Psalm 91, Rest In The Shadow Of The Almighty
1. Choose To Live In Close Fellowship With God (v1-2)
2. Let God’s Promises Be Your Protective Armor (v3-8)
3. Let God’s Presence Be Your Shelter From Evil (v9-13)
4. God Rewards Those Who Love And Trust Him (v14-16)
Well, Psalm chapter 91 is a Psalm of incredible promises. I was listening to Pastor Chuck teaching the Psalm, and he began teaching the Psalm saying this is one of those passage that when you come to teach it, you know from the start you're going to fail that that you're not going to be able to fully teach the whole passage.
Because there's just.
Too much, there's there's too much depth to be able to fully uncover and and share all of the things that are located within it and Psalm chapter.
91 is definitely one of those psalms. It's full of some incredible promises, some powerful truth, and some things that God wants us to meditate.
On and consider this morning as we look at Psalm Chapter 91. I've titled the message rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
And that's really the exhortation of the psalmist here in this song for us to learn to rest in the shadow or in the presence of God Almighty.
Now the psalmist changes the the voice of the the writing a few times or a couple times as we work our way through.
The first couple of verses, he's really sharing his own experience.
The psalmist is saying, look, here's my experience in the presence of the Lord.
And here's my declaration about.
That and this is so great everybody you should join me and and so he changed his voice and and and directs it at us.
And he says you should experience this.
You should learn to experience rest in the shadow of the Almighty and then the final verses verses 14 through 16 give us God confirmation or affirmation.
Of the things that the psalmist is sharing, and God himself speaks there in those closing verses to solidify these truths and to continue that call to us to dwell.
In the shadow to live in the shadow to rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
And so we're going to hear this exhortation a few times as we work our way through through this Psalm.
Rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
4 points to consider 4 exhortations from the psalmist, starting in verses.
One and two.
Here's point, number one.
Choose to live in close fellowship with God as we talk about resting in the shadow of the Almighty.
This is ultimately what we are talking about.
Choosing to live in close fellowship with God, verse one and two again says those who live.
In the shelter of the most high will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the Lord.
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety.
He is my God.
And I trust him.
To live in close fellowship.
With God the psalmist here is using some pictures and imagery that you may or may not be familiar with.
The idea of the shadow of the Almighty.
It is really a reference and he'll give it a little bit more clearly in a few verses, but it's in reference to this picture here.
A mother hen guarding her chicks guarding her babies and and the the babies.
The chicks are taking shelter under the shadow of their mom's wing.
And this imagery is used many times in the Psalms.
In fact, a few Wednesdays back I shared this same image because we talked about that as the psalmist was talking about being underneath the the shadow of his wings.
And so the idea here of resting in the shadow of the Almighty should conjure up to our mind this kind of picture.
And you could imagine, and I don't know how much experience you have.
You know, with this kind of thing, I've seen the pictures I, you know, I don't have a lot of experience with hens and chicks in real life, but maybe you do.
You know we're nearby Norko, so maybe a lot of you do.
I don't know, but.
But there is this understanding that when when there is any sense.
Of danger.
When there is any fear or trepidation, any that's anything that's unsettling that that reaches the area of the the hen and her chicks that that the baby chicks run to Mama and and the mom lifts out its wings so that she can wrap them around these chicks and.
And provide shelter and protection for them.
Now this is the picture here that's painted, and again we'll see it again.
In verse four he will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings that that there is this picture of protection here and and it's visually given it to us this way so that we can think and understand the kind of relationship that God is seeking to have.
With us and the kind of protection we can have in him.
But as you consider this picture, I would ask you to think about this.
How much shadow does this hen cast like if you just look at this picture, how big is the shadow?
How much area is covered by shadow?
It's not a lot right.
We don't get a lot of shade or we don't see a lot of shade from a little hen comparison to the chicks, the.
Hens quite large right?
But it's not a big shadow.
It's like you have to be right underneath.
You have to be really close in order to be in the shadow.
Of the mother hen and as we think about being in the shadow of the Almighty.
This is.
The idea that we should be picturing and understanding.
This is the things that we should be contemplating the the closeness.
Of the chicks.
To the hen.
Represent and really demonstrate for us the closeness that God desires for us to have with him, and so does this imagery.
Accurately picture your relationship to God.
And I would ask you to think through that this morning as we work our way through this song to kind of hold this picture in your mind and to be thinking through how close are you to God and and does this represent you in your connection to God in your rest, in the protection of God and your fellowship with God?
Is there this kind of closeness?
And then on top of that question, I would ask how often?
How frequently does this picture accurately represent and picture your relationship with God?
