Our Shield and Defender

In Psalm 91, we come to yet another unnamed and untitled psalm, and the fact that we don’t know the author shouldn’t cause great concern. Nearly one-third of the psalms do not identify its author. Some scholars have conjectured that because of its direct that because it is directly adjacent to Psalm 90, which was written by Moses, that this Psalm too was written by the great leader of Israel. Jewish scholars reasoned that a psalm with an unknown author should be assigned to the previous psalm if we knew that author, and in this case, Moses. So since Psalm 90 was written by Moses, even though the author of Psalm 91 is not named, Moses was considered by Jewish scholars to be the author. And employing that same methodology, they concluded that Moses wrote Psalm 92 through 100 as well. In order to strengthen their argument of Moses’ authorship, some scholars cited similarities in the language of Deuteronomy.

Others sought to tie Psalm 91 directly to Israel’s wilderness wanderings with its attendant plagues. Still, The allusions to various difficulties in this psalm are general enough that it’s almost impossible to say for certain that Moses wrote this psalm.

Whoever wrote Psalm 91 was a man of God, one with whom God had walked through countless trials and hardships, This man had seen God’s faithfulness and his miraculous power displayed again and again. He knew God. He walked with God. And as a result, this man had developed a well-founded and unshakable faith in God. All of those things clearly are true of Moses, the man of God, If Moses didn’t write Psalm 91, someone very much like him did.

Psalm 91 greets us like a refreshing spring morning. There is no heaviness in this psalm like in other psalms. There’s no overwhelming burden with sin. There’s no disdain for the wicked of the world. There’s no complaint against God. There’s nothing but joy and positivity throughout the psalm.

Not surprisingly, Psalm 91 has been a profound encouragement to many who have read it and meditated upon its words. One faithful commentator accurately said it. Whoever first breathed these words, thousands have found them to be a source of strength and faith in the hour of trial and danger. Another writer told Psalm 91, one of the freshest and most beautiful Psalms.

Spurgeon himself said of it, that in the whole collection of the Psalms, there is not a more cheering psalm. Still another, a 17th century French scholar named Demly said of it, it is impossible to imagine anything more solid, more beautiful, more profound, more ornamented. We have no poem either in Greek or Latin comparable to this Hebrew ode.

There’s an upbeat character to this psalm from beginning to end. God is good and benevolent. He is exceedingly superior to any earthly troubles or troublemakers. There’s no hint of doubt at all in the heart or on the lips of our writer. His demeanor is one of confidence and unfinished, undiminished faith throughout. Well, Rather than me telling you any more about the author, whose name we do not know, or about the nature of this psalm, how rich and wonderful it is, let’s allow the psalmist and his psalm to reveal that to us as we read it. Psalm 91.

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 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 10,000 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 the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

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 long life, I will satisfy him and let him see my salvation. There is an unmistakable definitiveness to this psalm. It’s not a psalm of wonder. It’s not a psalm of wishful thinking. It’s not a psalm of great possibilities. There is a certitude of blessing throughout the psalm.

We see it nearly 20 times in verbs that are translated using our English word will. In the first 13 verses, the writer tells of things that God will do, that believers will experience. In the final section, citing God in verses 14 through 16, the psalmist records God’s assurances with at least seven I will statements. And that as such, This renders the psalm a psalm of promise, a psalm of assured blessings.

With God and our abiding faith in Him, there are certain benefits that He bestows. As we begin to look at this incredible psalm, I want to point out this morning Benefits of our fellowship with God. Benefits of our fellowship with God. He is, after all, our shield and defender. And if we go back, track back to verses one through three, the first thing that we see is the certainty of God’s promise. The certainty of God’s promise. The psalmist starts by stating a truth, a foundational principle that he has found to be absolute and unwavering. He has learned this. He knows it by experience. Verse one, he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. The person who comes under the protection of the one he calls the Most High will assuredly also enjoy the benefits of that security.

