The Secret Place: Psalm 91

[Guest shiloh357]

IV. A responsive declaration - repeated - by the author of the psalm that he would do this; that God

[Guest shiloh357]

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet

(Psalms 91:11-13)

For he shall give his angels charge over thee... It says that God will command His angels concerning us. God has angels watching over us! These are they which are spoken of in Hebrews 1:14, the ministering spirits who are sent forth by God to minister to the heirs of salvation. I don't believe this means that we have angels following us around every second of the day and night. That does not seem to be the intent of the text. What it means is that God sends angels to minister to us and to watch over us at certain times in our lives. Personally, I feel that the concept of the "guardian angel" is a slight perversion of what this text indicates.

"...to keep thee in all thy ways." When Satan was quoting this verse to Jesus, he left out this phrase. This phrase is there to prevent us from doing what Satan was tempting Jesus to do. We are not promised that God will protect us from harm we inflict upon ourselves when we purposefully seek to live in sin. God's protection is not a safety net to catch us when fall due to our own selfish rebellion. The condition here, is clearly that he will keep us as we sincerely seek to serve Him. This protection is for those who aggressively seek to enter that Secret Place, who have made the Lord their habitation.

The Bible says, that "the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to God..." (Prov. 21:27) There is no provision for those would attempt to use God's love to whitewash their conscience. They sin as much as they please, and then come to church to be absolved, fully intending to do it all over again. This is wickedness in God's eyes.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. "Lest we fall into sin," or any other danger or calamity befall us to cause us injury. This includes the hapless circumstances that we encounter day to day, or any plan designed by the enemy to cause us ill. Adam Clarke makes a very good point here:

Let us remember that it is God, whose these angels are; He gives them charge from Him they receive their commission, - to Him they are responsible for their charge. From God thou art to expect them; and for their help he alone is to receive the praise. It is expressly said, He shall give his angels charge; to show that they are not to be prayed to nor praised but God alone, whose servants they are.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet

The word here used for "lion" is not the same as denotes the actual animal. If I wanted to refer to the king of beasts, I would use the word ariel. The word used in this first part is al-shakhal and refers poetically or figuratively here to wicked men. It means that not only will we not fall prey to their traps but that we will triumph over them, ultimately. The word for adder depicts the most poisonous snake common to the Middle East. It's venom had no cure. The Scriptures say that for those who are resting in the Lord, its fangs have been pulled and its venom robbed of its potency. The same applies for the young lion and the dragon or "sea monsters" These creatures are used figuratively to refer to any horrible danger, any calamity that might befall us. In other words, what would present unspeakable danger and a sure destruction to the world, is impotent to harm those who refuge is the Lord.

[RebekahDavid]

Wonderful study Shiloh thanks. God's timing for this is perfect as usual.

Love your sister in Christ,

Rebekah David

[Guest shiloh357]

VI. A general declaration embracing the sum of all that is said in the psalm, as coming from God himself, containing assurances of his protection to those who thus put their trust in him, and confide in him, Psa 91:14-16.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

(Psalms 91:14-16)

Because he hath set his love upon me... The word in Hebrew is khah-shak it means to cling or attach. To put this in modern vernacular, "because he has fallen in love with me..." This phrase shows the strength of affection being noted here. This ties directly with the Secret Place. Just as a man and wife have their "secret place" of intimacy and love, so too, the one who is truly in love with the Lord will find that Secret Place. It is a place of fellowship, of renewal and refreshing. Are you in love with Jesus??? Is the supreme object of your affection??? He should be. What I want to show you are the following seven blessings that God promises for those who are in love with Him.

• I will deliver him
  
• I will set him on high
  
• I will answer him
  
• I will be with him in trouble
  
• I will honor Him
  
• I will satisfy him with long life
  
• I will show him my salvation
  

Lets look at these blessings as they appear in Scripture and see what is in store for us!!

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him God promises to deliver us, not because we deserve it, but because we have made Him our chief joy. His promise here, is not merely to send an angel, but that God himself will deliver. We see this all through the Bible. The pillar of smoke and Fire that led the children of Israel in the wilderness, was God Himself. The Bible says that when the children of Israel were at the Red Sea that the armies of Pharaoh were pressing in upon them, and that the pillar of smoke that was in front of the children of Israel moved to the rear of the multitude and stood between them and Pharaoh's army. It became a pillar of darkness to the Egyptians, and a pillar of firelight to the children of Israel, and God Himself stood and prevented the Egyptians from moving until the children of Israel had passed through the sea. When Pharaoh's armies were finally free to move, the Bible says that God looked at the armies of Egypt through that pillar of fire, pulled the wheels off of their chariots, and caused the water to cave in upon them, saving His people, Israel.