You know all illustrations and imagery type like this falls short.
At some point.
It's one of the.
Difficulties if you try to take a parable or you try to take a illustration in the Bible or that someone is giving a metaphor, they all they all begin to break down at some point, right?
This idea of a hen.
Protecting her chicks is really powerful when it's a really clear one, but it begins to break down because.
Apart from the presence of danger, those chicks are wandering about.
And could be a great distance away from their mother hen, right?
But but then they run back when they're fearful, or there's a sense of danger.
And the Lord is not saying this is how you should be.
Wander forget about God and just kind of like go and explore the territory and then when anything bad happens then run back to God as fast as.
We can that that's the way that some of us approach a relationship with God, right?
But but that's not the part of the imagery here that the Lord is highlighting for us to consider.
He's not saying, you know, follow their example entirely through your whole life.
No, he's saying look at this moment.
Where the chicks are hiding under the the protectiveness of the shadow of the wings of the hen and let that picture that moment of you know that experience be the model for how you relate to God.
Always and don't be like the little chicks who are wandering off but but that you maintain your closeness to God at all times and through all situations.
This picture.
Demonstrates how to live your whole life.
Not wander until something happens and then run back to God, but live continually in the presence of God and live constantly.
In the presence of God under the shadow of his wings, choose to live in close fellowship.
With God, of course, there are many times where we want to wander and and we wish it could be this this way that that we could wander and do what we want and that we just have God, kind of.
Coasting over us, right, hovering over us wherever we go following us to protect us.
Following us to keep us safe and we get to choose whatever we want to choose.
We get to make decisions, however we want to to make decisions.
We we we get to pursue the things that we want to pursue, and then God just gonna bless anything that we do and.
Whatever direction that we take.
But but that's not the picture, that's not.
What God is.
Calling us to what God is calling us to do is to take shelter.
Notice it says live in the shelter.
Not visit frequently or occasionally, but to live in the shelter of God's wings.
And it speaks to us of that personal relationship with God.
That close fellowship with God.
It also speaks to us of the submission to God and his plan for our lives.
You know, it's often noted that Paul the Apostle, as he was writing his letters in the New Testament, would usually introduce himself.
Paul an apostle.
By the will of God.
And he would.
Constantly, frequently, regularly called back to his role.
His choices in life, his decisions, and the course that he took was not just one that he made up.
But it was the will of God that put him there, whether it was preaching to crowds and seeing many people respond, and and you know, victory in that way, and great.
Awesome opportunities that he had, or if it was him bound up in prison or being beaten or persecuted.
It was Paul the apostle by the will of God.
That that I am in pursuit of God's plan for my life is what Paul is saying by that. And it's one way of living in the shelter.
Of God's wings living in the shelter of the Lord and taking refuge in him is submission to his plans and his purposes to live in the shadow of God's wings.
It means that we maintain that relationship with him we.
Keep that close fellowship.
But don't just think of it in the sense of, well, that's my 15 minutes of devotional time.
You know?
Each day, but but it's really my whole life is in devotion to God.
My whole life is in close fellowship with God because everything about me and everything about my life, I've arranged it such so that it is.
Well, according to the will of God.
So that I should be able to say.
Jerry, Pastor, by the Will of God.
Jerry, husband, by the will of God.
Marketing manager at urban surfaces by the will of God.
Corona residents by the will.
Of God at church church.
Today, by the will of God, God wants me here.
That's why I'm here today.
Jerry spends money the way that he does by the will of God, and he saves money the way that he does by the will of God, and that he's a Star Wars fan by the will of God.
Jerry overweight, by the will of God.
The the thing that I would ask is to consider it and this is that the the structure here is that we would live in the shelter that that our whole lives would be built around this basis of we need to be in connection to God and allowing him to be the authority and the the leader and the guider of our lives.
And not just well.
I've made my plans.
I've got my ideas.
I'm going to go and do what I want to do and Lord, just you know coast over me you know and cover me in the shadow of your wings that way.
No God is involved and has plans and purposes for every part of our lives.
Every aspect of our lives.
And so it's important for us to stay close.
I would ask you to consider these.
Descriptions and consider which one kind of best.
Fits for you.
Would you be able to say, I know I am exactly where God wants me to be?
In your workplace, in your family life, in your budget, in your church, attendance in your Bible, reading in your sports, watching in your sports, playing, and you know whatever.
That you would be able to say I am exactly regardless be I know it.
I know where God wants me to be and.
I am right there under the shadow of his wings.
Or perhaps you would say, well, I I know where God.
Wants me to be.
But I recognize I'm not quite there yet.
