WWUTT 1129 He Who Dwells in the Shelter of the Most High?

If we have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, God will most certainly protect us from the schemes of Satan. But don't you know that God will even protect you from Himself and His own judgment when we understand the text?

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Reading Psalm 91 and the Structure of the Psalm

Thank you, Becky. Well, in our Thursday study, we've been in the Psalms, and I'll pick up where we left off last week. That would be Psalm 91. We don't have a title to this psalm. It's not mentioned who the author is.

I'll begin by reading all 16 verses. 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 He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High who is My refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.

For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

Because He holds fast to me in love, I will deliver Him. I will protect Him because He knows My name. When He calls to me, 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 show Him my salvation. What a beautiful psalm. And you certainly had thought the same as I was reading through this. Now, there are not any pauses or where we would occasionally see that word, say la, come up.

A moment of reflection on the things that have been said. But you still identify in this particular psalm several different movements. Sometimes it is the psalmist speaking, and sometimes it is the Lord speaking.

We begin Psalm 91 with, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. It's being spoken here as in third person, but then it shifts to speaking in the second person, and eventually even to first person.

So you have first, second, and third person tenses throughout this psalm. The opening phrase here sets the stage for the rest of the psalm. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, and then you'll have a reference to fortress, will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

And you have a couple of references to being beneath His wings. I will say to the Lord my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. This reference to God being a fortress is something we've seen come up several times in the psalms.

Deliverance From the Snare of the Fowler and the Schemes of Satan

Verse 3, for He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. Now we have deadly pestilence, so that reference to pestilence come up again here in a moment, so I'll mention that later.

But He'll deliver you from the snare of the fowler. Now what is a fowler? Well have you ever been duck hunting before? Or dove hunting? Pheasant hunting? Then you would be a fowler. A fowler is a person who hunts birds.

And that's a significant comparison or metaphor here in this particular psalm, because it's not just a one-off sort of a thing. Since we have references to being beneath His wings. So the person who is in the shadow of the Almighty and beneath His wings would be the one whom the fowler hunts.

You think of in Matthew 23, where Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.

And you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, He makes a comparison to them being as chicks that are gathered beneath a hen's wings.

And so likewise we, when we are gathered by the Father beneath His wings, the comparison to us being as birds, as His chicks, that the fowler hunts and He protects us from the fowler. Now, the interesting thing here is this reference in Matthew 23 comes in light of the woes that Jesus had given the Pharisees, the seven woes.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, which He says over and over again. And they, of course, were the religiously pious. We're greater than everybody else because we keep to the laws of God better than anyone.

They even make up their own laws that they keep to. And if you want to enter the kingdom of God, of course, that's not the term that they use, but they would say you have to be as pious as we are. So it could be that the fowler in this case, if we take that understanding from Matthew 23 and maybe apply it to Psalm 91, the fowler would be the one who is the legalist.

Someone who is saying to you, you must be as religiously great as I, or you must do these things religiously well if you are going to gain the favor of God. This creates a snare. It is a scheme of Satan to get a person to believe that they have to do a series of works in order to merit the favor of God.

But we know just by studying grace that we cannot merit the favor of God. Otherwise, we would not receive his grace. For grace is unmerited favor. And in fact, in our case, it's demerited favor. For what we deserve from God is judgment, his wrath.

And yet he has shown us grace and mercy through his son, Jesus Christ. By faith in the Lord Christ, we are protected from the schemes and snares of Satan to try to convince us it's by our works we're saved, and then he's even going to convince us, but you can't do enough anyway.

See, you're not even a good enough person. So why even try? Come and play in my world instead. And we do have a reference to armor that comes up here, and I'll come back to that here in just a moment.

So once again, verse 3. For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions. That's a reference to wings. And under his wings you will find refuge.

His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler. There is reference to armor. But first of all, a reference to pinions. You may even have a translation that says feathers, because that's the other way. That's what a pinion is.