It was Jesus Himself who walked in furnace with Shadrack Meshek, and Abednego. Did you know that Jesus still in the furnace?? He is in furnace of your affliction, with you right now. He will never leave you nor forsake you. God Loves you. He does not promise that we will not face troubles, trials, persecutions. He does not give us the promise of a problem free life. Rather, He gives you Himself and is there with you, to deliver you. Set your love upon Him. He has set His love upon you. Even those who gave their lives for the Lord were instantly transported forever delivered to stand before their face of Jesus.

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. Look at the last part of that sentence. What does not mean to know His Name? It means to know His Character, his attributes. The more intimately we know the Lord, the more we are able to trust him. The one who knows God's Name, knows His love, His mercy, His holiness. He knows the character and operations of the Lord, and conforms His character to that which pleases and resembles His Lord. You see, the one who knows God, will love Him; they will set their heart upon Him never to fix it upon any other.

God says that because we have known His Name, He will set us on high. Did you know that God has a desire to set you on high?? To exalt you?

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

(1 Peter 5:6)

God has a desire to exalt you!! When we humble ourselves before Him, when know His Name, when set our love upon Him, and make the Lord our habitation, God will exalt you. It is YOU exalting YOURSELF that God hates. He has no use for pride and those who are full of themselves. He will exalt you over your troubles, He will place you out of reach of your enemies.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: The condition for answered prayer is that intimate relationship with the Lord. When we know what pleases the Lord, our prayers will reflect that. Our prayers will reflect those things that are the most God glorifying things. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart. The thing is, when we are delighting in the Lord, we are delighting in who He is, based upon how He has revealed Himself to us. Therefore, the desires of our heart reflect what we love about our God. When our prayers reflect His heart, we can be assured that we will have we ask of Him.

I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. Here God promises us that He will be with us in trouble. He will stand by us until the end. Jesus knows what it means to be forsaken, to have your closest friends deny, betray, and forsake you at your hour of greatest need. Jesus knows what that is like, and He promises us that even though everyone around us becomes indifferent to our pain, that even when our closest friends and even our families forsake us, He will never leave us no matter what. Jesus will never break your heart. He will never be ashamed of you, He will never forsake you to the enemy to do with as He pleases. He is your provider, your redeemer, your confidant, your friend and eternal companion.

Then one day, as it must happen for each of us, we will face the final enemy, death. Even then Jesus will right there ready to receive us when death must give way to victory and we can finally, and fully look upon our Savior's face. Then we will know that all of the struggles, the trials, the battles with temptation, we will know that it was worth it all when we see Jesus and we hear those sublime, those most blessed of words in that tender voice, "Well done my good and faithful servant; enter now, into the joy the Lord!"

God promises us that He will not only be with us, but He is with us to deliver us, to take us through those hardships, and heartaches. He is with us that we may tread over the works of the enemy meant to destroy us. He also promises that he will honor us. He who honors God, God will honor. When we honor God by living for Him each day, and being a light in the darkness, when we seek to reflect His character in such a way that there is no mistaking that we are His children, He promises to honor us. What form will that honor take?? In this life, I do not know. In Heaven though, God is rich in His rewards and honor which He is going to bestow upon His faithful servants who put Him first, who made all of their worldly desires subordinate to the interests of Kingdom of God. Those who used their talents to exalt Him to further His agenda will be honored by God.

With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

This is not promising so much that you will live to 100 years old. The emphasis on being satisfied in the time that you do have. You will not die before your time, and your life will be satisfied. You will live and die fulfilled and happy. He finally promises to show us His salvation. This is a blessing that extends beyond the grave. The person who trusts in God, who has made Him his habitation does not fear death. Death is not an end, but just a beginning. He will die in perfect peace. Spurgeon writes, "The full sight of Divine grace shall be his final vision... Not with destruction before him black as night, but with salvation bright as noonday smiling upon him he shall enter into his rest."

Amen and Amen.

[RebekahDavid]

Amen nothing longer than eternal life! Thank You Lord!

[Guest truespirit]

This has been an excellent study, Shiloh. It's been wonderful to read through all of it.

I probably should've placed this under the testimonials section instead, but Psalms 91 has been a very big part of my life. It's meaning, and promise has, at least.