The less frequently used reference to God as the Most High points to his absolute superiority over all so-called gods. Of all the rulers and personages of the world, even in the entire universe, principalities and powers, God is the most high. This title was a favorite name for God by that enigmatic king Melchizedek. In Genesis 14, the first time that it’s used, Melchizedek, rather, is introduced as a priest of God Most High. And then as Melchizedek begins to pray, he prays to God Most High. God is referred to as such more than 90 times throughout the Old Testament, 22 times in the Psalms, and in the New Testament, when the angel, remember, came to Mary with the news that she would be the one to carry the Christ child, that angel used this title of God twice. God, Most High. Well, here in Psalm 91, The one who comes to and seeks refuge in the Most High comes under the watchful care of what he calls now the Almighty.

This, the psalmist states, is axiomatic. There is a certainty to this fundamental promise. You may have heard it there. I said promise in the singular. not promises in the plural. It’s true that God makes a broad spectrum of promises to us in His Word. The psalmist here is speaking about only one. It’s the basic foundational promise of security in God. The one who seeks refuge in the Most High comes under the watchful care of the Almighty.

If that’s the case, none can touch them. There’s an absoluteness to this principle. It’s not stated as wishful thinking or as being contingent upon some factor. It is an if-then proposition. If a person resides, takes up shelter in the most high, then he or she will assuredly, definitely abide in the shadow of the Almighty. When the believer turns to God for help, placing his or her faith in Him for such, he or she finds definite protection and comfort in Him. That promise is sure. Now, this idea of being in or under God’s shadow needs to be explained just a bit. A physical shadow is the phenomenon that occurs when something blocks out a source of light.

That doesn’t have an overwhelmingly positive sense to it, does it? In the Psalms, especially, We have this recurring idea of the shadow. Often it’s used of the shadow of death. And so the word can have a gloomy and foreboding sense to it. Psalm 23, with which you’re immediately familiar. Though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, Psalm 44, you have covered us with the shadow of death. But the word is also used with reference to the temporary nature of our human existence. Psalm 102, verse 11, my days are like a lengthened shadow.

Psalm 109, I am like a passing shadow. But here, here and in many places in the Psalms, The idea of a shadow just speaks of residing under God’s presence. It’s a beautiful image, actually. King David especially loved this image. In three of the Psalms he wrote, Psalm 17, Psalm 36, Psalm 63, he refers to the place of God’s comfort and protection as the shadow of your wings.

Please note, This dwelling and abiding is not spoken of as fleeting or a temporary condition. It’s not just a visit with God. It’s a constant state that is a perpetual state. And that alone suggests that this is not the automatic experience of every Christian. Unfortunately, many of us flutter in and out like so many butterflies with regard to our relationship with God. We trust him here, and then we waver. We doubt. We wander.

This promise is for those who dwell in God as a refuge, who abide in his loving shadow, The promise is for those who look for God, who cultivate a living relationship with God, they commune with Him. Based on this one foundational principle, the promise of verse one, our psalm writer makes a commitment himself. Would you look at verse two? I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress. my God in whom I trust.”

His verbal commitment here personalizes that more generally stated principle of verse one. There, it’s a foundational truth. Here, it is truth applied. I will say is his declaration, and in whom I trust is the object of his commitment. Further, He refers to his object of trust as my refuge, my fortress, my God. Residing under the shelter of the Most High is no longer just an academic observation by the psalmist. Now it’s the psalmist’s guiding principle. Personally owned, he has made it his own. He provides the reasoning for this commitment to God as his refuge in verse three. Would you glance there? For it is he who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He uses graphic imagery here to speak of his need for God’s shelter and care, a need that every believer has.

