The Shadow Of The Almighty

52 soldiers from the small town of Seadrift, TX went off to fight WW II. The photos of these soldiers were placed inside a church there in the small town. During the war, 15-20 mothers gathered around those pictures of these 52 soldiers during their time away. They prayed Psalm 91 as they knelt together asking God to bring their sons home. God heard the prayers of these mothers and all 52 sons came home from all over the globe. One of the survivors said this, “We knew God was going to take care of us. Our mothers were praying for us, and everybody here at the church was praying.” Another of the soldiers said this, “Well, we knew that we were in the hands of God.”

2020 has been a roller-coaster year for most of us. How poised are you when anxiety? People cope with worrying in a number of ways — some drink to dismiss it while others shop for a distraction.

Psalm 91 can steady you when anxiety crashes down on you. If Psalm 91 isn’t already special to you, then my hope is for you is that it’s about to be. Psalm 91 has been connected to soldiers and policemen for the past century or more.

I don’t think Psalm 91 is rabbit’s foot that can guarantee your loved ones safety in this world. But I do think Psalm 91 offers you a great deal of peace in a world where peace is missing. Because it’s a rich storehouse of protection when evil hot’s breath is breathing down your neck.

To understand the richness of this psalm, you need to go back to the middle part of last century.

On January 8, 1956, Jim Elliott and 4 of his closest friends were speared to death on a sandbar in a remote area of Ecuador. The five men were trying to reach a violent tribe of Indians in the remote rainforest for the first time in history with the gospel of Jesus Christ. All five were young men, ranging in ages of 27-32 years of age. When Elisabeth Elliott, Jim’s wife wrote a book to tell their story some years later, she choose the words of Psalm 91. She entitled her book Shadow of the Almighty pulling the very words from the first verse of Psalm 91. Why would anyone choose to describe the tragic murder of her husband and his 4 good friends with the very psalm that promises to protect such people?

Hold onto that question because it’s right here that we need to be careful with the words of this psalm – really careful. We need to be vigilant here for there is a superficial way of reading these TREMENDOUS words of comfort and protection. Psalm 91 has the unusual distinction of being the only passage of Scripture we know Satan has quoted. Yes, Satan superficially quotes Psalm 91 to derail Jesus from His mission. Yes, Satan quotes Scripture to Jesus and of all the passages he had to choose from, the evil one picked Psalm 91.

Don’t allow Satan’s superficiality to rob you of the comfort of this psalm.

Psalm 91 teaches us that no matter what happens to the genuine child of God… … no matter how dark the hour may be, we can say with confidence, “I will not fear.”

1. Rely on God for Your Shelter

When you feel the hot breath of evil on you, turn to the God as your shelter: “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’ (Psalm 91:1-2).

Psalm 91 is written by one who knows for CERTAIN God both guides and guards through the evils of life.

1.1 God’s Four Names & Metaphors

Look carefully for the first four verses have four names for Almighty God. God is first called “the Most High.” When you refer to God as your “Most High,” it cuts every threat down to its proper size, doesn’t it? Secondly, He’s called “the Almighty.” Then in the beginning of verse 2, God is referred to as “the Lord” and behind that is the Hebrew name Yahweh. Lastly, He refers to God as “my God.” “Most High,” “the Almighty,” “the Lord,” and “my God.”

I love the fact that he piles all four names up in the space of no more than two verses. The piling up these names speaks of how important God is and protective God is.

1.2 Four Metaphors

Notice there’s also four metaphors here as well. God is our “shelter” and “shadow” (in verse 1) and He’s our “refuge” and “fortress” (in verse 2). There is image after image after image that says, “God will protect you.”