“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.””Psalm 91:1-2 ESV
Reflection: how can God protect us in this world?
Psalm 91 is so well known to many, even a favorite psalm to some, used and quoted frequently in the context of the spiritual battle we are in. And that is because it is effective. And how do we know that? Even the devil uses it, and quotes from it. If you remember, when Jesus was tempted in the desert, the devil quoted from psalm 91, “Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”” Matthew 4:5-6 ESV. It does say that, right? So, how are we to think about this? I mean, it seems like devil quoted the psalm correctly, so what was wrong with that?
Now, most of us probably remember Jesus response to the devil, but let’s read it. “Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”” Matthew 4:7 ESV. Jesus quotes another scripture, which at first glance seems like one putting one scripture up against another. But, the truth is that the devil set up a false condition for the promise of God’s protection. He said to Jesus to throw himself down from the top of the temple, to test God’s promise. So, Jesus reminds the devil, and all of us, of the proper context and understanding of God’s promises, by quoting from Deuteronomy, which is the central teaching about “entering and living in the promised land”, starting with ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.””Deuteronomy 6:4-7 ESV.
And then we read a bit later, “It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.” Deuteronomy 6:13-19 ESV
We can get so easily confused, mislead or tricked by the devil, taking things out of context and therefore “testing God”. As from the beginning, the fall, where the devil tricked Eve, causing her to doubt God. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?””Genesis 3:1 ESV. And it touches the very fundamental sin, of man (and the devil) thinking they can be like God. “But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””Genesis 3:4-5 ESV. But the Lord says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8 ESV
So, how can we then have the promises of psalm 91, of God’s protection? In the beginning of psalm 90, Moses wrote something very interesting. “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Psalm 90:1 ESV. Comparing that to the focus verse today, “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.””Psalm 91:1-2 ESV. It is almost as if God Himself is the building, the actual fortress of which Moses was referring to as a “dwelling place”. And it is this “building”, this house of the Lord, that we put our trust. And this is when the psalmist declares
“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.”Psalm 91:9-10 ESV
Our focus is to make the Lord our dwelling place, to follow His commandments, to trust in Him alone. Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean we will never have problems in this fallen world. But we can live in this trust relationship with our God, even in our weakness. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”Romans 8:26-28 ESV
So, even when we are attacked, when things might look down in this world, we can look up knowing that God will work even those situations for good. So today, let’s just focus on dwelling with God, fully trusting in His protection and provision for all our needs, It is in this place the Lord God will sing over us. ‘“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.”’ Psalm 91:14-16 ESV