First, he speaks of the snare of the trap or a sudden and inescapable device, refers to the difficulties and perils of this life, whether from evil men or evil circumstances, they come unexpectedly like the abrupt snap of a cold steel trap. Those traps are all about us, nearly everywhere we step. We may never know how many of these deadly traps God gently steers us from. Likewise, the deadly pestilence. Not one of us have come across this one because we’re all still here. This life is going to have its share of hardships and challenges, traps and pestilence. This is the reason that the psalmist takes refuge under the Almighty. Well, that’s the bottom line, the foundational truth, the certainty of God’s promise. But how far does that protection reach? What does it cover?

The psalmist addresses this in verses four through 13, the extent of God’s promise. not only the certainty of God’s promise, but the extent of God’s promise. The second benefit of our fellowship with God. The Psalm writer here in verses four through 13, Moses or whoever, he has identified the basic principle of life, that to dwell under the shelter of the Most High God is to abide in the Almighty’s shadow of blessing and protection. Even his explanation in verses two and three is somewhat general, refuge and delivery. But here in this second section, verses four through 13, the psalm writer elaborates and specifies God’s protection of his children. I would suggest that he identifies four specific ways in which God’s promise is shown.

Security, consolation, preservation, and protection. All those are related. All four of those markers are related, and in measure, they’re similar, but they are distinct enough to warrant independent treatment here. First of all, verse four. In verse four, the psalmist points first to security. God’s promise to his children is that of security.

And this expands upon the idea that he communicated in verses one and two, shelter and refuge. He will cover you with his pinions, says the psalmist here. And in Hebrew poetic style, that first line is echoed in the second. Under his wings you may seek refuge.

I love the way one man of God spoke of this. He called it transcendent condescension. In other words, God doesn’t merely observe our plight and difficulties in this world and feel sorry for us. He comes down and he intervenes and he provides the shelter, the very specific shelter that we need. This is an obvious anthropomorphism attributing physical features to God.

God has no feathers. God has no wings. He has no actual pinions. Here the image is that of a bird spreading out its wings to cover and protect its young. It’s a beautiful image. So the overall thought here is God’s protection, his faithfulness, he says, is a shield and bulwark. It means none can touch those that are under God’s care. Just as the safest spot for a baby bird is under the wing of its mother, so also the child of God is in his loving care. Verses five and six. advance this idea still further, not only security, but God’s consolation.

You will not be afraid, the writer assures. You will not be afraid of terror, the arrow, pestilence, or of destruction. And he sets up these really two sets of contrasts, night and day, darkness and noon. There’s not a spot on the clock. where things that cause fear cannot arise.

We face them in the morning, we face them in the afternoon, we face them at night. First of all, terror by night. That seems to point to the vexing restlessness that awakens us and keeps us awake. From the smallest worry to the most significant concern, In the midst of what is supposed to be a sweet and pleasant night’s rest. I see some of you smiling. What is supposed to be a sweet and pleasant night’s rest, we begin to think and we stir. And our thinking and stirring leads immediately to worry. Our minds take the smallest things and make them to grow into an unconquerable foe. And the next thing we know, it’s dawn. In contrast with these night terrors, he also mentions the arrows that fly by day, warfare.

All people of every period of history have experienced this, if not violence on a local level, all out war on a national or international level. But this too, the child of God, can remain undisturbed and unafraid. The stalking pestilence refers to those inevitable sicknesses and diseases that have plagued every generation of mankind. These too can be met without fear, says the psalmist. And the destruction of which the psalmist speaks can come from a myriad of sources, tornadoes, fire, flood, earthquake, war, you name it. But these too can be faced without succumbing to fear. He essentially says that none of those things should be allowed to cause worry or fear. In verses seven through nine, he assures us also of God’s preservation. Others, even thousands of them, he says, may fall, perishing by the sword or some plague, but not God’s children.

The closest they come to such calamity is to watch it happen to others, just as Israel did Egypt. Having made the Lord our refuge, our dwelling place, the closest that we come to the dreaded effects of some of these things is with our eyes. To look on as we see God’s judgment unfold. God’s promise encompasses security, consolation, preservation, and protection as well. He says that no evil, no plague will befall you.

