August 18, 2024

The Shelter and Shadow of the Almighty - Ps 91

Pastor: Allen Snapp Series: Summer in the Psalms - 2024 Topic: Sovereignty Passage: Psalm 91:1–16

Summer in the Psalms ‘24

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

August 18, 2024

 

The Shelter and Shadow of the Almighty - Ps 91

Please turn with me to Psalm 91.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.

Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— 10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. 15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Psalm 91:1-16 (ESV)

This is a psalm that gives us assurance of God’s assurance when we face fear. Fear can have different levels of intensity from butterflies in the stomach to utter terror. Maybe at some point in time you have felt terror. We’ve all felt fear at some level.

Psalm 91 describes both man-made and natural disasters: Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler (man-made) And from the perilous pestilence (natural disaster). It speaks of the terror that comes by night and the pestilence that walks in darkness. Have you ever noticed that fears get larger at night? Fears get bigger at night. We fear that thing that walks in the darkness. Some people experience night terrors, it’s a thing. Some of the things we fear never actually happen but this is talking about real danger and real threats. Terror by night, arrows by day. Something bad stalking us in the darkness, destruction confronting us in broad daylight.

One of the reasons I chose this psalm is because I find myself wondering if this world and specifically this nation might be headed for a shaking. I don’t know what that might look like and I’m not making any predictions but it seems like we may be headed for a shaking and we want to be prepared. If our world got turned upside down tomorrow, I want your faith to stay strong and deep. There is a shallow, American-style gospel that is all about feeling good and living our best life now. Those who are fed a constant diet of that will be in danger of falling away when heat comes, just as Jesus said in the parable of the four soils. One seed sprung up when things were good but fell away when times got tough.

We want our faith to endure even when things are tough. Even when arrows fly by day and pestilence walks in darkness. The gospel is a rock we can build our lives on that can keep our homes standing when the rains and floods and winds come.

Those who trust in God are sheltered and shaded (vv. 1-2)

Notice the psalmist calls God by four different names: the Most High, the Almighty, Yahweh, and God. These four names speak of God’s power and sovereignty. God is God and beside Him there is no other. We need to see God as far greater and more powerful than anything and everything else otherwise when fears attack us God will look small and fear will look big.

God is sovereign over all things. He rules over the nations and over history. Psalm 2 says when the nations join forces to oppose God, He laughs at them. God is not a passive spectator of history, history is in His hand. Man does evil but God turns that evil into good for His people just as He did for Joseph. The evil isn’t good, but God is able to take the evil men do and turn it for good purposes in the lives of His people. Acts 2 says that evil men crucified Jesus but God foreordained the cross to be the way He saves us by His grace. What man means for evil God means for good.

The Most High, Almighty, I AM THAT I AM, God is our shelter and we live under the shadow of His protective wings. God’s truth (translated faithfulness here) is our shield and buckler. A buckler was a small, lighter shield that could be used for close hand to hand combat. God protects us even when the attack hits close to home. Even when it gets very personal, in Christ we have a buckler to fend off the fiery darts and night terror.

When we live in His shelter and under His shadow we are safe. We are safe from pestilence. We are safe from arrows. A thousand may fall at our side, ten thousand at our right hand but we are safe, that evil will not come near us. That’s the promise of this psalm, but this gets a little tricky because experientially we know that sometimes the arrows hit. Sometimes the pestilence infects and takes a believer’s life. How do we square what seems to be round?

The Bible gives us a two leveled answer to this question. The first level truth is that this, like so many proverbs, is speaking of principles not laws so far as it concerns physical fulfillment of these promises it. We see many examples in scripture where God miraculously delivered some and allowed others who loved Him to be struck down. James was run through with a sword. Peter was miraculously delivered from that same fate. I know believers who died during the pestilence of COVID, others weren’t touched.

It's not a matter of God loving some more than others. In fact, Hebrews 11 describes how some by faith were delivered miraculously and others - with the same faith - were tortured, were sawn in two, were imprisoned. It says the world wasn’t worthy of them and they will gain a better resurrection.

Every Christian can confidently say with the Apostle Paul, the Lord will deliver me safely into His kingdom. For Paul safely involved being beheaded.

Because the second level truth is that God is protecting us and nothing can do real harm to us, particularly to our souls. Jesus said don’t fear those who can only kill you. It’s what comes after that matters and God has through Christ made us safe. Safe for eternity. Short suffering turns into everlasting life and joy!

I know God’s got good in store for me. I’ve believed that in all the seasons of my life. Even when I’m crying out for change because life is hard, there is a buoyancy in my soul cause I know God has good in store for me. My Father is a good good Father! But if arrows fly and one of them hits me, or a pestilence stalks me in the middle of the night - even if I die, I know that all this is still true. I am safe in my Father’s protective care.

Verse 11-12 are familiar to us because the devil used part of this to try and tempt Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

Jesus taught us that we aren’t to put God to the test by putting ourselves in harms way to see if God comes through. We should live wisely and carefully. Not risk-free (as if there is such a thing), but thoughtful, faith-filled risk, not reckless risk.

Interesting note though, it teaches us that there are angels watching over our lives. We are oblivious to their presence (and I’m a bit skeptical of people who say they see angels all the time), but the Bible teaches us that we are surrounded by angels. Elisha prayed that his servant would see all the angels protecting them from the soldiers of Ahab.

Jesus said that the angels of children always see the Father’s face. When a child is mistreated or abused or led away from God, I believe there is a special wrath of God that faces the person who does that. I shudder when I consider what awaits people who try to influence young people down bad paths or away from God.

In my studies I came across an interesting application of verse 13 which reads:

13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

Apparently in the Word of Faith camp this is a central verse because they interpret it to mean they have authority to walk over anything that tries to harm them. One Word of Faith teacher said when we realize our true authority we’ll stop praying and just start decreeing. They interpret it to mean they command wealth to come to them and health to come to them and tread on anything that tries to stand in their way. Their teaching is very materialistic and self-centered rather than Christ-centered.

I think just as verses 11-12 have a Christological application (in other words they speak of Christ) so does verse 13. All authority has been given unto him and we live under his authority. In Christ things that confront us openly (lions) and things that covertly try to destroy us cannot succeed because Christ is our protector. We live in the shelter and under the shadow of Jesus’ authority, not our own.

This psalms speaks from the perspective of three voices. The first two verses speak from personal experience: I will say to the Lord you are my shelter. The middle portion is speaking from the second person perspective: you will be safe. Nothing will touch you.

In the last 3 verses it’s as if God says to the psalmist, move over, I’ve got something to say and speaks in 1st person from God to us.

14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. 15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.

God is a big God. He is the Most High, the Almighty, Yahweh, God. But He is a God who feels tender love and protective care over those who come to Him. Who hold fast to Him. He doesn’t always deliver us from the trial, sometimes He delivers us through the trial. You have never prayed a heartfelt prayer that God didn’t hear. When he calls to me, I will answer him. You have never gone through a time of trouble that God wasn’t there with you in it and in His time rescue you from it.

16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Long life isn’t satisfying without the Lord. We were created to know and be in a loving relationship with our Creator and when we walk through life without Him, there is always a missing piece in our heart. A long life won’t be satisfying without the Lord. Jesus came to save us. To the uttermost. Believers we should hold to that and never doubt it.

Those who haven’t believed, ask Jesus to show himself to you. Has to be humble and sincere. God doesn’t honor or give grace to the proud. But if you sincerely say, Lord, if you are real, if you are the Savior, show me your salvation.

There is salvation in only one name: Jesus. Let’s pray.