Psalm 91:1-6 ESV
“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.”
Are you one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High? Do
you live your life with the Lord as your refuge and your strength? Do you hide
yourself in him? Is he your sanctuary? Your security? Your stronghold? Do you
depend upon him for your counsel and for your direction in life?
Do you abide (live) in him, and does his word abide in you?
Do you remain, continue, and stay in him and in his word, to where they are
your sustenance for life? To where you walk (in practice) in his love, his
holiness, and his righteousness? Or do you depend on your own flesh, instead?
If we do abide in him, we are promised the protection of the
Lord. But, what kind of protection? Are we truly promised that nothing bad will
ever happen to us? That we will never have to suffer? That we will never know
pain or sorrow? That no one will ever reject us or hate us or mistreat us?
Not according to Jesus’ words and the words of his New Testament
apostles. According to the teachings of the New Testament, we who hide in the
shelter of the Almighty are promised that we will be hated and persecuted for
righteousness’ sake.
We are promised that we will be treated as Jesus was, and
that we must suffer with Christ if we want to live with him (Matt 10:22; Matt
24:9; Jn. 15:18; 1 Pet. 2:20-21; 1 Pet. 4:1-3; Rom. 8:17; Phil. 1:29; Phil. 3:10-11).
So, what is the protection that our Lord provides? Sometimes
he does protect us from physical harm. And, he is also our great physician and
our healer, and so he may also keep us from getting sick, or he may heal us
when we are sick.
But when we put our hope in the Lord, and when we find our
dependency in him, and we hide in his shelter, he does protect us and deliver
us from the trap of the enemy who hunts us down to try to catch us in his
snare. He will protect us from yielding to the enemy and from fear of harm or
suffering. And, he will give us the strength and the determination that we need
to keep on in our walks of faith, even in the face of great persecution.
Psalm 91:7-10 ESV
“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—
no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come
near your tent.”
The Lord will also protect us from falling prey to the enemy
or from falling into sin. Even if the vast majority of people, or even the bulk
of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ fall prey to the temptations of the
evil one, the Lord will give us the strength to remain steadfast in faith and
in purity.
Psalm 91:11-16 ESV
“For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in
all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike
your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion
and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect
him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with
him in trouble;
I will rescue
him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
Again, the Lord will give us everything we need to defeat
the enemy of our souls and to remain steadfast in faith, and to keep living for
our Lord, doing what his word says, even if everyone all around us gives way to
the enemy and lets him defeat them in battle. But we must hold fast to the
Lord.
We can’t be bouncing back and forth in opinion between the
cheap grace gospel and the full gospel of Jesus Christ, though. We can’t be
being tossed back and forth by every wind of teaching of men in their deceitful
scheming. We can’t remain infantile and immature, always needing something of
this world to pacify us. We must know Christ and then grow up in Christ to
maturity of faith in him.
You can’t be playing with temptation and sin, either. You
can’t continue making excuses for why you never get out of the cycle of your
sinful addictions. You can’t be just drifting along, living for the flesh, doing
what you want to do, and then expect the Lord to be your refuge and your
strength when things get tough, which they will.
We must be those who hold fast to our Lord in love. And, to
love God is to obey his commands. It is to do what he says, not what our flesh
dictates. And, to “hold fast” is to remain firm and steadfast in faith and in
practice, and to not waver in opinion regarding our walks of faith.
Then, the Lord will strengthen us, and he will help us in
times of need, in times of distress, and when everything gets even crazier than
it is now. He will be our comfort and our hope. He will heal our broken hearts.
He will carry us through every difficulty. And, he will bring us safely into
his heavenly kingdom when our work on earth is done. Praise the Lord!
By Thomas O
Chisholm
Be with me, Lord – I
cannot live without THEE,
I dare not try to
take one step alone.
I cannot bear the
loads of life, unaided,
I need THY strength
to lean myself upon.
Be with me Lord, and
then if dangers threaten,
If storms of trial
burst above my head,
If lashing seas leap
ev’rywhere about me,
They cannot harm or
make my heart afraid.
Be with me Lord! No
other gift or blessing
THOU COULDST bestow
could with this one compare –
A constant sense of
THY abiding presence,
Where’er I am, to
feel that THOU ART near.
Be with me, Lord,
when loneliness o’ertakes me,
When I must weep
amid the fires of pain,
And when shall come
the hour of “my departure”
For “worlds
unknown,” O Lord, be with me then.
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