That's what a pinion is, not what an opinion is. Man, have I stumbled over my words enough now to confuse everybody? A pinion, not an opinion, is a feather. He will cover you with his feathers. This verse, by the way, here in Psalm 91, 4, is the verse that Bethel Church uses to manipulate people into thinking the feathers that they will dump on them in a worship service are actual angel feathers.

They've done this many, many times. In fact, there was one person that I met who had attended a service. It wasn't at Bethel, but it was a Bethel-influenced church. And they said in the middle of the worship service, feathers started falling from the ceiling.

And they even gathered some up and took them back to their hotel room and chuckled at how much of a gag this was. They had gone to this event excited about attending an awesome worship service because they were big fans of the music that was going to be performed there and stuff like that.

When they dumped feathers on the crowd, they were looking at each other going, this is all just a big con. They're actually telling us these are angel feathers, and we know they're not. And he told me that he still had them, and he showed them to people sometimes.

It was what influenced him to leave the charismatic movement. But some people are totally fooled by this, including everybody that's at Bethel who's encountered this. Bill Johnson has outright said, I mean, he stood on the stage and said, these are actual angel feathers because Psalm 91, 4 says, he will cover you with his pinions.

And anyway, but that's not what the verse means. I mean, this is totally metaphorical. It is not literal. He will cover you with his wings. Under them you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler.

What is faith described as in the armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6? It's the shield, right? The shield of faith by which you can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one and look at what the shield protects you from in the next verse.

You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day. The flaming darts. Yeah, Paul wasn't just coming up with a suit of armor off the top of his head. He was making Old Testament references to armor, which comes up in more places than just Psalm 91, namely the way that Isaiah talked about armor.

So here, even in the Psalms, you have a reference to a shield of faith, and it's because of God's faithfulness toward us that we can mount up a shield of faith in him because we know he is steadfast and strong, and it is our trust in God that is going to help us endure in a time of trouble.

You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day, whether you are talking about being asleep or being awake. Our Lord is with us and protecting us. And here we have a reference to pestilence again.

Nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. These are even references to the judgment of God here. So it's not just talking about a scheme of Satan here. It's talking about the judgment of God.

Pestilence is a disease that God sends on the land. He talked about this with Solomon. He talked about it with Jeremiah and in Ezekiel. I think I mentioned Ezekiel earlier this week. Ezekiel 33, where God talks about the watchman and says, when I send the sword or the pestilence upon a land, when God is sending judgment upon the land, and a pestilence is a disease that you can't see coming, it just happens.

So therefore you have the pestilence that stalks in darkness and the destruction that wastes at noonday. So previously you had the terror of the night and the arrow that flies by day. Those are the schemes of Satan.

And then verse 6, the pestilence that stalks in darkness and the destruction that wastes at noonday. Those are the judgments of God. So God will protect us both from his judgment and the schemes of Satan.

What is it that God saves us from? Whenever we talk about Jesus being our Savior, saving us from what? Oftentimes when that question is asked, the answer is, well, from our sin. Or he saves us from death.

Those answers are true. But most especially Jesus saves us from the wrath of God that is coming against our sin. And that wrath would result in our death and ultimate destruction under his judgment. But Jesus died on the cross for our sins, taking the wrath of God upon himself so that we would not perish under God's wrath.

But in him, in Christ Jesus, we have everlasting life. So Jesus saves us from our sin and from the wages of sin, which is death. But most importantly, he saves us from the judgment of God. And so you have in verse 16, jumping to the end of the psalm, with long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

Saving us not just from the schemes of Satan, but saving us even from his own judgment. Now we're taking those two themes there in verse 5 and 6, where you have the schemes of Satan and the judgment of God, and apply that to verses 7 and 8.

A thousand may fall at your side. God's side? No, no, no. Your side. The person who is being protected by God. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High. So it references that in the third person at the start of the psalm, but then it jumps into first person, I will say to the Lord, and then it goes to second person, for he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler.

