A Psalm of Trust – Psalm 91
By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
November 17, 2024 – Psalm 91
We are in the middle of a series called “Psalms For Your Life,” Where we have been looking at different kinds of Psalms. Today, we’re going to look at a Psalm of trust by looking at Psalm 91. All the Psalms that I’m going to look at in this series this is by far one of the more difficult Psalms to explain.
Did you know that the devil can quote scripture? He can twist scripture to undermine your faith, to get you off track, and to make you fearful.
Come with me for a moment to Matthew chapter 4. This is how the chapter starts.
Matthew 4:1–7 (NIV)
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
(Now, here is the part I want you to catch.)
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Does the scripture that the devil quoted ring any bells? It might be because it was just read to you. It is found in the Psalm that we’re going to look at today – Psalm 91
Let me read that part of the Psalm in context.
Psalm 91:9–12 (NIV)
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Why I want to point out that the devil can use scripture and that he used this Psalm is that you can read parts of this Psalm and be made to doubt the goodness of God, the love of God, and possibly your relationship with God.
You see, you can read.
Psalm 91:5–7 (NLT)
5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
You read this, and then what happens when you get struck by a metaphorical arrow in the middle of the day? What happens when your life feels like a disaster? What happens if you do get a dreaded disease. Satan will come along and tell you that the word of God is not true. Or he will tell you that you are not good enough for God. As we walk through this Psalm together, I want you to hear God’s word to you, and I do not want the devil whispering in your ears. He is a liar and the father of lies. He will try to distort what God has said.
With that in mind, let us jump into today’s Psalm. The author of this Psalm is not identified, but Jewish rabbis and most Bible commentators believe that this Psalm was written by Moses. The question that the Psalm is trying to answer is the same question that you will have to answer. The question is, “Does trusting God make a difference in my life.”
You and I both know the Sunday school answer to this. We know what the answer should be. But do you really believe that trusting God makes a difference in your life?
The Psalmist starts out by talking about what it means to trust in God.
Psalm 91:1–2 (NIV)
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
What does it mean to dwell in the shelter of God? What does it mean to rest in the shadow of the almighty? If you understand what is going on here, it will help you understand part of what is going on in the rest of this Psalm.
Proverbs 18:10 (NLT)
10 The name of the Lord is a strong fortress;
the godly run to him and are safe.
When the Bible talks about the name of God, it is talking about all of who God is, especially his character.
Psalm 61, a Psalm of David, uses the same concept we are looking at today.
Psalm 61:3–4 (NIV)
3 For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.
4 I long to dwell in your tent forever
and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
When David talks about longing to dwell in his tent, he is talking about the Tabernacle of God or the presence of God.
So, let me put this together. When the Psalmist talks about living in the shelter of the most high, he is talking about both living in a way that is consistent with the character of God and living in the presence of God.
Jesus said that if you love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength, you will be living consistently with the character of God. If you are doing what Paul said to do and are being filled with the Spirit of God, then you are living in the presence of God.
In other words, if you are living the normal Christian life, you are dwelling in the shelter of the most high and resting in the shadow of the Almighty.
I point this out because, over the years as a pastor, I have seen a lot of messy lives. There were some places along my spiritual journey where my life was messy. Here is what I have noticed. Most, not all, but most, messes in our lives come because we have disregarded what God has said and instead of living in his presence, we have looked for ways to distance ourselves from his presence.
I could tell away too many stories of people blowing up their lives with adultery or blowing up relationships with gossip and slander. I have walked with too many people who lived with secret sin, and it has come back to bite them. I have watched judgmental people reaping judgment. Stingy people reaping what they sow. Unforgiving people reaping bitterness.
Now, I am so thankful for the grace and mercy of God. God’s forgiveness is available. His mercy is real. The power of the cross goes deeper than any of our sin. So, if your life is a mess, there is still real hope for you. God, like the father in the story of the prodigal son, waits for his children to come home. The son was in a mess. He was in the pig pen of life – literally and figuratively. But when he came to his senses and came back to the Father – the Father embraced him.
As I said before, as a pastor, I have seen a lot of messy lives. Many of these messy lives were Christians. They had invited Jesus into their life. When their life got messy, even though you could trace the messages back to their failure to trust God by living in the ways that God has said to live, they would question God. How can God allow this to happen to me? Why didn’t God stop me?
When the Psalmist talks about trusting God – When he says,
Psalm 91:1–2 (NIV)
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
He is not talking about the kind of faith that will get you into heaven. He is talking about the kind of faith that believes that God is on your side. That he has given you his commandment to protect you and not to make life miserable for you. When we trust God and live in his presence, we say that we’re going to do things God’s way, not our way. Living this way will not save you from all the messes in life, but it will save you from most of them.
*****
Now, we come to the middle part of the Psalm. You may remember that when we introduced the series on the Psalms, we talked about how many of the Psalms were people’s expressions of their experience with God and with life. You may remember when we did a Psalm of lamentation, and the Psalmist said, “How long will Lord, how long, will you forget me forever?” That was David expressing his experience with God and with life. He was expressing how he felt.
I believe that the middle part of the Psalm we’re looking at today is the Psalmist’s experience of God and of life.
Psalm 91:3–4 (NIV)
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
These verses are metaphorical. A fowler’s snare is a bird trap. The Psalmist is not saying that you are going to be saved from a bird trap. He is saying that those things that can trap you in life.