I'm growing towards it and sometimes I'm right there in that right spot and I have the right attitude and I have the right heart and I'm involved in the things that he wants me to be involved in, but but also I fall short and I stumble and I, you know, break that habit.
I break that routine and so I'm not exactly where God wants me.
Maybe I was doing it for a while, but but I'm growing.
I'm getting back into it and and there's this constant growth to be where God wants me to be.
I know where it is, I hear the call I.
See what he's doing and I'm just not quite.
There, yet I'm still maturing and growing and developing as he leads me.
Or would you say I think I know where God wants me.
And so I'm testing the waters.
I don't know for sure that this path is God course for me, but but I think it might be, and so you know, like the priests and the Jordan River, they're just getting their ankles wet a little bit and to see, OK?
Or is God going to part the sea?
I'm I'm exploring, I'm I'm it's part of the way that God works.
Many times in our lives that we don't always have the blueprints in advance, right?
But but that knowing the character of God and staying close to God and.
We're able to.
Try out different things.
Test out different giftings different opportunities for service, different careers, different schools, different.
Courses of life.
What would you say I know where God?
Wants me to be but.
I've given up.
That aspect of my life, maybe you haven't given up on God entirely, but you've given up on.
I'm just I'm.
It's too hard to pursue that course to.
To measure up to that standard and to be the husband or the wife that God wants me to be, it's just it's never going to happen, and so I'm not really trying to accomplish that anymore or seek that path anymore.
I know where God wants.
Me to be.
But but I've given up.
Or would you be finally the one who says I have no idea where God wants me to.
Be I just really don't know.
I don't know, I I don't hear God's voice. I don't know what plans God has for me. I don't know what God wants to do and how he wants to lead me. And any of these. And perhaps there's others too that I didn't write down but.
Hopefully that kind of gets your mind thinking in regards to the different aspects of your life.
Are you living in close fellowship with God?
Because, well, we we fall somewhere on the spectrum here we fall somewhere, where in in these different avenues and aspects of our lives.
God has plans and purposes for us.
But but we need to be seeking him and choosing to live in those plans and purposes and and choosing to seek him for his voice for his opinion on the matters that we face.
And so the psalmist tells us in verse one those who live in the shelter of the most high will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty when when we know where God wants us to be.
And we're living in that place, even if we don't quite measure up all the way and we we fall out.
But then we're growing.
You know, and so we get back on track as the Lord shows us where we've gone off.
We were able to find such incredible rest in our lives in our hearts and our soul.
When we are right in the center of God's will, when we are where God wants us to be, and so the psalmist goes on in verse two to say.
Thus I declare about.
The Lord, he alone is my refuge.
My place of safety.
He is my God and I trust in him.
And so here the psalmist speaks for himself.
The truth is in verse one those who live this way in the plan of God under the shadow of the Almighty, they find rest, they they find this place of security and safety.
And so the psalmist says.
As for me, here's my declaration.
He alone is my refuge.
That's the truth, and so I'm going to live that way.
The psalmist says, I choose to make that my course for life.
I choose to live in close fellowship with God, he alone.
He alone is my refuge.
Now I'm not going to seek refuge and someone else in something else that he's referring here to.
There's this single source I am safe.
I am secure because he alone is my refuge.
I'm not putting my trust.
In my resources and my strength and my armies, I'm not putting my trust in something else.
I am trusting in God.
I am safe because God I am secure because God I have rest because God I'm not stressed because God, he alone is my Rep.
Huge, my place of safety.
He is my God and I trust in him.
The psalmist here sets the tone for us, sets the pattern for us.
To make this choice, to make this declaration ourselves.
And I pray that you and I at.
At some point through this teaching would be able to make that declaration.
That we would be able to say yes, that's my choice.
I'm putting all of my trust in God.
I'm resting completely and entirely on God that no person is going to satisfy me.
No person is going to really give me safety.
No army is going to give me security, no.
Political party no.
Nothing else is going to give me rest.
But God he.
Alone is my refuge choose.
To live in fellowship with God, Pastor Warren Wiersbe says the most important part of a believer's life is the part that only God sees.
Of communion and worship.
That is symbolized by the Holy of Holies.
In the Jewish sanctuary.
There's a little bit of a an illusion too.
The most holy place, the Holy of Holies and verse one when it talks about the shelter of the.
Most high.
Some versions render that as the secret place.
What is the secret place it pictures for us?
That internal room of the sanctuary of the temple?
Or the Tabernacle?
Where the Ark of the Covenant was, where the presence of God dwelt, and where there was the Ark of the Covenant that had the cherubim with the wings of the Cherubim.
And then God presence would dwell in the midst of the wings, right?
