PSALM 91 -IN HIM WILL I TRUST"
PSALM 91 –“IN HIM WILL I TRUST” - THE HYMN OF TRUST
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Sunday, October 30, 2011
This Hymn of Trust is one of the best loved and is filled with amazing, wonderful promises of security to those who trust God. It is the Song of Redeemed man in fellowship with God. This is a song of light in which life is preserved and sustained.
‘It is impossible that ill should happen to the man who is beloved of the Lord…Ill to him is no ill, but only good in a mysterious form. Losses enrich him, sickness is his medicine, reproach his honor, death is his gain.” (C. H. Spurgeon)
91:1: “He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (K.J.V.) “He shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the almighty (whose power no foe can withstand). (Amplified)
God knows how to keep his own during the hour of trial. Like Hannah in 1 Sam 1:17, who came to the Temple with a sorrowful spirit and poured out her soul to the Lord, Eli, the Priest, spoke to her: “Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant you your petition that you have asked of Him.”
To dwell in God’s shelter alludes to the worshipping attitude of heart which finds its security in God. The man who puts his trust in God is given assurance of deliverance from peril. The secret place is the behind the veil in the Most Holy Place. It is hidden from carnal understanding, concealed in a high realm, protected by God himself. The secret place is a standing, a condition, a state of being, a nature, a reality.
Psalm 81:7: “You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I proved you at the waters of Meribah. (place of murmuring)”
Thunder follows lightning and is due to air disturbances, caused by heat during an electrical discharge (conductor; change of atoms). It is the voice from the cloud.
Hebrews 12:1 “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (who have borne testimony to the truth,) let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance, and the sins which so readily besets us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us”
91:3: “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him will I trust.”
For the man who puts his trust in God, no ‘hidden dangers’ will be allowed to harm him. Like a strong, formidable eagle protecting its vulnerable young from attack, God will keep His child safe under His wings. Divine loyalty to the covenant guarantees safety.
Ps. 91:4: “He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust: His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
Ex. 19:4: “You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.”
Deut. 32:11: “As an eagle that stirs us her nest, flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them. He bore them on His wings.”
Ruth 2:12: “The Lord recompense your work, and a full reward is given you of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to trust.”
In February 1995, I had a three-part vision. The third part or “realm”, a giant eagle lifted me up on eagle’s wings. Rev. 4:7 identifies the Spirit eagle as one of the four living creatures. Wherever the Spirit would go, they would go without turning as they went. Ez. 1:24: “When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of a host; when they stood, they let down their wings.”
Ps. 91:5-6: “You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day: nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness; nor for the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday.”
Whatever uncanny forces men were or thought themselves prey to, whether the night-demon, Lilith (Isa. 34:14) or the sinister arrow of sunstroke at dangerous midday or the plague unleashed at night (Isa. 17:36), God is the effective answer to all such fears, whether rational or irrational.
*** (Lilith – Strong’s H 3917-name of a female goddess known as a night demon who haunts the desolate places of Edom. The word is translated “screech owl” in King James and “the night monster” in the Amplified. The Romans and the Arabs have a fable about this female monster inhabiting deserts, and tearing men to pieces. Strong states it is lamentable that any one could connect the word of God with such utter absurdity; many understand the nocturnal creature spoke of to be simply the screech owl.”)
Since Monday is Halloween, I add this for our amusement. Now we can understand a little clearer why there was a “ban” on owl images during the early days of the deliverance movement. (Tongue-in-cheek)
The Lord will not only keep us from evil, but from the fear of evil. God by his grace will keep us from disquieting, distrustful fear which causes torment in the midst of the greatest dangers.
Wisdom will keep us from being causelessly afraid, and faith will keep us from being inordinately afraid. Even though the arrow may hit us, it cannot ultimately hurt us. Even if it takes away the natural life, it cannot take away our eternal life.
The Lord’s tender care is such that He even supplies a celestial bodyguard around the believer, who carries us along the rock-strewn road.
91:7-13: “A thousand shall fall at your side, and then thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes you shall behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, your habitation; there shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. For He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. You shall tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under feet.”
“When things go wrong, as they sometimes will; when the road seems all uphill; when the funds are low; and the debts are high; when care is pressing you down a bit---rest if you must, but don’t quit. Life has its twists and turns, as every one of us will learn. Many a person turns about, when they might have won had they stuck it out. Don’t give up though the pace seems slow---You may succeed with another blow.….stick to the fight when your hardest hit---It’s when things seem worst that we mustn’t quit.
We enter into the Lord’s own triumph as we face life’s threats. (Rom 8:37) “In all things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” There is no defeat in Jesus.
The priest now receives a Word from God Himself for the believer:
91: 14-16: “Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.”
This Psalm speaks of physical safety as well as spiritual. It is a vivid reminder that the O.T. covenant concerned the body as much as the soul. Ro. 8:35: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is n Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God’s own presence will fend off trouble. The Lord never promised that we would not have tribulation. He said, “These things I have spoken to you. That in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
The temptation story of Jesus in Matthew 4 has satan misquoting verse 11 to Jesus. Satan always misquotes and mis-applies scripture. Verse 13 is omitted by satan, because it predicts his own crushing defeat.
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V. and Amplified. Bibliography: F.F. Bruce Bible Commentary, Leslie C. Allen.