I recently visited with a friend that is one of the most peaceful Christians I know. He's firm with his beliefs, so very humble. Though he's a "Senior Citizen" now I guess, he'll always be really special to me.

During our talk, he read a good portion of Psalms 91 from memory. I watched as something took place in him as he read on, something magical. He was a different person, if only for a few moments. His eyes changed, his speech rate increased, just a little bit, though he remained calm and collected. But the joy of the Holy Spirit could be witnessed, there's not a doubt in my mind about that.

When I was very young, I became quite ill, so much so that my parents were told that I had about a 10% chance to survive. Up in the ER, a janitor ran into my family and told them to read Psalms 91, and mom read that over and over again. She also organized a very large prayer chain. My grandma came up and she would not leave my bedside with her Bible.

A few days later I came out of things just fine. A couple of days thereafter, a nurse that had noticed my family's Faith told them that a miracle truly had taken place during all of this.

A medication had been ordered by one of the ER physicians for treatment. However, a young pharmacist sent up the wrong medication altogether accidently. Having no time left to send down for another, the doctor decided to give me this "Wrong drug." According to the nurse, though, the medication saved my life. The one the physician had ordered wouldn't have worked, I wouldn't be here.

That was 28 years ago now. That said, I have been Blessed with the ability to KNOW that the Good Lord DOES hold true to His promises. I can't remember any of that, obviously. But I look back now and for all of the times in my life that I've had questions and fears, it goes to show you how truly unworthy we can be at times. Here He had saved my life before I ever knew Him, afterall.

Three years ago, I was put on a blood pressure medication that caused a serious problem in my system. I left my neighborhood one morning at around 7:30, right in the middle of rush hour traffic, that's the last I remember. An hour, hour and a half later, I came to in the back of a police car, of all places. Soon an ambulence was called out, and they revived me. This was anywhere between 5 and 7 miles away from where I started out that morning.

It turns out that I had become about as close as it gets to unconsciousness. I had to have been conscious to have ended up that far away, though I personally would still like to know how I ended up where I did because I don't have the answer.To the day, I honestly cannot remember a single event of what took place that morning. Nothing at all. I can't remember driving, can't remember streets that I was driving on, nothing at all registers (Back in college I was intoxicated a few times, and this wasn't anything at all like that, believe me).

Nonetheless, somehow I managed to get that far away from my neighborhood without having hit another car or pedestrian, a building for that matter. Anything would've been open game. Just imagine something like that. It's impossible to believe, for me anyway. But that's exactly what happened, and now I know that while my hands might have been on the steering wheel that morning, I wasn't the one steering, I know that much.

Even after all of this, however, I've been through an enormous battle with my Faith over the past year. Though He has undoubtedly kept me safe throughout my lifetime, even when I didn't deserve it, I finally truly asked Him into my heart last summer.

While the emotional battle has been extremely intense throughout, with many different types of fears surfacing along the way, and transformations having taken place that have been nothing short of amazing, I am more confident now than I've ever been that I'll win this battle once and for all.

And while the journey to Him can be challenging and difficult, we always have His special promise to rely on. Despite however dark some of our days might be along the way, we always have Him to fall back on, just as Psalms 91 points out so beautifully. He certainly fulfilled this promise in my own journey, anyway, and He's kept that promise time and time again, even when I didn't deserve it.

There comes a point when you begin to understand that our Father's heart is something so much larger than we ourselves can ever begin to imagine. His gift of love truly is a miracle in and of itself. Even during our darkest hour, our greatest struggles, He promises to stay by our side. He really is amazing, isn't He.

[bacat852]

What a blessing Psalm 91 has been in my life. Blessings on you Shiloh for the insight you have. Bacat

[Guest Theophilia]

By way of outline, given the structure relative to the different "persons" used, the Psalm can be divided in the manner as prescribed by Barnes citing Tholuck:

I. The general statement of the safety of those who put their trust in God, Psa 91:1.

II. A responsive declaration of the author of the psalm, that he would make the Lord his refuge, and the Most High his habitation, Psa 91:2.

III. A statement of the security or benefit of doing this, Psa 91:3-8.

IV. A responsive declaration - repeated - by the author of the psalm that he would do this; that God

[Guest Thomas I Believe]

Psalm 91:4

4 He will cover you with his feathers,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Trust and be content. Total protection = peace, comfort.. Reliance is total trust. Lord thank You for Your hand upon our lives. Lord in You we place our trust!!!

[Guest garyg]