There's a there's a double picture here, not just of the hen protecting her chicks, but.
But of the presence of God there in the Holy of Holies.
And and in one sense the psalmist is saying it's it's in that secret place.
And why is it a secret place?
Well, only the high priest could enter in to the Holy of Holies and only once a year.
After offering that certain sacrifice on the day of Atonement.
Then he would be able to enter and it was a secret place, not because God didn't want people to know where he was or where his presence was right, but it was a secret place because.
Only the high priest could go there only one time a year.
It was a secret personal thing that the high priest experience on behalf of the nation was a secret place in that way.
When Jesus died upon the cross.
And it tells us the temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom.
It is picturing the opening of that secret place.
And so you and I, as we think about.
A secret place.
Even as we just sung about it a few minutes ago, we're we're not talking about a room in a Tabernacle or a temple, but.
But we're talking about that access that we have to God and that personal connection to God.
That personal fellowship with God.
That every one of us needs to have that secret place, and that doesn't necessarily mean there has to be a physical space in which you partake of this fellowship with God.
No, it's that secret life that you have with God, that secret conversation that you have with God.
Nobody else has to partake in that or be part of it.
But all throughout the day, wherever you are and.
In any activity that you're doing that well, you have this secret place.
This fellowship with God, this constant communication.
Where you're checking with God, it doesn't mean supernatural.
He tells you.
You know if you should go to Albertsons or Stater brothers, right?
But that as you're making that decision, you give God the opportunity.
Or do you have anything to say about this?
Maybe he will, maybe he won't.
You maybe.
You get to choose but, but.
Always having that line of communication open.
To hear from.
Not because maybe there's better deals at Stater Brothers, but there's somebody that God wants you to pray for at Albertson's right, and so which?
Which is more important and and God?
What do you have in store and what do you want to do with my life?
Choose to live in close fellowship with God.
Well, moving on to point #2, we're going to look at verses 3 through 8. Here's point #2 this morning. Let God's promises be your protective arm.
As you choose to live in close fellowship with God, then embrace his promises and let them be your protective armor.
Let God's word be a powerful protector for you. Here's what it says in verses 3 through 8.
For he will rescue you from every trap.
And protect you from deadly disease.
He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you.
With his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night.
Nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness.
Nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Though 1000 fall at your side, though 10,000 are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.
Just open your eyes and see how the wicked.
Are punished.
Here the psalmist.
Encourages us in regards to the promises of God.
He gives a great promise there.
In verse three he will rescue you from every trap.
And protect you from deadly disease now.
Two years ago, solemn Chapter 91 was all the rage. I don't know if you remember that in the throes of COVID, as everything was spiking and everybody was panicked and confused and trying to figure out what was.
Going on this almost quoted a lot.
And honestly, I was trying to avoid teaching Psalm chapter 91 this morning. Because of that, I didn't want to have to kind of deal with the messiness that all of that produce, because there was a lot of misuse and misunderstanding of this Psalm in the midst of those times.
But as I was praying over the other chapters that we were reading boy, there was a lot of good chapters this week and I was wanted to teach a lot of them, but.
The Lord kept bringing me back to Psalm.
Chapter 91
For us to consider.
The shelter the safety.
That we have.
By living in close relationship with God, he will rescue you from every.
The idea of a trap here it's another visual that we may not catch right away, but the idea here if a trap is a fowlers trap, that is someone whose occupation is to catch birds.
And so they would.
They didn't have shotguns, you know.
Back in the day they didn't have those types of things they would set up traps.
They would set up Nets with bait and then when the birds gathered Bush they would catch the birds in the trap.
And so the idea here of rescue you from every trap is that there are traps being set for you.
And if you are not conscious of this and not aware of this, you need to understand.
Are traps being set for you?
You know the enemy of our souls hates us.
And wants to destroy us not just for a moment or two.
But for all of eternity.
And he's not just giving up on us.
'cause now we go to church or now we read the Bible, right he?
He is perpetually plotting, strategizing, and seeking to come up with some way to trick us to trap us.
In his net.
You can get all worked up about the enemy Saints and you can get quite fearful about him if you spend too much time meditating on him and his power and his strategies and his wisdom.
After thousands of years of tempting people like we can be quite intimidated and rightly so.
But listen, if you choose to live in close fellowship with God.
You can trust.
Whatever weapon is formed against you.
Whatever trap is set for you.
It will fail.
That's the heritage of the children of the Lord.
The servants of the Lord have this as our inheritance that God protects us.
From the traps of the enemy.
But in order to have that protection there is that closeness that we need to have and maintain with God.
Pastor Charles Spurgeon puts it this way.
