My Refuge and My Fortress

“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.” (Psalms 91:1-6 ESV)

So, what does it mean to “dwell in the shelter of the Most High”? Well, if we read through the entire chapter (all 16 verses) we get a much clearer picture of what this means. For one, the Lord is our refuge and our fortress. He is the one in whom we place our sincere trust. We have made him our dwelling place, the place where we live and exist spiritually and morally and mentally, and in our thinking and behaviors and speech. And so we hold fast to him, in love, and to love God is to obey him, to do what he says we are to do.

For all of this is describing someone who is of genuine faith in Jesus Christ, whose life is surrendered to the Lord, who honors him as Lord, and who believes him and his word, and who takes the word of the Lord to heart to obey it. This person’s life is the Lord and his word and obeying the Lord, in practice, in being who he wants us to be and to do and to say. We live for the Lord and not for the flesh, and in holiness and righteousness, and not in sin, in being and doing what he wants us to be and to do.

We are under the shelter of the Almighty. For the Lord is our refuge and our strength and we depend on him and on his strength and wisdom to guide us and to direct us in our day to day living. And he abides in us, and us in him, and his word abides in us as we put the word of the Lord into daily practice, by the grace of God. And so we walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit, and no longer according to the flesh. And righteousness and obedience to our Lord are now our practice, and not sinful pleasures.

And 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 who teach us that 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. 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 he doesn’t promise us that we will never have to suffer or that nothing bad will ever happen to us. In fact, he promises us the opposite of that.

 

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

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. 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. And 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 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. For 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, and then expect the Lord to be your refuge and your strength when things get tough, which they will.

And, to “hold fast” to Christ 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!

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296