THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH. PSALM 91.
When you live in the security of the Almighty One, you possess a calm and safe repose. With this, you are immensely privileged, while its absence robs you of inner composure.
Please notice that this is evident in the tough times, and shows our intimate relationship with the Lord. There is a love life with our dear God, into which we have entered, for He has wooed us to Himself. David contends, ’In the time of trouble, he shall hide me in His pavilion. In the secret place of His tabernacle, he shall set me high upon a rock. ’Psalm 27:5.
God’s Word realistically implies that we shall face enemies, who plot against us, unsettling our welfare. He anticipates we shall face opposition, thus preserving us when men are vitriolic of us. David further wrote, ‘ you shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of men. You shall keep them secretly from the strife of tongues. Psalm 31:20
Corrie Ten boom sheltered Jewish refugees in their home behind secret panels until SS Police discovered the lair. When imprisoned, her sister died, pressured by Nazi torture. Corrie remained composed, living in the secret place of the most High, even at stagnant Auschwitz. In her ministry of lectures, and writing, God blessed her to many. Is He your Hiding-place?
Having saved us from our sin and washed us in His precious blood, we discover that God is personal as our private Refuge or Hiding-Place. He is not distant. He is ultra-sensitive, safeguarding us from distress; ultimately producing music from our calamities, and giving us a song in the night. Our present plight is dirge-like; until our great Conductor, raises us from a minor to a major key, when the orchestra surges. Heavenly harmony flows under his baton.
David wrote, ‘You are my Hiding-place; you shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance‘. Psalm 32:7 Oh, that God’s people would revel in this luxury.
Whereas we are often lethargic, David determined to rest securely, referring to the secure tabernacle, or residence of the King. God’s Spirit chose a bird’s feathers, indicating his adequate covering. Late research has shown the delicate intricacy of the structured feathers of a bird, an ideal security for their young. If our great Creator can secure helpless chicks, how much more can he safeguard His chosen children from onslaughts of the evil one! Rest in Him.
This is repeated in a later Psalm 61:4, ‘I will abide in your tabernacle for ever. I will trust in the shelter of your wings. Selah- pause, continually we need the security of His shelter.
To illustrate this precious truth, our Lord dispersed the nation of Israel and spiritually reconstituted the individuals in that nation. Indeed, he assured them that he would grant a sanctuary in these countries and thousands of years later, we marvel at his reassembling the protected children of Israel in the 1948 convocation to Israel. Oh, how prophecy sustains the faith of every believer in our dear Lord. Not only will the nation have a new heart oneness with the lord, but individually He performs a marvelous change within. Alas, believers may not understand or treasure the precise nature of prophecy. Ezekiel wrote,’ Thus says the Lord God, ’ Although I have cast them afar off, among the Gentiles, and scattered them among the countries, yet I will be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.' Ez. 11:16 He continued, ’I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit among them, and take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh.’ Ez.11:19.
Abiding is also a new Testament truth as the Lord spoke in John 15, ‘If you abide in Me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.’ John 15:7 Faith-saturated prayer is unlimited when we hide in our dear Lord, and his living Word operates in our lives. Long waiting with unanswered prayer may indicate that we are not resting in Him. While the psalmist speaks of abiding in Him, Scripture records that God ( the eternal one, the Almighty) actually abides in us. He is our home; and wondrously, we are home for our God. Works each way!
In his first epistle, John enlarged on this, ‘Whoever confesses that Jesus in the Son of God, God abides in Him and he in God. We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God and God in him.’ 1 Jn. 4:15
The Almighty is El Shaddai, the strong person. His shadow implies that He has placed Himself between the sun and you to protect you from the direct rays of the sun. I recall the disastrous, tropical sun bearing down on the Papua New Guinea vast rivers, and my desperate need of shade. My helpers, the fuzzy-wuzzy angels offered to build a canopy for me before embarking; which offer I self-confidently declined. As they paddled in the scorching, unshielded hothouse, my strength fizzled out. Self-assured, I had rejected their thoughtful offer. How our Lord extended his tender protection when he says, ‘Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest.' Oh, leap at this gracious offer, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty,
Our great Anatomist, the Lord, built in protection for our eye with the action of the cornea. When anything menaces the eye, the nervous mechanism acts spontaneously and protectively. Much more the beloved Savior moves in defensively when the enemy harasses us. How privileged are we? How did the mother bird discover that her wings are shelter for her chicks, and why are her chickens calmly sheltering under her strong wings. The intelligent Designer, even our God had built in this protection in His marvelous creation. Cast away your care! David taught us, ‘Show me your loving-kindness ( checed ) by your right hand. Then he implored, ‘keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings.. Psalm 17:8 David gently repeated this comforting truth in psalms 36 and 57. We do not tire of eternal verities.