We are foolish and weak, as poor little birds.
And are very apt to be lured to.
Our destruction by cunning foes.
But if we dwell near to God, he will see to it that the most skillful deceiver.
Shall not entrap us.
I don't know about you, but.
I want that kind.
Of protection from the most skillful.
Defever remember Jesus talking about Satan said he's the father of lies and when he lies he speaks his first language.
It's not ESL or liessel.
I don't know.
It's not lying is not his second language.
That's his natural language.
The Lord says.
He's expert at deception.
And we are easily deceived.
We need to maintain a real close and personal connection to God.
Fellowship with God under the shadow of his wings.
Because there is this enemy that is seeking to trap us.
First, Timothy Chapter 6 Paul the Apostle.
Talks about those who long to be rich.
And how they fall into temptation and are trapped.
By many harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
Desire to be rich, to be wealthy.
Can be a great trap of the enemy.
Doesn't mean that money itself is bad or that God never wants to bless his people, but.
The yearnings and desires that we have when we allow those free reign or it's a trap for us. Proverbs 2925 says, fearing people is a dangerous trap.
Allowing popularity or the you know, impressions of others around us and wanting their approval and and and seeking to please the people around us and making that too high of a priority in our lives, it's a dangerous trap.
But trusting the Lord means safety.
There's many traps that we could consider.
Many things that the enemy uses in our lives and in society around us to trap people to hold them and think about a trap, right?
The whole idea is to capture, to hold captive the thing that is trapped.
This is what the enemy wants.
To do to us.
And if you don't want to be held captive.
By the enemy.
Then you need to choose.
To live close to God and close fellowship with God.
And these promises of God will be your protective.
The reason why I mentioned COVID and a couple of years ago is because sometimes these things are taken too far.
These images and these pictures.
These truths are our truths, but but they're misapplied and misinterpreted misunderstood.
Let me put it this way.
Was Jesus rescued from the trap of Judas?
Judas set the trap.
He told the religious leaders I know where Jesus will be.
They'll be away from the crowds, so there won't be a big scene, which is what you're trying to avoid.
Religious leaders, I know I can deliver that.
It's going to be dark, so it might be hard to see Jesus, but I will identify him with a kiss so you'll know who it is.
It's the perfect trap.
I know where he will be.
It will be.
Away from the crowds.
Although it's dark, I'll be able to identify.
Him for you.
Did Jesus escape that trap?
Was he rescued from that trap?
That trap was executed exactly the way Judas planned.
He found Jesus right where he was.
There was no crowds around.
It was dark, but he identified Jesus with a kiss.
And the soldiers.
Took measures to take Jesus into custody.
The trap was sprung.
Simon Peter panicked.
John Chapter 18 tells us Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest.
It doesn't say it, but it's my opinion, he said, yeah, when he did that.
I'll save you, Jesus.
Get you out of this trap.
But Jesus says to Peter.
Put your sword back in to achieve.
Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering?
The father has given me?
Shall I not drink the cup of suffering that the father has given me?
But Jesus?
It's a trap.
Yeah, from Judas perspective, it's a trap from the religious leaders perspective.
It's a trap, but from Jesus perspective.
He says this is what God is called me too.
It's not a trap.
In that way.
It's the plan of God.
It's not a trap, it's the plan.
And so Jesus could say, Jesus Christ.
Betrayed in the garden by the will of God.
And this is where we need to be very careful as we work our way through scriptures and and grab hold of them because he will rescue you from every trap.
Doesn't mean that there will never be any kind of opposition or difficulty or challenge, or you know that we just everything that we touch, turns to success and that everything goes beautifully for us without any problems.
When it says protect you from deadly disease, does it mean that we will never die of any kind of disease?
Here's what the Psalmist is seeking to say.
Nothing will stop you.
From fulfilling God's plans for you as you walk with him.
And you can't just take this Psalm all by itself, and then you know build a massive life doctrine out of it.
You balance it with the rest subscriptions and you understand the point here is that you'll never get sick and that you will never experience any kind of affliction.
The point is, as you walk in the purposes and plans of God, and if your life is built on well, this is by the will of God.
And this is by the will of God, and this is by the will of God.
And I know where I'm at, because God wants me here.
And that's why I'm.
Here and so that's why I'm doing what I'm doing, and so if traps are executed.
If diseases happen, if that all unfolds.
That's I know I'm where God wants me to be and.
So it's not a trap.
It's not deadly in that sense. It's not taking me away from life. It is part of God's plan for my life.
He says in verse four he will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Even when traps are sprung.
And deadly diseases.
Come upon us if we are close.
