Are you covered?

Intro:

Today Church we have to know who has our back. In sports when you are on a team you need to know who has your back. In professional atmospheres you need to know who has your back. In your marriage or your home you need to know who has your back. In this nation all though times are peril we need to know who has our back. I position this point to say that when we know who has our back then we know who has us covered. Ya’ll stay with me for a minute. When your young and you make mistakes you need to be confident that your parents have your back. If you make a bad decision financially you want to make sure you have good credit so that some bank or credit union will have your back. If you fool around and miss an assignment at school but you have a good reputation with the teachers hopefully they will let you turn it in late which means they have your back! If you have an accident and/or your home is damaged from a storm you need to know that your insurance has you covered! Now all of these people, places, and situations are examples of places in which it is good to be covered, but can I say something real in this place we all have been let down in some way, shape, form, and/or fashion with all of these. Which helps me to usher in our text for today we need to make sure that we are covered by God, because God will never let you down!

Who?

Sometimes church we are more concerned about the who in people and popularity that we are connected to rather than the WHO of the Bible! Notice the text where the psalmist says, “ He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Before we can move any forward church we need to do like this psalmist we need to know who should have us covered. Notice the naming of God in this text.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

First the psalmist says. Most High which is the Hebrew Elyon. Elyon is significant because the term El means one informing us that the psalmist serves the one true God. The El-Lyon refers to the meaning that no one or no thing is Higher than our God. No problem no situation no person no government is above our God because God is Elyon meaning he is the most High God.

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Next the psalmist calls him Almighty. Almighty in the Hebrew is El Shaddai. The all powerful the all sovereign the all sufficient the all merciful God.

So watch this church. In stead of us being concerned about people we need to be concerned about the God that covers us. Because people will turn on you and betray you but God will protect you and hide you hence the text. Secret Place and Shadow. God will hide you in your time of distress! I just wonder if I have a few honest people in here who can testify that sometime in your life you just needed a place to hide. Life, trouble, and disgust had beat you to a pulp, but thank God that He was the Who you can hide under and he will can and will protect you in the midst of the storms of life.

Trust

This entire psalm is built on trusting God. Sometimes church we have to abandon our thoughts, our ideas, our passions, and our ways in order to truly trust God. Sometimes church you don’t know how much you trust God until you get into trouble. The psalmist says, “He is my refuge and my fortress”. Meaning God is their security. Let me draw you in a little because we serve a versatile God. Somebody says he’s able!

First God is a refuge. The Hebrew word Mahseh is a place of safety where you run to when you are in trouble. If it is raining you run under the porch or in the house. When you need information you go to Google. Ya’ll don’t hear me! It is a place where you run to when you need something when you are short of something. when you need food you go to the grocery store or the garden. When you hot you look for a cool place. When you are cold you look for a warm fire or a place with some heat. Some of ya’ll had to crank that heat up this week! when you are sick you run to the clinic or hospital. Notice now God is a who you need to run to whatever you need. That’s why I love him because he is my refuge! when I am thirsty he is water, when I am hungry he is food, when I am broke he is money, when I am sick he is health, when I am down he encourages my soul! touch your neighbor and say God is my refuge!

Second he said God is my Fortress. The Hebrew word (Msudah) God is my strong hold! The difference between refuge and fortress is a fortress is a place you fight from! Church we have to learn how to be strong and bold in God sometimes. Sometimes we need to stop whining, crying, and complaining and start fighting. How do we fight Pastor I am so glad you asked. With the word of God, prayer, and the Holy Spirit. Sometimes you just have to stop and say Satan I rebuke you in the name of Jesus when he attacks your marriage, your finances, your career, your family, your children, your grandchildren, your church, your pastor, your deacons, your choir, your ushers, your musicians, your................. Somebody say fight! but you cannot fight on your own you have to fight from God which means you have to trust God.

Deliver

He will deliver you, because God is a deliverer. notice what God delivers us from.

Snare: Snares are traps and in Old Testament days there were several types of snares. There were snares that were nets that would spring up and trap a bird when it landed. Then there were traps that were like those likened to a bear trap. Then there were those likened unto a pit. The purpose of all of these snares were to catch you by surprise. See the devil don’t just come up to you and say he I am the devil I come to kill you and cause you to miss your blessing NO!!!!! The enemy is sneaky and uses tactics to trick you. Like the gossiper they only give you enough false information to change your mind about something and to get your opinion so that when they call someone else they can say you said! Somebody say it’s a trap! Like people who always bring you problems they have with someone else but they never go to that person it’s a trap! Like people who borrow money and you know they are not going to pay it back but when you try to collect your money they will say I thought you were a Christian now you mad and done cursed them out, but all along it was a trap! Like when you got delivered from a habit and now every one want to pay for your drink and allow you to smoke for free you know why it’s a trap. Like when they get you fired up on the job and your the only one speaking out against something while everyone else is sitting back it’s a trap!!!!!!!! But thank God we serve a mighty God who knows how to deliver us from the trap. Can I help you this morning?!?!?! You need to learn how to say something when they come to you say Bye Felicia!!!!!!!!! Ain’t no body got time for that as Miss Brown would say!

Perilous Pestilance: Sickness and physical harm

Cover You

Under His Wings

Defend you Shield and Buckler

Protect you as your enemies fall you shall only see it as they fall on the right and left but it shall not come near you

At night time when you can’t see and in the beginning of the day when the enemy tries to attack!

Because being Covered is a choice. Can I ask you a Question are you covered????????