Our personal testimony is powerful as seen in verse 2. The first person -I and my- dominate this amazing affirmation. Not only does it delight our Father, and strengthens our brothers and sisters in the Lord, but it powerfully awakens the unsaved and needy. We have hidden the forceful, personal statement of our faith in our worship assemblies. Some hearers will respond, ‘I never dreamed that could be your experience, for it mirrors mine‘. It is identical. And the Lord was your Refuge and Fortress through it all. ‘ I need Him desperately.
‘I will say of the Lord , He is my Refuge and my fortress, My God, in Him I will trust.' Psalm 91:2
David cannot restrain his praise when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of King Saul. He gathers numerous pictures of his Lord to record his indebtedness. It is unique in biblical record. Psalm 18:2 reads, ‘the Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer; My God my Strength, in whom I will trust; my Shield and the Horn of my salvation, my Stronghold.‘ These ten portraits of our dear Lord furnish us for crises that inevitably follow walking with the Savior.
Are you well equipped?
Our weather reports reveal clouds scurrying across the screen, a reminder of our God sweeping across the heavens to assist us, and show His incomparable beauty in doing so. Moses recorded his final blessing of Israel in Deuteronomy 33, which included this guarantee ‘He is matchless, there is no one like the God of Jeshurun, ( the righteous character of Israel ) who rides the heavens to help you, and in His Excellency on the clouds' v26. Then he stuns us, ' the eternal God is your Refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms'. In His protection,, ‘He will thrust out the enemy before you.’ v27. Knowing the psalms, we access the great God of the psalms.
Typhoid was endemic in East Java, where we lived in a kampong or village. I walked in the forest hidden behind our property finding a sweet, desperately ill girl who had wasted with typhoid. ‘Please bring her to our (house for the sick) hospital, where we will nurse her and give her special medicine. I thought of our dear children, and the constant heart cry to God for sovereign guarding. 50 years ago, I underlined my bible, ‘Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with his feathers, and under His wings shall you trust.’ v3-4 In a later psalm, David answered his foreshadowing, ‘Blessed is the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth, Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we have escaped.' His 20/20 spiritual vision affirms God‘s creative capacity, ‘Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.’ Psalm 124:6-8
God’s Word foretells His judgment will fall on those who rebel. Moses sent 12 spies in to the land of Canaan to spy out the land, in preparation for an early entry. Ten returned with negative, pessimistic reviews, while Joshua and Caleb were positive, optimistic, advocating immediate entry. Our view point determines our approach to life. ‘Men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, returned with all the congregation murmuring against him by bringing a bad report of the land. Then the awe-inspiring judgment followed, ‘ Those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by plague before the Lord. ‘ Triumphantly, Joshua the son of Nun, ( as always dubbed ) and Caleb , the son of Jephunneh, remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.’ ‘He shall deliver you from the noisome pestilence’ guarantees that resounding faith will accept God’s challenges.
Even more graphic is the 16th chapter of Numbers v42-48 ’When the congregation of the children of Israel had gathered together against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting and suddenly the cloud ( Shekinah ) covered it; and the glory of the Lord appeared. The Lord spoke to Moses, ’Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in an instant. Humbled at heart, ’They fell on their faces.’ Moses said to Aaron, ’ Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense in it, and taker it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague had begun.’ Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living; so the plague stopped.’ This is a type of the Lord Jesus standing as our Rescuer between the dead and the living, igniting the atoning incense - and restraining the plague of God’s righteous judgment. Twice the precious term ‘atonement’ flowed from God’s Spirit, for Christ is such to us. Solemnly, 14,700 perished in that insurrection.