If you trust God, you can avoid the snares that greed brings, that power brings, that comfort brings, that doubt, and fear bring. If you trust God, you can avoid the snares of pride or self-abasement. You can avoid the snares of unforgiveness and hatred. There are a lot of things that want to ensnare you. There are a lot of things that Are deadly pestilence to our soul. Trusting God has a way of helping you to avoid these things and saving you from these things.
That being said, this does not mean that if you do everything right, it will be easy. It does not mean that if you trust God well, everything is going to go your way.
You see, life can become messy because of the things that you do. But it can also become difficult because of the things other people do to you and against you.
If you were abused, it was not your fault. But until you work through the stuff that came with the abuse, your life will be messy and difficult. There are all kinds of injustices in our world. If you are on the receiving end of those, life can become difficult. The Bible says that we don’t war against flesh and blood, but Satan can use people to do evil things to us.
This is where verse 4 comes in.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You don’t need a refuge if you are not under attack. You don’t need a shield if the fiery darts of the evil one are not being fired at you. A rampart is a large wall around a town or a castle. You don’t need that kind of wall if you have no enemies.
But here is what I have found, God is faithful. His faithfulness and his promises are our armour and protection. When life throws its spears and arrows at us, you need a refuge. You can find that refuge in the faithfulness of God.
Here is the Psalmist speaking out of his experience. I think the NLT says it a little better,
Psalm 91:5–8 (NLT)
5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
8 Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.
When you believe that God is faithful – When you believe that God is present – then you can trust him for whatever comes your way. Not everything that happens to you is the will of God for you. God does not will evil to happen. But when the arrows of life are flying, and uncertainty is stalking you, and the odds seem stacked against you, God is still faithful.
I have had the privilege of walking with both Christians and non-Christians through the dark valleys of life. There is a significant difference. When I walk with Christians through grief -make no mistake it hurts deeply. But the Bible says that we grieve, but we grieve with hope. That is very different then a person who believes that this world is all there is. When I walk with those who trust in God when the future feels very uncertain, they experience all the normal emotions – fear, anxiety, uncertainty about what the future holds and often helplessness to change the current circumstances. But people of faith who trust in the faithfulness of God -experience all those things, and yet they have something to hold onto. When they push into God in the middle of those trying circumstances, they find that God is very present.
Walking with people without faith in these circumstances is like walking with people whose boat has become unmoored. They are adrift in the storm. There is a difference in how we face the things in life.
It becomes problematic when Christians approach life the same way as people without faith. I would encourage you to ask yourself, do I trust in the faithfulness of God? What I have found is that if there is just a little bit of faith, God will use the trials of life to expand your faith. But if you refuse to lean on God in the trials of life, it will crush your faith.
The Psalmist goes on –
Psalm 91:9–13 (NLT)
9 If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.
11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
13 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
This was the scripture that the devil quoted to Jesus. That does not make the scripture invalid. It just means that it can be taken in the wrong way. If you just take this scripture in isolation, you might be tempted to think that bad things won’t happen to people who trust God – but bad things can happen even to people who trust in God. After all, Jesus was crucified. The worst of tortures happened to the best of people.
But the Psalmist here is testifying to something that I have observed over my life. I have seen God answer prayer. When I look back over my life and see what could have happened and compare it to what did happen, all I can say is that God has been good.
There were times when I could have died but didn’t. There have been so many times in my life where I have worried or been afraid of what could happen, but I have seen the hand of God and answered prayer. I am sure that many of you could look at your life and say if what I worried about happened, my life would be very different and not for the better. It is a good exercise to look back from time to time. Because oftentimes we will see the fingerprints of God on our lives when we look back.
Trusting God does not mean that we will never experience bad things. But I have seen so many things work out because I trusted God. I’m sure that many of you could say the same thing. Trusting God makes a difference.
Up until this point in the Psalm, the Psalmist has been telling us what he has experienced in life. He is telling us about what he has observed about God in his life. Now, the voice of the psalmist switches. He goes from “here is how I have experienced life” to the voice of God himself.
Psalm 91:14–16 (NLT)
14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name. 15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them.
16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”
You will notice that verse 14 is set up in a parallel structure. That simply means that the Psalmist is saying the same thing in two different ways. You will notice that loving God and trusting God are synonymous. Loving God and trusting God are two sides of the same coin.
When you love God and trust God, your prayers become powerful.
Psalm 91:15 (NLT)
15 When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
When you love God and trust God, he promises to answer when you call out to him. We know from other places in scripture where the answer may be yes, or it may be no, or maybe wait. Often, when God says no, he has a bigger and better yes in mind. But God will answer.
It does not mean that your life will be trouble-free. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.” The Psalmist says that I will be with them in trouble. You are going to experience trouble, but if you love God and trust God, you will find him very present. He is going to meet you right where you’re at and walk with you through whatever you’re going through. You can trust him.
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The question that this Psalm is trying to answer is the same question that you will have to answer. The question is, “Does trusting God make a difference in my life.” The answer is yes.
So, my question to you is, will you trust God with the trouble you’re going through right now? Will you believe that God is good even when life isn’t? For those of you who love God and trust God in the middle, In trouble, you will find that he is faithful and very present. You will find that as you call out to him, he will answer. You will find that he is good.