So you are the one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, as though addressing that person who is dwelling there in the fortress. So a thousand may fall at your side. They fall at your side because they have failed to defend against the schemes of Satan, or they have not been saved by the judgment of God.

Ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will not be manipulated by the devil, and God is not going to allow you to fall under his own judgment. He has saved you on that day.

You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked, whether a person falls by Satan's doing or by God's doing. Either way, they're wicked. They come under the judgment of God because they're wicked.

They're led astray by Satan because they're wicked. So this is the recompense of the wicked. They're falling either by their own demise or by God's judgment. Verses 9 and 10, Once again, schemes of Satan, judgment of God.

No evil shall be allowed to befall you. That's Satan's doing. No plague shall come near your tent. That is the judgment of God. Verse 11,. Because the ways that we live by, that we go about in, are the ways of God.

We're walking in godliness. We're pursuing the way of the righteous. And so, therefore, our ways are guarded. God will even command his angels concerning you. Think about having the heavenly army at your side.

What can touch you when God has commanded angels concerning you? Verse 12,. You know, it's true that Jesus Christ is referred to as a lion. He is referenced as the lion of Judah. But more than Christ referenced to a lion, we often see Satan described as the lion.

And that would be so in this particular case. You will tread on the lion in the adder. It's in 1 Peter 5, where Peter describes Satan as a prowling lion looking for someone to devour. And, of course, we know that Satan is described as the great serpent, that ancient serpent.

He's introduced as a serpent in Genesis 3. He's referred to as such even in the book of Revelation. Only he grows into a dragon by the end of the book. So, adder is a snake. Verse 14, This is in the first person, and it's the rest of the psalm.

Verses 14 through 16, Who? Who is it that God delivers? He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High. Right? Because he holds fast to me in love. He loves the Lord. Loves the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.

So God says, I will protect him. Because he knows my name. He doesn't just know him as some sort of an entity, a deist god that exists somewhere out there. But he has a personal relationship with God.

Think of how personal it is for you to know someone's name. And be able to call them by name. How many people in your church do you not know? Whose names you don't know. And you would have to go up to them and say, hey, remind me your name again.

I know we worship together, and we have done so for months, but I don't know your name. So how personal does it become when you know a person's name? There is something personal about that. It's not just a label that you have on that person.

Which is probably the way that you quote unquote know famous people. You don't know them personally, but you know their name. In which case, their name is just a label. But when you have a personal acquaintance with somebody.

You can go over to their house. You can sit and chat. You can refer to them as a companion. Then their name has a more personal association with it. So when you know the name of God, there's an intimacy to that.

You are intimate with God. He's not just the thing out there that I worship. He is someone I know who is with me now. I will protect him because he knows my name. How is it that we know God's name? Because he has called us first by name.

We know him because he first knew us. Romans 8 .29. Those whom he foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son. Verse 15. When he calls to me. When the one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High calls to God.

I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. You will be honored by God. When you walk in his righteousness. When you draw near to him. When you desire to live in godliness.

When you want to be as Christ. Verse 16. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. And we've already talked about that verse. Of course we know the long life that we receive is not just that you would live to be 80, 90, 100 years old.

You may not. You may be a completely devoted Christian and not live past 50. And yet you will still have long life if you are in Christ Jesus. Because you will dwell with him forever in his heavenly kingdom.

Amen. So like I said in the very beginning. What a beautiful psalm this is. And worth devoting our full 20 minute devotional to. Let's pray. Our heavenly father we thank you for calling us to you. For showing yourself to us.

That we might know you through your son Jesus Christ. As Jesus said in Matthew 11. No one knows the father except the son. And anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. So we have come to know you.

Because you have called us to yourself. And the sheep hear the voice of the good shepherd. And we follow him. So may we continue to do so. Not being led astray by the schemes of Satan. But we love the law of our Lord God.

Teach us today to love you. And praise you in all of our circumstances. Finding joy in the Lord. For that is our strength. Our fortress and our shield in a time of trouble. You will be with us today. We ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

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