Friday, January 04,
2013, 7:17 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Jesus, Lead Me” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant
is listening. I read Psalm 91 (NIV
1984):
He who dwells in the
shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the
Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save
you from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with
his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and
rampart.
You will not fear the
terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence
that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at
your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe
with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most
High your dwelling—
even the Lord, who is my refuge—
then no harm will
befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command
his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up
in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone.
You will tread upon
the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the
serpent.
“Because he loves me,”
says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my
name.
He will call upon me,
and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I
satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
He Who Dwells
The
first sentence of this psalm tells us to whom this applies, and who can claim
these promises of God – “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High.” As
always, we must interpret the psalms to our lives today in light of the New
Covenant relationship between God and his people, the saints of God, the true
church, the body of Christ, God’s temple.
So,
what does it mean to “dwell in the shelter of the Most High?” To dwell means to
live or to have as one’s residence or home. Literally the word means “to sit,”
so this could be rendered as one who continually sits and/or rests in the
shelter of God, i.e. in his holy presence, where God abides. Under the New
Covenant, when one receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of his or her life,
the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence in his or her heart, yet there is
more to this than just a simple prayer to receive Christ into one’s heart that
constitutes the true abiding presence of God in one’s life.
Jesus
Christ said that if we love him, we will obey what he commands and his
teachings, and his Father will love us, and they (Father, Son & Holy
Spirit) will come to us and make their home with us (see Jn. 14). Peter and the
other apostles said that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God (see
Acts 5). In Hebrews 5 we learn that Jesus Christ became the source of eternal
salvation for all who obey him. And, in 1 John we read that we know that we
have come to know God if we obey his commands. As well, John said that those
who obey God’s commands live in him, and he in them. And, in Revelation 12
& 14 we read that the dragon went off to make war against those who obey
God’s commandments and who hold to the testimony of Jesus, and that the time of
the judgments of God against those who worship the beast will be a time in
history which will require patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey
God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.
So,
from these verses alone we see a direct connection between obedience on our
part and God’s abiding and indwelling presence in our hearts. As well, Jesus
said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny (die to) himself and
take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and self) and follow him in obedience
and surrender to his will for our lives (see Luke 9:23-25). And, in Ephesians 4
we read that the way in which we come to know Christ is through putting off our
old lives of sin, being made new in the attitude of our minds, and through
putting on the new self, “created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness.” This is the true meaning of faith and belief in Jesus Christ as Lord
(master) and Savior (from slavery to sin) of our lives. And, this kind of faith
is what brings us into true union with God/Jesus Christ to where we dwell with
him and he dwells with us.
Yet,
this is not a one-time experience and then we go to heaven one day. This “sitting”
where God dwells is a continual abiding in his presence day in and day out,
always listening for his voice, being willing to hear what he has to say to us,
desiring God and his presence, plan and purpose in our lives, living to please
him, and obeying what he teaches us. This is not perfection, as none of us will
reach that until we get to heaven, yet lack of perfection is also not to be
used as an excuse for continued and willful sin and rebellion against God and
against his commands, either. We should strive always to please our Lord in
every way. And, daily we should place our hope and trust in him and rest in him
for all things.
This Does not
Mean…
Now
that we understand to whom this applies, and who can claim these promises of
God in our lives, we can look into these remaining verses to learn what blessed
promises we who take shelter in the Most High God are able to receive from God.
And, again, this must be translated in light of the New Testament and the New
Covenant relationship between God and his people. So, first of all I want to
look at what this does not mean.
We
should not take this psalm and interpret it that God will never allow us to go
through difficulties, trials, hardship, persecutions, famine or sword, and/or
that he will deliver us physically out of all difficulties if we will but trust
in him. And, we should never make the assumption that if someone is not
delivered from trials that he or she must not be walking in obedience to God or
that there must be some sin in his or her life.
