Psalm 91 - The Secret Place
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Read Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; 11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. 12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. 13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. 14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
Life is full of the unexpected
For most of us
where life has taken us
what happened in life
was not what we thought when we were
little toddlers
When you talk with kids
about their future
they are hopeful
for all being well
assuming health
financial stability
reaching all their goals
doing what they are passionate about
with a good work life balance
and many people loving them.
and being kind to them
then life’s challenges come in various forms
in various times
When things get shaken up
when things unexpecantly happen
what do we do?
where do we go?
Freak out?
try to run away?
pretend it doesnt exist?
fall apart?
complain to the world?
are some common natural
reactions
sometimes its a part of grief.
and thats okay.
but this Psalm
encourages us
to go to Him.
it is broken up
with a repetition
with going to Him
then goes into examples from going to Him.
then it talks about going to Him again
then goes into more examples from going to Him again.
read psalm 91
As this Psalm repeats the the theme of going to God with our problems that He is a shelter, a refuge, a fortress.
then shares some examples
we need to be careful not too focus too hard on the the examples and miss the point.
Some can read and try to teach that
from these examples
and treat them as promises
That we will not experience hardships or trials
and miss the key point for why these powerful examples were written
lets first note them
the first set of examples of going to God are seen in verses 5-8
shall not be afraid of the terror by night
or the arrow that flies by day, the pestilence in the darkness,
or the thousand that may all at your side
which is about many coming against you.
or the destruction that comes at noon
from verses 10-13 we get more examples of His protection
of no evil befalling us, or any plague come near we live, that
we have been given angels to take care over us, that they will bear us , and that we should tread upon the lion and cobra.
looking at these examples we can
mistakenly draw the wrong conclusion
Just like Satan did
with Jesus in the wilderness
as he quoted from this passage
and told Jesus to throw Himself down
because the angels will protect Him.
so we need to make sure we understand this passage correctly.
as we can mistakenly conclude that
if we do not
need to fear those things or that no evil shall befall
whatever example
that we will not experience any hardships
or sufferings....
We WILL experience hardships and sufferings.
what are these examples about?
these examples show us what God’s protection can do
and that we do not need to be afraid of them
because destruction trials terrors,
can come in the night night or by day, in darkness or at noonday. It could come as terror or by arrow, as a pestilence or as destruction.
in other words you may experience an attack
or a sickness, or a loss of what you possess.
The key point to this Psalm
is we can go to God and trust Him.
That He has a secret place that we can dwell in!
we can go to God and trust Him
May we consider the characteristics we see of God
through this Psalm
After worship we will talk more about these characteristics
and see why we can go to Him and trust Him.
But In knowing that we will suffer note what is said about God here:
He has a secret place,
a shadow,
a refuge x2
fortress,
a covering,
under His wings,
a shield and buckler
dwelling place
God is who and where we can go to for protection
when we have problems may we go to God for protection
not people
I have felt and I know many have also felt
the fear, hurts broken, pain
when this evil world did something to you
When the results of sin
and the evil cruelty this world had
When youre scared
your hurt
your broken
you
Have you ever felt like running under the covers
try to hide from your pain
you want to just go to sleep
where everything is okay.
and you dont have to deal with it all
no better place then to dwell in the secret place
to live in the secret place
secret place can also mean a covering place,
When your looking for a place to hide
I picture someone running for their life
or myself when I have tried to hide under covers
that God says hide here
with His arms open wide
verse 4
says he shall cover you with His feathers
and under His wings for refuge
this give us the picture of the great hug from the father
that bring us very close to Him
When you think of a eagles wings when it wraps its wings
you see its head searching and looking
its not hiding with you or covering its own face
We hide where we know God is protecting
looking out for us
we dont have to see if our problems are still chasing us down.
so take that hug in from God
this speaks of our one on one relationship with God
a closeness between myself and Him
In reading the gospel we see Jesus
sometimes
would withdraw
To have time with just Him and the Father
then
Jesus said in Matthew 6:6
6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
this speaks of relationship!
which is why it says tin verse 1 that He who dwells in the secret place of the most high
shall abide in the shadow of the alighty
because
while the secret place speaks of comfort and safety and close relationship
this speaks towards guidance from a close relationship .
because to live in a shadow means that as you must be close to the person
you are are following the person.
If you were in the shadow of someone here you would be close to them
and if they walked you walked, if they stopped you stopped.
Well to be in the shadow of the Almighty is to go where He goes
to follow His leading and direction.
so while the enemy tries to convince us into sin
He leads us away
when circumstances and trials want to take control
we follow His leading.
a few times in Psalms 91 does it say He is a refuge
this means He is a safe place,
where there is provision, and rest.
You feel like you been running around?
Do you feel drained?
He is a place of refuge
where we can get what we need.
lastly
When we face trials, terrors, torments, tragedy
His truth is a shield and buckler
buckeler is another word for shield sometimes means wall
the point is that His truth is what we can get behind
His truth protects us from the lies
that often follow tragedy
In Ephesians 6
lies like
God doesnt love you because this happened
God doesnt care
God hates you
lies often follow tragedy because Satan is relentless
and he will use it to try to cause doubt, confusion, and division.
His truth is a shield
whats His truth?
well Jesus is the truth (John 14:6)
but look at the truth statements God says in verses 14-16
“I will deliver him”
“I will set him on high”
“I will answer him”
“I will be with him”
“I will deliver and honor him”
“I will satisfy him”
“I will show him My salvation”
these are some powerful truths from God
that we can hold onto.
so
Here we see this amazing truth
that we can be held by Him
He covers us
God is near the broken hearted
He is compassionate
He is the one we can run to
He is who we should run to.
Our God is all these things for us...
how?
how can we get close to God?
how do we have that close one on one relationship?
look again at verses 14-16:
Love Him
Know His name
Call on Him
LOVE HIM
a close relationship involves love
while we can show our love for Him through worship
and prayers, and proclaiming it to others.
John 14:15, 1 John 5:3, Joshua 22:5, 1 John 2:5, 2 John 1:6 all show us the same way we can love God
it is through obeying His commands
this involves much of how we live
the ten commandments
preaching the gospel
making disciples
repentance
but also very much has to do with loving others
how we treat others
do we show others God’s love
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
and the second point in our section is to know His name
so may we know each other
KNOW HIS NAME
to know someones name in this
time is to know the person
for us to know His name is
is to know Him
have megan come up
Call ON HIM
the HEB word for call
can also mean to shout, to appoint, to proclaim, to announce, to invoke, to summon, to invite, to give a name to.
this is that I need help type of:
God! Please help me
Lord please hear me
Heavenly Father I need you
hey calling on a brother and sister is good
calling on your pastor is good
but when we call on God
we are going to the one who can protect us
who can answer with truth
who can deliver
and satisfy and save!
Get close to God into His secret place, His refuge, under His shadow, shielded
by loving Him, (obeying Him),
Knowing Him,
and calling on Him.
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