To God, if we were walking in fellowship with God.
It's not a failure.
Of this promise, it's a fulfillment of the promise.
In the midst of his plan, he will cover us with his feathers.
And so, like the apostle Paul would say later in Second Corinthians.
Outwardly I'm wasting away inwardly being renewed day by day.
If you're only focused on the external and the temporary and the things that happen in this life.
Then this Psalm, and these promises are going to fail you regularly and consistently.
But if you are interested in living in the shadow.
Of his wings and walking in fellowship with him, then these promises will be fulfilled.
To the truest extent of them.
Ultimately, in eternity.
Through traps through disease through all kinds of afflictions, and things that happen to us.
We will find and look back and say he covered me with his feathers and sheltered me with his wings.
His faithful promises were my armor and protection.
Now Pastor Warren Wisby points out something important.
These promises are not for people who run to the Lord only in times of danger.
But for those who dwell in his presence.
And make the Holy of Holies their habitation, going back to the that first picture, the mother hen, and the chicks.
When there's not the sense of danger the chicks wander.
And and when you and I lose that sense of danger, we also are prone to wander.
We forget how much we need the Lord.
We forget how much we need to hear his voice and his guidance and in our lives and in the decisions that we make.
And we begin to wander and and we need to live there.
And and as we live there, listen if we as we wander and get ourselves in trouble.
Well, we are.
Free to and God encourages us to run back to him, but but it's a very different experience than wandering and getting ourselves in trouble.
Then staying in the shadow of his wings and experiencing trouble.
Let God's promises be your protective armor that you are seeking him continually, and holding faster promises, not losing a sense of danger and need and wandering and trusting in your own resources and trusting in your own guidance and just exploring things on your own and making your own decisions.
But that everything in your life revolves around your relationship with God.
This protective armor probably conjures up Ephesians chapter 6 in our minds, right, the armor of God.
It's another passage that oftentimes we misunderstand, and we don't really accurately picture very well.
Don't picture putting on the armor so that you can leave the fortress.
The armor is the fortress where God is like.
We don't ever leave the fortress.
OK God, thank you for that.
Rest that was a good feast that you gave me.
Now I'm going out the gate and I'm going to go to battle for you like don't leave God behind and go to battle.
That's crazy.
Take the fortress with you like stay in that fellowship with God.
Stay in that connection to God.
Maintain and hold fast.
If we leave God in the fortress and go wander about the fields on our own, the picture changes quite a bit instead of the hen protecting its chicks.
The picture looks more like this.
Some good wings that are prepared there.
Like we're vulnerable.
Apart from the Lord, we are vulnerable and and susceptible to the attacks of the enemy.
But when you live in close fellowship with God, nothing will stop you from fulfilling God's plan for you.
As you walk with him.
In verse five, he says, so don't be afraid of the.
Terrors of the.
Night nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Don't dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
The 1000 fall at your side, though 10,000, are dying around you. These evils will not touch you.
Just open your eyes and see how the wicked.
Are punished here.
The psalmist is talking about these things as evils.
Don't be afraid of the terrors of the night.
Doesn't mean you won't experience any terrors of the night, it's just you don't have.
To be afraid 'cause?
You're under the shadow of the Almighty.
Don't dread the disease.
Doesn't mean that you'll never get disease.
But that if you get the disease.
He will be with you.
He'll make that clear as we get to the bottom of the chapter as well, that the Lord will be with you and you'll be sheltered even in the midst of the affliction.
These evils.
Will not.
Touch you.
Because if God is for.
You who can be against you.
What evil can be accomplished against you?
If you remain in the shelter in the shadow.
Of God's wings.
Paul the Apostle in acts chapter 20 he was visiting the Ephesian elders as he was on his way to Jerusalem.
He had some insights from the Lord that this was going to be his last time seeing them, and so in Ephesians.
Chapter 20.
He says I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem.
I don't know what awaits me except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.
I know the.
Course that God has me on.
He's told me.
Prison and suffering.
That's that's part of my path.
But notice what he says but.
My life is worth nothing to me.
Unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus.
The work of telling others the good news about the wonderful grace of God.
Paul says.
All this.
Stuff lies ahead.
It's gonna be hard.
It's gonna be rough.
But that doesn't matter.
What matters to me is staying close.
To the Lord.
I'm going to stand in the shadow of his wing and that has me on a course of suffering in jail.
But that's OK because the most important thing to me is finishing the work that he's given to me, staying this course that he has me on and staying in close fellowship with him.
For Paul he can't.
Give up on this race.
He can't change the course and stay close and in the presence of the Lord.
It would have to be a departure and say, well, I don't want suffering.