In the Hebrew word ‘atonement’, He reconciles us to Himself, cleansing our sin with the blood on the doorpost secured the household on the Passover night. It is similar to Noah’s covering the ark inside and outside with bitumen, typical of the covering of our Lord’s protective blood.
God’s word records that terror will grip us and that arrows will be shot at us during the dark hours. Comfortingly, He says however, Fear will not paralyze you nor fear saturate you.
‘You shall not be afraid of the terror that flies by day nor the arrow that flies by night.’ When our daughter visited missionaries in Papua New Guinea she saw the arrows shot by disgruntled natives, and fear gripped her. Judith marked this verse in her Bible as a young woman.
Isaiah reinforced this protection in that marvelous 43rd chapter, ’Fear not, I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; You are mine‘. Then the soothing word, 'when you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.’ v2
Our lord constantly comforts His children, showing how deeply we need His gracious touch: and how willing He is to respond. Do you recall the Lord asleep in the boat, when suddenly a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. His disciples came to Him, saying ‘Lord, save us. We are perishing.’ You recall? Then ‘He said to them, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He revealed His majesty, as ‘He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm.’ Matthew 8;25. God did not create us to fear, but revere Him; to His joy and our composure.
The writer to the Hebrews summed up the absence of fear, ‘So may we boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper: I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ Such boldness is not bravado , brashness or arrogance, but quiet confidence in the eternal One, our Creator and our dearest Friend.
When the lord speaks of pestilence, we must regard the might of the Lord. Sennacherib had posted an immense army threatening Jerusalem, when our God intervened.
‘Thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria. He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor build a siege-mound against it, By the way he came, by the same shall he return; and he shall not come in to this city, says the Lord. ‘For I will defend this city, to save it, for My own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’
On a certain night, the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians, one hundred and eighty five thousand, and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses all dead.’ Humiliated, disgraced and overawed at God’s intervention, Sennacherib hastily took to his heels. The majestic God had slain many of his prize defence force. Believers no longer admire the living God, in life or death. Judgment fell on the king as he worshipped, his two sons striking him down with the sword. 2 Kings 19:15.
In the account of the great flood in Genesis 7, God sovereignly buried the unrepentant, ‘All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, all that was on the dry land, died. ‘God’s action is clearly shown, ‘He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground, both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and they that were with him in the ark remained alive.’ Genesis 7:23 We must faithfully present this truth of our beloved omnipotent God. Psalm 91:7 reinforces this, ‘A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked.’ Oh, how often in Java I looked on our beautiful children and thanked our God for His overarching protection.
God is the universal Ruler, and rightfully displays His perfect, moral Being, which we affirm.
All Egypt accepted the righteous character of the Lord on that memorable night. ‘I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night. And will strike all the first-born in Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
The lord undertakes to shield or insulate us from every dart of the enemy. In driving to see our family in Sydney, our windscreen shattered. To protect face and eyes from shivers of glass, I knocked out the remainder of the screen. In driving rain, in plastic coats, and without normal safe-guard we faced the full force of the storm, praying, laughing, cautiously driving to the next major town for essential replacement. He is our Shield, and God’s forceful, unfiltered judgment on our rebellion fell on Him. Memorable exploits make Calvary understandable -and live!
‘The Lord shall preserve you from all evil: He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.’ Psalm 121:7
Moses enjoyed such sweet fellowship with the eternal God: evident in the astonishing promise that the grim diseases of Egypt would not harass God’s people-and intensify Moses’ burden. Heathenish practices produce ghoulish diseases: female circumcision, burning widows, regarding all STD’S as woman’s diseases: and such like. Our Lord’s promise had immediate and Messianic significance.
‘The Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all them who hate you. ‘ Deut 7:15
The eternal Son of God is the Angel ( special messenger ) of the Lord. Many of God’s servants, both in distant nations and in our own ) have enjoyed the sweet presence of the Lord, especially in critical conditions. The crises of army and missionary life exposed me to more dangers, spiritual and moral, in which I learned that the Lord was with me in all my days. ‘The Angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and (delightfully ) delivers them‘ Psalm 34:7.