It’s important to note that this is the very passage of scripture that the devil used, or better, that the devil tried to use on Jesus, remember? There in the desert, in the midst of his 40 days of fasting, ultimately being tempted, the devil tried to tempt Jesus, suggesting that he throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple. And then he cited this verse.

He will give his angels charge concerning you. It’s not as if God needs angels to serve as our bodyguards through life. He could do that job perfectly well on his own, but God does have a heavenly host designed for and devoted to our protection. And sometimes they may even need to carry our frail bodies, he says.

As he closes out this section in verse 13, verse 13 just speaks of the extent of this divine protection that we could be afforded protection even from wild beasts, the king of the jungle, or venomous vipers. If, as Paul says in Romans 16, that the God of peace will soon crush Satan, the original snake. God will soon crush Satan under our feet, then no earthly creature can withstand God’s power. God’s promise to his children is unlimited in its extent.

This is what the psalmist knows by experience. But it is as if he says, Why take my word for it? Let’s hear what God has to say on the matter. And the psalmist yields the floor to hear God’s testimony in the final three verses. Benefits of our fellowship with God, not only the certainty of God’s promise and the extent of God’s promise, but thirdly, the affirmation of God’s promise, and that by God himself. Up until now, That is, through verse 13, this news about God’s promise has been the singular testimony of the psalmist. He introduced it, he supported it, he detailed it. But here, to add to the psalmist’s report, God undergirds the psalmist’s thoughts.

Here, God responds. to the child of God’s love and faith, and he does so with seven affirmations. As we noted at the outset of our look at this psalm, God’s promise is assured by the definitive use of the word will. Glance at the final three verses, would you?

Verse 14, I will deliver him. I will set him securely on high. Verse 15, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. And in verse 16, two more, I will satisfy him with long life. I will let him see my salvation. Those are incredible promises.

Psalmist is recording God’s testimony at this juncture, and it is as if God is responding to the believer’s affection for him. Verse 14, because he has loved me, because he has known my name, describing that intimate relationship that the believer has with God. You see, though imperfectly, the believer does love his or her God, and God, in response, now affirms his promises. Here God says, I will deliver him.

It’s not a mere rescue, though, but it’s a rescue that exalts the believer to a higher place, an exalted place. Securely on high, he says. God moves him from the miry pit to heavenly glory. So great is the salvation bestowed. Verse 15, God speaks of communion with his child of faith. He will call upon me and I will answer. What an incredible promise. It’s God’s response to his child’s prayer. What a promise we have in crying out to God in moments of excruciating anxiety. Those moments and seasons that he refers to here as trouble, who hasn’t faced that?

And here, the wise believer goes to the only reasonable place. He goes to the throne of grace, to receive, as the writer of Hebrews calls it, to receive mercy and find grace to help. Final blessing that God mentions, verse 16, is that of the length of life, physically and spiritually. He tells of the satisfaction of long life on this earth.

Now, as for the believer, trusting in God, however long God gives us is long enough. Jesus himself said that we can’t add a single hour to our lives. Our days are numbered or ordained by God himself. Virgin says here, whether he dies young or old, he is quite satisfied. He shall rise from life’s banquet as a man who has had enough and would not have more even if he could. When life is over, God’s salvation takes over, eternal life begins. And so there is indeed a call here in Psalm 91 to a deep and abiding faith. That was the very purpose of the first line that the psalmist uttered. The articulation of that glorious truth.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. He’s pleading for others to come under that protection. This is the promise that all believers in Christ enjoy. The writer of the psalm wants everyone to hear and to know this truth.

It’s the very reason that he adds his own declaration of commitment in verses two and three. My refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust. And he beckons others to join him under that care. The very reason that he detailed the extent of God’s promise.