I don't want any kind of difficulty and so I'm going to abandon God plans for me and stop listening to his voice and stop following his path.
And I'm not going to maintain close fellowship with God because I don't want these.
Things to be experienced in my life.
There's no way my life means nothing.
The most important thing to me.
Is that I stay close to God?
That I live in his presence.
And so again, I would ask.
Which of these describes you?
I know I'm exactly where God wants me to be.
I know where God wants me to be and I'm working towards that.
I'm growing towards it.
I'm developing.
Scott enables me to live there.
I think I know where God wants me I'm testing.
The waters and if.
He's giving confirmation I'm gonna go that path and walk in that way I I know where God wants me to be, but.
I tried it.
It's hard.
It's challenging, there's jail and suffering involved and I just I can't live that life.
I've I've just given up.
Or I have no idea where God wants me to.
Be I have no idea what kind of job God wants me to have or what kind of house God wants me to have or what kind of ministry God wants me.
To be involved.
In or if you have no idea, you need to to.
Get close to the Lord.
You need to find out and and the focus here that the resolution for all of these things is run to the Lord and get to know him.
Know him first and foremost.
Put him first in your life.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will fall into place.
Well, verses 9 through 13 give us point #3. I won't spend much time here. Let God presence be your shelter from evil.
This is kind of a continuation of the previous verses.
There's this shelter that God provides as we dwell in his presence as we dwell under the shadow of his wings, verse 9 says.
If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the most higher shelter, no evil will conquer you know, plague will come near your home.
For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go, they will hold you up with their hands, so that you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.
You will trample upon lions and cobras.
You will crush fierce lions and serpents under your.
Here the psalmist says look, if you do this, if you.
Will make the Lord your refuge.
And you'll dwell in his presence in that way, in that closeness.
No evil will conquer you.
That's a great promise.
No evil will conquer you.
Have this promise from God.
This guarantee doesn't mean difficult things won't happen in your life.
Doesn't mean bad things won't happen to you, but no evil will conquer you.
Guaranteed victory when you dwell with the Lord the weakest.
Of all people.
Who lives in fellowship with God is guaranteed victory.
No evil will conquer you.
The safest place to be is right where God wants you to be.
Even if where God wants you to be is in a place of difficulty and challenge.
In first Samuel Chapter 22, when Saul was chasing David, David had a bit of relief as he was in, he ran to Moab and was in the stronghold at Moab and the prophet Gad said. This isn't where you're supposed.
To be David, get back.
To Judah
But Jude is where Saul is going to be chasing David and pursuing him for many more years.
But that's where God wanted him, and so the safest place for David to be was not in the stronghold but in the wilderness.
Where God wanted him to be, that's
Where you're guaranteed no evil will conquer you.
When you make the most high your shelter.
Or think about the apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians 12.
Remember he prayed three times for that Thorn in the flesh.
It really bothered him.
He's like Lord, please take this away from me.
And God said, my Grace is sufficient for you.
My power works best in weakness.
And so it.
Changed false perspective.
He said OK so.
I'm going to.
Change instead of praying against this thing that I don't like in my life, I'm going to boast about my weakness.
So that the power.
Of Christ can work through me.
I'm going to learn to take pleasure in weaknesses in insults, in hardships, and persecutions and troubles.
For when I am weak then I am strong.
No evil.
Will conquer you.
You can take those things that the enemy means for evil.
And God strength.
Can shine through as a result of them now verse 11 and 12 is quoted by Satan in the temptation of Christ in Matthew Chapter 4, Luke, chapter four, he will order his angels to protect you.
Remember Satan took him on the pinnacle of the temple, said jump off.
If you're the son of God, jump off.
'cause the scripture says the Bible says they will hold you up.
You won't strike your foot against a stone.
And Jesus said, the scriptures also say you must not test the Lord your God.
Now this.
Such a great example for us.
I found it quite frustrating again, two years ago when this song was being.
Misapplied and misused?
In so many ways.
But then it's not that surprising, I guess.
The enemy misquoted this song, misapplied this song, and and the Lords answered to it was.
It does say that.
Satan wasn't lying that the Bible says that, right?
It does say that.
But that's not the end of the story.
The Scriptures also say that that there has to be the balance of what does the whole Council.
Of the word of God, teach and and in some ways this will sound maybe a little bit weird, but sometimes we can take things too literally and we just take a, you know, a magnifying glass on, just like a little tiny portion that we really like and we try to make that say something.
Really, really really, really.
Really want the Bible to say.
But when you take the whole Council into consideration, maybe it's just the whole passage where a couple of verses before and after would give so much more perspective in many cases.
