Psalms 91 - Intro to the Psalms / Psalm 91
Calling an Audible for the Summer
Welcome to our summer teaching series. One of the things we try to do every summer is call an audible, if you will, and change things up. Instead of just picking a long book and cruising through it, we decided to take the book of Psalms and walk through several Psalms throughout the summer. Our chief goal is to help us learn and see God in a fresh and new way.
For most people, the concept of who God is becomes almost a deist notion—that God was involved at one point, but isn’t really present in everyday life. Yet what you are going to find from the pages of the Psalms is that these psalmists understood not the distance of God, but the nearness of God. Because they understood the reality of who God is in His bigness, in His character, in His faithfulness, and in His love for us, all of the circumstances we experience in life are redefined by Him. They are reshaped and recolored by Him. He adds a new dimension to whatever circumstances we might be facing.
I want to start our series with a look at Psalm 91. If you have your Bibles, turn there. We are going to walk through this short Psalm that is packed full of incredible insight into who God is in the midst of difficulty.
Many of the Psalms—in fact, the vast majority—were written by David, while others were written by various authors. Psalm 91, however, is an anonymous Psalm. We are not sure exactly who wrote it. Some argue that Moses is the author, considering Psalm 90 was written by him. Some suggest David. But who wrote it really does not matter. The gold in this Psalm is what it shows us about God.
This Psalm is divided into three primary sections: verses 1 and 2 are the author’s confession of who God is; verses 3 through 13 are an admonition to the readers; and verses 14 through 16 are a pledge from God Himself to His readers about who He will be, even in the midst of difficulty.
The Shelter of the Most High
Look at verse 1 for a moment. It says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” Notice the parallel language used there—it is beautiful. The idea is that he who dwells or abides in the shelter or the shadow of the Most High, the Almighty, finds true rest. The psalmist begins this journey of understanding his circumstances by first understanding the Author of it all. He sees God as the one who is sovereign over everything, and that perspective puts all his circumstances in their proper place.
If you remember in the Gospels, Jesus tells His disciples that if you have faith, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here and be tossed into the sea.” What is fascinating to me about that passage is that the focal point is not actually the mountain. The focal point is that God is big enough and able to do incredible things far beyond what you would think is normal or even possible. As one author put it: instead of talking to God about our mountains as if the mountains are the focal point, what if we shifted gears and talked to our mountains about God, letting God be the focal point?
That is exactly what this author does. Look at verse 2:
Psalms 91:1-2 (NASB)
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!’
He says, “I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’” This imagery is something we often miss in our modern context because most people have not seen ancient refuges or fortresses, and we do not naturally think of God as our shelter. But look at what it says: He is a refuge—a place of escape. He is a fortress—a place of security. He is my God, and therefore in Him I trust.
Do you remember the story in the Gospels where Peter walks on the water? Jesus calls him out of the boat, and Peter begins walking. But in the midst of walking on the water, Peter sees the wind, begins to doubt, and starts to sink. In that moment, his focus moves from who God is to his circumstances, and catastrophe follows.
A Shield in the Midst of Battle
As the Psalm continues, you hear the psalmist crying out to God, longing for His deliverance and His presence, and finding in these moments an incredible assurance: God is not distant, God is not removed, but God is with me.
Because the psalmist recognizes the intimate presence of God as his shelter, his fortress, and the shadow in which he finds peace, he also recognizes in verses 3 and 4 that God is the one who will deliver him from the snare of the fowler. He will cover him with His feathers, and under His wings he will find refuge. Because of God’s faithfulness, He becomes a shield and a defensive wall.
Then he moves into verse 7, declaring that a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, no evil will conquer you, nor will any plague come near your tent. Because the presence of God is with you, He provides deliverance from the evil around you.
Psalms 91:3-13 (NASB)
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, [But] it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made the LORD, my refuge, [Even] the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent. For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
God will give His angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will bear 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, and you will trample them down. The overarching truth here is that God is bigger than any of our circumstances, bigger than any of our difficulties, and He promises to be present with us.