In
1 Thess. 3 we read that we are destined for trials. In James 1 we learn that we
are to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds, “because you
know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish
its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” So,
trials are for our good! “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial,
because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God
has promised to those who love him” (Jms. 1:12). And, we learn this in 1 Pet.
1: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had
to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of
greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be
proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is
revealed.”
As
well, we read in Matt. 5: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be
glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.” And, in Matt. 24: “Then you will
be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all
nations because of me.” In 2 Tim. 3 we read: “In fact, everyone who wants to
live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and
impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” And, in
Matt. 10 we read: “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm
to the end will be saved.” And, John 15 says: “If the world hates you, keep in
mind that it hated me first.”
With His
Feathers
So,
what does this passage mean? How can we, in light of the teachings of the New
Testament, apply these promises in this psalm to our lives today?
I
believe the first thing we need to look at is the question of who is our true
enemy. Who stands to gain the most at our downfall? Our true enemy, who is
behind all physical and non-physical enemies that wage war against us, is Satan
and the evil forces in the heavenly realms (see Ephesians 6). He is the “fowler”
in our lives who longs to “snare” us in his evil traps. He is the one who
shoots arrows of lies and deception into our minds and who loves nothing more
than to instill fear into our hearts by getting us to doubt God and his many
promises to us. He is the one who tries to convince us that man has power over
us and/or to fear what men might do to us, as though God is not in absolute
control over all things in our lives. He is the one who tries to get us to be
afraid of all the “what ifs” in life, and fearful of difficult circumstances
and their ultimate unsure outcome. In other words, Satan’s greatest goal is to
get us to doubt God, to question his sovereignty over our lives, and to get us
to believe that we somehow have to solve our own problems by helping out God.
So,
what this psalm does promise true followers of Jesus Christ who daily abide in
his presence and who rest in the Lord, is his continued presence with us, his
spiritual protection against the enemy’s darts that come against our minds (see
Eph. 6 and the “Armor of God”), and deliverance from the enemy’s attacks
against us by showing us how to apply the armor of God in these situations. He
promises us his guidance, counsel, love, wisdom, discernment, strength of mind
and spirit, Holy Spirit power, peace, joy, knowledge, and understanding which
all come to us through this continued abiding in his presence, in listening to
what he says, and then in obeying what he teaches us. We will have nothing to
fear of all of these terrible things mentioned in this passage of scripture
because we believe in and trust in God’s sovereign grace and will over our
lives, and we know that nothing can befall us but what God allows it and for a
time and for a purpose, and that he will give us all we need to get through it
and to keep praising and obeying him.
The
true disaster that befalls us, thus, is not pestilence, famine, sword,
persecution, opposition of men, etc. but it is lack of faith and trust in God
when we give way to fear of men and/or of circumstances this life might throw
our way. If Satan can get us to fear and to doubt God, then he has won the
battle for our minds, which is where the real battle is fought and won on many
fronts. So, the true deliverance and protection of Almighty God that we will
experience in our lives, for the most part, I believe, will be encountered on a
spiritual battlefield where Satan is waging war against our minds and hearts. God
has already supplied us with all that we need to win this battle (see Eph. 6),
and he will continue to give us all we need to win what has already been won
for us. We just have to make the Lord our trust, and we have to continually sit
and rest in his holy presence, listening to what he tells us, and then obey
what he shows us.
Jesus, Lead Me / An Original
Work / July 22, 2011
Jesus, lead me
all the way.
Be my hope and
be my stay.
Gently lead me
where I should go,
So Your Spirit,
I want to know.
Open up my
heart to You.
Fill me with
Your love and truth.
Make my heart
want to obey.
Be my Lord
today. Gently lead always.
Jesus, lover of
my soul,
Cleanse my
heart, and make me whole;
Be transformed
in my heart today,
As I turn from
my sin and pray.
Make Your will
known to my heart.
May I not from
You depart.
How I long to
hear You now,
As I humbly
bow. Jesus, hear me now.
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