Psalm 91 New American Standard Bible 1995
Security of the One Who Trusts in the Lord.
91 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
3 For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the pestilence that [a]stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
8 You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
9 [b]For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
10 No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your [c]tent.
11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the [d]serpent you will trample down.
14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
15 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in [e]trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 “With [f]a long life I will satisfy him
And [g]let him see My salvation.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Safe and Sound
If you know how big and scary and difficult the world is, this psalm is for you.
These are powerful words of comfort: God is our shelter; God will cover us with his feathers spread wide, and under God’s wings we will find refuge.
Birds do that by instinct; they see a threat and spread their wings, forming a canopy of protection.
Their offspring run for cover and huddle there until the danger passes.
Reflecting on the relationship between God and ourselves, the psalmist says God will protect us in a way like that.
We can find refuge under his wings. Surely God will shield and protect us.
But it also happens that sometimes a threat doesn’t pass us by, and we don’t feel protected at all.
The promise is not that pain and tragedy will magically flow around us, but that ultimately nothing can, will, ever separate us from the reach of our God’s arms.
We live “in the shelter of the Most High”; we rest and find comfort “in the shadow of the Almighty.”
We do not fear because the all-powerful God of heaven and earth is here with us, walking alongside and standing beside us, in front of us and behind us, as a mother hen who will never abandon her young.
We’re safe in God’s care, and he is always with us.
When the Terror Comes and the Arrows Start Flying
June 2023 that terror came and the arrows started flying right at my own heart.
Up and until my 3 bypass open heart surgery in July 2023 I was a doer by nature.
I loved setting goals, scheduling, and keeping life tied up in a tidy little bow.
Now, all these seven months later my goal-setting took on a new life of its own.
At this phase of my rehabilitation, with all the good things I wanted to do, I give myself one pep talk after another and I have tried to convince myself I could do it all, with a lot of rest, little help from my trusty goal-planner (wife), of course.
Soon, my morning prayer and Bible reading were pushed to the forefront to make room for more God-given steps forward toward reaching those goals.
Yet, still, too easily, I would become winded, exhausted, utterly unmotivated.
All my wife’s careful planning would go by the wayside devolving into my naps.
I had become so accustomed to consulting the pages of my agenda at the start of each day that I didn’t realize how it affected my relationship with the Lord.
Now, instead of waking up looking forward to spending a few minutes in God’s presence, I was reaching straight for my planner to see what needed to be done.
My choice to start each day with my own strength began affecting every part of my life. I needed to be willing to set aside my agenda and learn to abide in Jesus.
In the Gospel narrative of John, in the Upper Room discourse, Jesus had over emphasized the essence of abiding when he described himself as the vine and his followers as the branches.
In John chapter 15, we see the word “abide” used several times.
John 15:1-11 New American Standard Bible 1995
Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches
15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He [a]prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already [b]clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit [c]of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so [d]prove to be My disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
ABIDE: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3306/kjv/tr/0-1
Our taking a much deeper dive into Scripture to carefully look at the original meaning behind Jesus’ message reveals this God spoken life-changing truth.
There’s no better place to be than abiding in him.
Psalm 91:1 illustrates this truth well, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”
Jesus also knew our tendency toward striving, so in his message to his people, he added,
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
We can do nothing of value apart from Christ.
Only average, tasteless fruit comes from a branch separated from the richness of his love.
I believe Jesus knew how hard it would be for us go-getter types to “abide.”
We want to do good things and share the love of Jesus through serving others.
But goals, absent God, can become idols, stealing the focus of our hearts.
The amazing truth I have discovered in this long course of my cardiac rehab is that learning to re-discipline myself to abide in the Lord draws me into a deeper awareness of the Holy Spirit working in our (mine, my wife’s) maturing lives.
Through these difficult and challenging heart agenda weighted times, it helps us stay patient with each other, love each other more and aligned with his will.
God enjoys our fellowship with him, and in those precious times of awareness, our faith filled connection to him will grow in miraculous and unexpected ways.
One way we have found we can learn to abide is by setting the planner down for a while and just sitting with God for a while.
No prayer requests, no specific agenda, just spending time being present with the Creator of the universe.
Sitting in God’s presence isn’t easy at first.
It takes a continual return to total dependence.
It means opening our hearts to what God wants to do in us, again and again and again, it involves picturing ourselves setting aside our fears, resting amidst the vastly strong arms of a loving Father, as his shadow offers protection, respite.
The more we learn to abide, the more we will long to abide.
So before we return to our agenda’s and to-do lists for the day, let’s commit to spending time simply learning about, praying over and then practicing abiding.
Even five minutes a day will cultivate a deeper connection. As we lean into God’s transforming presence, may we trade our agenda for all the Father has for us.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Father and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 91:11-16 New American Standard Bible 1995
11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the [a]serpent you will trample down.
14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
15 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in [b]trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 “With [c]a long life I will satisfy him
And [d]let him see My salvation.”
Lord God, protect and shelter us, we pray. Gather us under your wings and shield us. Be our refuge in every storm of life. Be our only daily agenda In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Father God, You weaved me together on my Mother’s womb, Your thoughts of me and my future so infinite. Forgive me for the times I’ve gotten so busy with my own goals that I’ve forgotten to spend time in your presence. You are a good and faithful God, but in my rush to get things done, I forget to abide in you. Help me to lay down my own agenda and simply enjoy being connected to you. Thank you for reminding me to spend time with you as I learn how to abide. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 
I have found so much comfort in the Psalms. Thank you for a lovely post.
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