL YOUR WAYS....” etc
This is the one limitation to the promise of Psalm 91. As long as we are going about our Godly duties, walking in the way of obedience to His will, the angels are given charge to guard us in all our ways. It is when we take ourselves out of that way, out of His care, outside of His will, that we are in danger of falling into the snare of the ‘trapper’, to be affected by the deadly pestilence, to succumb to the night terrors or be stung by the enemy’s fiery darts.
Our enemy would love, people, for us to seek God’s blessing and protection and deliverance and shelter, but leave out obedience and duty and faithfulness and surrender.
He has somehow slithered into the pulpits of many a church in these past decades, and managed to erase from many a message, the line, “to guard you in all your ways”. He has gathered around him, many who stand behind the sacred desk and are willing to preach a gospel of wealth and health and security and earthly happiness, and neglect to echo the words of our Lord in His response to the challenge, “It is written...it is written...it is written...you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”
So. We’re walking in His ways. We’re walking in obedience. Is this then, a guarantee against all the evils of a fallen world falling on us? Again, common sense should say ‘no’.
Illness befalls the dedicated believer, just as it does the blaspheming atheist.
Natural calamity destroys the Christian’s home and family, as quickly and finally as the home of the Satan-worshiper next door.
The burglar breaks into the Godly man’s home and steals his possessions and is never caught.
The drunk driver slams into the church bus and murders Christian children on a mission trip.
The child-molester finds employment in the church day-care
The pastor is diagnosed with cancer.
The faithful deacon grabs his chest and falls to the floor and breathes his last, leaving young children and a lovely wife to start over without him.
So how seriously are we to take this Psalm?
Lord, I have entered in. I dwell in the shelter of the Most High. I abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”
What is this protection You offer me?
*It is this. Deliverance from the snare of the enemy of your soul
“Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades” Rev. 1:18
“Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” Heb 2:14,15
*It is healing from the deadly pestilence of sin that had you dead in your trespasses.
“Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned - ... even so, through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.” Romans 5:12 &18
*It is deliverance from the domain of Satan.
“For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” Col. 1:13
*It is His armor against the arrows that fly by day
“...in addition to all; taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.” Eph 6:16
“...O death, where is thy sting?” I Cor. 15:55
*It is to preserve you while thousands fall at your side. What thousands?
“When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him”. Col 2:15
“And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” Rom 16:20
And the thousands upon thousands who refuse to look to His cross to be saved; who refuse to come to Him to drink; who refuse to enter in and partake of Him and abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will fall all around you. But you will stand. You will stand in the end, and sing the song of the Lord’s redeemed.
When the Lord gave His instructions to the children of Israel, He promised that when they applied the blood to their doors and went inside, He would pass His wing of protection over them so that the destroyer would not come near their door.
He used the word, Pasach, meaning, to pass the wing over, just as a hen would gather her brood to her and cover them with her wing in protection against predators and the elements.
When God incarnate, Jesus Christ our Lord, stood and lamented over the coming fall of Jerusalem, He said,
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!” Lk. 13:34
Well in this Psalm and to you today, He offers again, the shelter of His mighty wing.
Verse 4 goes on to say, “His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark.”
Now a shield protects us from the swinging sword and the mace and the lance. A bulwark is a wall-like defensive structure that surrounds and gives protection on every side, from the arrow and the spear and every onslaught of the enemy.
So the picture we’re given in verse 4 is of the one who trusts in the Lord abiding in the comfort of a spread wing of soft feathers, while the Lord Himself acts as a solid shield and an all-encompassing bulwark against attack.
Under His protection, the one who trusts in the Lord will stand safely and securely and witness the recompense of the wicked. We shall look finally on the enemy and say,
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities, who did not allow his prisoners to go home?” Isa. 14:16,17
We shall sing with the delivered children of Israel:
“In Thy lovingkindness Thou hast led the people whom Thou hast redeemed; In Thy strength Thou hast guided them to Thy holy habitation.”
Exodus 15:13
So we look and make the same application with HIS PROMISE
(Read verses 10-16 to refresh)
As we walk in the way of obedience and faith, His angels are given charge to bear us up against the hardness of the world, and His word is given to guard us against hardness of heart. (vs 11,12)
We will tread upon the lion and cobra, it says in verse 13.
In the garden he took the form of the serpent. In I Peter 5:8 he is likened to a roaring lion, prowling about seeking someone whom he may devour.
But in the victory provided at the cross of Christ, and through His strength alone, we shall tread upon and even trample down, the enemy in his craftiness and in his ferocity.
The head of his power was crushed at Calvary, and his power is broken.
His promise is one of final deliverance. We are presently, in God’s economy, seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Eph. 2:6
We are, now, as believers, as ones who are described by verses 1 and 2, set securely on high. We shall, in the end, see Him face to face. (vs 14)
When we call upon Him, he will answer. And we will know His voice as the sheep knows the voice of the shepherd. (vs 15)
He does not promise freedom from trouble; He promises that He will be with us in it.
He promises rescue through it. He promises honor. (vs 15)
“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:26
And the greatest promise of all...
“With a long life I will satisfy him, and let him see My salvation.” (vs 16)
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you, when you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” Isa. 43:1-3
“...that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the scripture says, WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED”. Rom 10:9-11
Friend, you live in an evil, fallen world. In the world you will have tribulation. Jesus promised that also. But in the same breath He added words that are clothed in the greatest cloak of comfort, by virtue of who it was saying them; “Do not fear”. Do not fear.
For He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
He who says to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust”, Has this eternal promise from the One who covers with His pinions,
“Fear nothing; neither death, no matter how it comes, nor life, no matter what it brings; for I will guard you...I will bear you up...I will deliver you...I will rescue you...I will honor you...I will satisfy you...I will let you see My salvation.”
Who can be against us?