The Scriptures also say brings into balance.
There is.
More to factor into that truth than just that little snippet that we want to hold onto.
And so we need to be careful.
There are general promises of God to all believers.
And we can all grasp hold of them and believe.
Them collectively, and we should.
I also want to be careful not to take it too far and to think make you think that God can't use this.
To confirm to you that you will not get a disease God God can speak to any person individually through this verse and for that verse tell them this is my word for you.
Speaking to you, that is totally possible.
And so there are a lot of instances where Psalm 91 was quoted 2 years ago, or even any time since then, and it was legitimate.
It was right on because that was a personal word that God had given to an individual, but where the mistake happens.
Where the misuse really takes place is now I'm going to take this and apply it to every believer and that is not consistent with the rest of scriptures and so God can speak to you personally about things.
That are different.
That are not given as a promise to all believers.
Following along that same line of thought verse 13, you will trample upon lions and cobras.
You will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet.
Some have taken this.
I will never be hurt by serpents, but that's not what the psalmist is saying.
That's not what God is trying.
To say but.
There are occasions and instances where God has protected his people from serpents as they were about the.
Father's business
God's presence was their shelter from evil.
From wild beasts from attacks of people, no.
Some people were martyred.
As part of the plan of God as they stayed in the presence of God, they lost their life as a result.
But evil didn't conquer.
Because they entered into eternity.
And their testimony was even more powerful.
As a result.
Again, like Pastor Chuck said.
Embarking on an endeavor that will fail trying to teach this whole song and all the truths contained within.
Let God presence be your shelter from.
Charles Spurgeon says when Satan quiver shall be empty, thou shall remain uninjured by his craft and cruelty his broken darts shall be to thee as trophies of the truth and power of the Lord thy God.
Well, finally looking at God's words and the closing versus versus 14 through 16 God rewards those who love and trust him.
And so God speaks up and says, hey guys, listen to this song, this he knows what he's talking.
In about verse 14, the Lord says I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name when they call up on me, I will answer.
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.
God speaks up here at the end and he says Amen.
Everything that's all miss.
Said Psalmist, made his declaration.
He's my trust.
I'm gonna rest in him.
He'll he'll rescue me and protect me.
And the Lord says that's true.
I do that I rescue those who love me.
I protect those who trust me.
That famous verse, Romans 828. We know God causes everything to work together for good.
Of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
For them, there's this is not an unconditional promise.
Everything will always work out for good for everybody.
No, there is the condition you love God and be about your father business.
Be called according to his purpose.
And everything that you do for God and for his glory, because it's his plan for your life, because it's his will for your life.
You have these incredible promises that go.
Along with that.
No evil will conquer.
He will protect you.
He will rescue you.
He will work all things together.
For good.
God says when you call, I will answer.
I'll be with you in trouble.
There's going to be.
A deliverance.
And a provision.
By God.
And so.
This morning
Again, I would just encourage you to rest.
In the shadow of the Almighty, let that picture of the mother hen with the chicks.
Illustrate your life and your relationship with God.
Choose to live in close fellowship with God.
Refuse to let other things become your protective armor.
Refuse to let.
Your savings.
Your strategies.
You're brilliant.
Refuse to let other people become your protective armor.
Scary out there.
But good thing you know this person is here next to me, I'm safe.
Make sure that your trust and your rest is completely in God. Let God's promises be your protective armor. Let God presence be your shelter from an evil. Seek his presence.
Seek his face.
Seek to know him, to hear from him, and to walk with him.
Because God rewards those who love and trust him, and that's really what we need to be focused on.
Not so much.
On our strategies against evil.
But our strategy is to love and trust God more and more and.
So Lord, we pray.
That you would help us.
To develop those strategies, Lloyd that we might learn how to know you that we might learn more and.
More how to stay close to you.
Or that we may learn how to dwell in the.
Shadow of your wings.
Or that you would fulfill all of your promises that our protection Lord would be the strongest protection possible and that no evil will conquer.
Lord, we recognize.
The course that you set for us may include difficulty and affliction and hardship.
But that invalidates none of your promises.
And so, Lord, we'd rather choose the difficult path with you.
Than the path apart from you.
But recognizing the path apart from you promises to be so much easier, but delivers none of those promises.
But the path that you set before us comes with these promises that are guaranteed.
And so we can walk with you and rest in your shadow no matter what happens.
As we.
Find ourselves.
Right where you want us to be.
It doesn't matter what happens around us or to us.
Would we want to be with you?
We desire to hear your voice.
To seek you and to honor you.
So it would help us.
To find rest in your shadow and stay close to you, I pray this in Jesus name.