Remember that security and consolation, preservation and protection. The psalmist calls all believers to a living and abiding faith so as to experience God’s promise to the full. But there seems to be a conflict here. Believers are called to God’s promise. And yet they continue to experience these dreadful things. Night terrors, arrows, war, its dreadful effects, pestilence, disease and its effects, destruction, whether from war, earthquake, tornado or flood. Christians have and do experience all of these things. And so there seems to be a contradiction here.

And in seeking to explain this, Charles Spurgeon makes a comment that could be misconstrued. He says, the blessings here promised are not for all believers. but for those who live in close fellowship with God. I understand what Charles Spurgeon is urging there. In essence, it’s the same lesson as John 15, the vine and the branches, that unless we abide in Christ, we will not be fruitful.

But someone, to take Spurgeon’s thoughts here and come off sounding very much like the typical health and wealth preacher. That if you’re experiencing any of these things, terror and arrows and pestilence and destruction, that perhaps you’re not as godly as you should be. That you’re not as faithful as you ought to be. That you’re not as committed as you could be. that maybe you’re not even saved. If we’ve experienced any of these difficulties, perhaps we have not sought the shelter of the Most High. That’s the kind of thinking that Job’s friends brought with their counsel.

The truth is, a person could draw as near as possible to God, have the greatest, most faithful and trusting relationship with Him, and still experience life’s difficulties, terror, arrows, pestilence, destruction. Moses and God’s people experienced it. Jesus and His disciples experienced it. Believers of all ages have experienced these things. That doesn’t make them less godly or faithful.

Paul dealt with this apparent conundrum in 2 Corinthians when he referred to life’s difficulties as momentary light affliction. What the psalmist is saying here is that even if the believer should experience any of these earthly difficulties, Ultimately, we have a relationship with God that nothing can touch. God is sovereign in the twists and turns of His providence. Even the most godly believers have experienced dreadful things in this life. At the end of Hebrews chapter 11, we have this amazing account. After all the great Hall of Faith moments of fantastic things that people, God’s people have done.

Listen to the end of Hebrews 11. Others were tortured. Wait a minute. Hebrews 11? Others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others experienced mockings and scourgings. Yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, men of whom this world was not worthy. wandering in deserts and in mountains and in caves and in holes in the ground.

And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Not in this life. If this psalm was written by Moses, he experienced the ill treatment with the people of God, having eschewed his assumed position as Pharaoh’s offspring, and the passing pleasures of sin that came with it. He experienced Pharaoh’s wrath because of his rejection. Moses experienced all the hardships and difficulties that God’s people experienced during their wilderness wanderings in the desert. And in fact, he was himself, in the end, disallowed from entering the promised land. Would God’s people turn in closing to Romans chapter 8? Romans chapter 8. which I believe is the point that the psalmist was making here. Verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? The obvious answer is nothing. Nothing can separate us. Look at verse 38. I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He is our shield and defender. If we are in Him, we are secure as we possibly can be. Nothing, nothing can touch the child of God. Would you humble yourself before Him?

Our gracious King, we come before you and we know this truth because we know that you have dealt with our sin. And that because of that, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Father, we take great comfort because regardless of what the world throws at us, regardless of what difficulties are present in this world, in this life, we know that we are secure because of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we know that there are many among us who do not know the Lord Jesus as Savior, who do not enjoy this security.

They are nervous and concerned and distracted and distressed. Paul says that they are without hope and without God in this world. And Lord, we thank you. We thank you that you have done your part to mitigate against those unreasonable fears. They are unreasonable because God has already provided. He’s provided the salvation through his son, the Lord Jesus. And to not look to Christ is nothing short of foolish.

Father, we thank you for so many. who have humbled themselves before you, acknowledged that they are sinners, repented and turned from that sin and placed their faith in the only hope for sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for turning our hearts and we pray that for those among us who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior, we pray that you would turn their hearts as well. We thank you, Father, for your word to us. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, amen.