How conscious are you that the Angel of the Lord camps near you? Always!
Elisha knew the powerful presence of the Lord, always realistically, and in this case ‘The servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. ‘Alas, my master. What shall we do?’ ‘Do not fear. For those that are with us are more than those who are with them. Elisha prayed, ‘ Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man , and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.’ 2 Kings 16:17 We need anointed vision and constant reminder that our impregnable God keeps His own. You and me.
Incredibly the devil chose this special passage in tempting our beloved Lord. 'The devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple; and said to Him,'if you are the Son of God , throw yourself down.’ Please observe the word ’if’ means in recognition that You are’, so he did not challenge the Sonship of God’s beloved, but sought to draw Him away from obedience to His Father. Obscenely and impudently, he quoted holy Scripture, ‘For it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning you, and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your feet against a stone.’ Matthew 4:6 Our Lord responded, ’it is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ The devil acknowledged that it is written in scripture and is still on record. (Weust ); and that angels care for God’s own. He fraudulently omitted, ‘to keep you in all your ways’, the sweet walk as saints company with their Lord.
Our secure walk supremely faces opposition confidently when ’you shall tread upon the lion and adder.’ The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.’ Psalm 91:13 Peter epitomizes the enemy of souls as ’he shall walk around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may destroy.’( 1 Peter 5:8 ) While in the Garden of Eden the enemy devastatingly tempted as the serpent, with deceptive power of speech and vicious seduction. David pleaded for release with Saul to combat the giant Goliath, ’for the Lord delivered me from the paw of the lion and the from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of the Philistines.’ 1 Samuel 17:37
Liberation is the practical release from the enemy’s lion-like grip.
Prime Minster Daniel affirmed, ' My God sent His Angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him. Also O king, I have done no wrong before you.’ Daniel 6:17
At Calvary the triumphant Savior trounced the power of the enemy.
In a later letter, Paul’s long experience commended the liberation from satan, the enemy.
Such invaluable witness should be indispensable equipment for each believer. ‘The Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. ‘Then he added this unchallengeable word, ‘And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.’ 2 Timothy 4:17 This rugged word prepared Paul for the future, ‘The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.’ v18
The first commandment is ‘to love the lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The Father’s heart responds when we set our devotion on Him. ‘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‘. Psalm 91v14
Our Father delights when we know Him intimately, so that His name is constantly on our lips.
We cherish the word of God by showing our devotion to our Lord. The dear Son of God followed this truth in John 14, ‘ If anyone loves me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him .‘ v23
Paul wrote in Romans 8:28, ‘For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, and are called according to His purpose.’ How the love of God enriches our lives, earlier stated by the psalmist and confirmed repeatedly in later scripture.
James records the special crown reserved for those who love the Lord, of which we believers are silent, rather that ecstatic that our God is so generous to bestow such. ‘Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he is proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.' 1:12 In the same letter, James writes of our kingdom as compensation for loving the Lord. What benefaction, ‘No wonder he urges us to listen, ‘My beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 2:5 I am glad I love the Lord my God.
‘Before they call I shall answer; and while they are speaking, I will hear.’ Isaiah 65:24 The Lord longs for His children to call His valued name. He assures immediate response. There is no possible delay. ‘He shall call upon Me and I shall answer him.’ is David’s promise. Jeremiah augments his conviction, ‘You will seek me and find Me , when you search for me with all your heart.’ Staggering- an eternal God keeps intimate relationship with his blood-bought children.
Paul weighs in that national distinctions are inoperative: ‘There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.’ Then the astonishing claim, ’Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Romans 10:13 I have been privileged to teach the Bible in a number of languages, and the realism of this truth.
Our crucified Lord is the example of a response to prayer:’ Who in the days of His flesh offered up prayers and supplication, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of godly fear.’ Hebrews 5:7 Our Lord cried, to His Father, ’ If it be your will, let this cup pass from Me.’