As followers of Christ, we often talk about God working all things together for the good of those who love Him. Sometimes we mistakenly assume that means an absence of difficulty. But in this world, trials and tribulations are inevitable. The presence of God reshapes those trials and cuts them down to size. That is what this Psalm is showing us.
God’s Personal Pledge
Finally, the Psalm concludes in verses 14 through 16 with God’s personal pledge. God Himself speaks:
Psalms 91:14-16 (NASB)
’Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him [securely] on high, because he has known My name. ’He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. ‘With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.’
God says, “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble.”
There is the key. When difficulty comes, where is God? Have you ever asked that question? The psalmists did. When trials strike, where is God? Have you ever thought that? The psalmists did. In the process of wrestling through everything happening around them, they anchored themselves to the truth that redefines every circumstance.
That is the truth you speak to your mountains, your trials, your difficulties, your test results, your struggles at work, and your heartbreak at home: regardless of all these things, God is still with me. Because He is with me, I can rest in Him, trust in Him, and find my peace in Him. And He finishes with the promise, “With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.”
Sometimes we assume life with God ought to always be smooth sailing. I am not sure people who think that have ever actually read the Bible! When you read Scripture, you see that a life of faith is often marked by deep difficulty. However, knowing who God is puts every single trial into its proper perspective.
What to Expect This Summer
So, what can you expect as we walk through the Psalms together this summer?
First, it is going to raise your sights to see God in a fresh way. You are going to learn deeply about His character, His faithfulness, and His love. In doing so, it will redefine the mountains in your life. Your circumstances may not immediately change, and the hardships in your life may not instantly disappear, but the reality of God’s presence—the fact that He is with you—will reshape them and put them in perspective.
Second, you are going to hear different voices communicating the Word of God. We are reaching deep into the bullpen here at The Well. You are going to hear incredible communicators who are being trained and developed right here in our body, men and women who are ministering not just to you, but to your kids as well.
Finally, this series will give us a fresh vision of what it means to be the people of God together. As we gather, we want to focus our hearts on the Lord in a new way, praying that across different Psalms and different voices, we will continually land on this one unshakable truth: regardless of what is happening around us, He is with us.
Where Are You, God?
“God, where are You?” It’s a common question in our quest for answers, like: Why did my little brother get shot? Why is the diagnosis cancer? Why has this financial crisis got me feeling broke and lifeless? If You’re so good and righteous, why am I struggling to feed my kids? Explain to me why my brother got killed by that IED after You led him off to battle. Why did You take my mother from my father’s life and leave him sleepless ever since?
God, oh God, where are You?
Then thunder from the clouds resumes, And a voice up from the heavens booms: “I AM that I AM, and I am working, Even though your eyes cannot behold the gold that I am refining Through the fire of trials and tribulations. He who planned all things before the foundations of the earth, Sculpting one man from the dirt through whom all nations have been birthed— I am He.
He who brought you out of Egypt. Even in your rumblings and complainings, I chose not to evict you back into captivity. Despite your proclivity to wander the wilderness of your own selfish hearts, I could have said, ‘Depart from Me.’ Instead, I gave you a way on the day you nailed My Son to a tree. I still recall how you all screamed, ‘Crucify Him!’ As if My provision wasn’t good enough.
But oh, how it is good enough. Let Me assure you that every knee will bow. What say you now?“
Forgive me, God. Forgive me for forgetting that You are forever God, unchanging. The same God who came to deliver His people, To condemn empty practices and the idolization of steeples. He who came to disrupt the biological makeup of cancer, He who raises the dead, Who gave us our bread in the form of flesh and blood— His flesh and blood, His death of love.
Christ is enough. I will find shelter in the shadow of His wings. In fact, it is there that I will diminish for the increase of His glory, Because contrary to tall-tale textbooks, this is His story. And I am His, And He is with me.