I think I can say that I often have a fear of meeting individuals whom I admire. The fear is that they will not be of the character that I hope and imagine they are. I feel rather content, therefore, at times to remain distant and hold respect for someone based on what I hope he is like or who I hope that he is.

The interesting thing in regards to an infinitely glorious God however is that there is never such disappointment in who he is and what he is like. Therefore, God does not ask us to ignore aspects of him lest he disappoint us but rather invites us to come and know him more and more. And as we obey such a command we are not only not disappointed but actually overwhelmed with the glory and beauty of our God. Such is why the angels beside his throne can continually say, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty” and it never seem unfitting for him or a wearisome task to them.

With that said, Psalm 91 gives us a glimpse of our God that is nothing short of overwhelming. In this psalm, the psalmist invites the reader to realize experientially the Lord’s protection, which the psalmist has already experienced (v. 2). In verses 1-2 and 9-10 we find an invitation to join in seeking God, in verses 3-8 and 11-13 descriptions of the Lord’s protection, and in verses 14-16 the Lord’s declaration of salvation for those who love him. In short, this psalm is a celebration of God’s protection and deliverance of his people as it pours forth in this poetic text from the psalmist’s mouth. It appears much like one who has just found love and can do nothing but go around spouting out her beloved’s beauty and glory.

So, what do we see in this text that we need to know? There is much. But first, let us acknowledge from this psalm that …

God is committed to the oversight, protection, and deliverance of those who trust in him

As aforementioned, this psalm is a celebration of God’s protection, care, and deliverance. The psalmist refers to the Lord as a refuge and fortress (v. 2), one who delivers from the fowler and deadly pestilence (v. 3), one who protects in the day and night (v. 5-6), one who guards us when all around us are falling (vv. 7-8), one who sends his angels to guard us (vv. 11-12), and one who rescues and delivers us (vv. 14-15).

But what we should note is that this psalm is of God. That is, this psalm has as its ultimate author, God. It is God’s desire that we know this of him toward us. He even speaks of himself as a hen protecting the chicks. We read this in verse 4 as the author writes, “He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge.” The picture is of a hen gathering the chicks under her wings and claws as if to say to an attacker, “These are mine, and you will not touch them.”

And do not forget that the God using this imagery is the God of whom we read in Isaiah 6, before whom Isaiah believes he is going to die and before whom John falls down as a dead man. This God is seeking out to make sure that his people know that he oversees, protects, and delivers them.

This is quite a different picture of God than many of us might have. To many God might appear as one who tolerates us. We acknowledge his salvation and of what great cost it was, but from the point of our salvation onward we think that somehow God is simply continually frustrated with us and that we must wrestle with him to get even an ounce of care. He is akin to a father sitting in front of the television with the child begging him to turn his eyes to direct some care and attention to him. But that is not the picture here.

When I was at Union one professor that I was quite close to was Kelvin Moore. It wasn’t because we agreed on everything, for we disagreed on much. Nor was it that we had a lot in common, because I don’t know that we did. There is one story that pictures why I felt so drawn to him. During my days at Union I had a great fear of interrupting a professor in his studies. So if I would like to talk to one I might knock very lightly at the door (giving him the opportunity to pretend he did not hear), and if he answered I would try to speak to the point so as to move on out of there. And at times I thought the professors appreciated that. One day, however, William and I were walking down the hall, past the Christian Studies offices, when Dr. Moore (hearing us talking as we walked past his doorway) ran out into the hallway and yelled to us, “What do you guys think you’re doing walking past my doorway without stopping in to talk or invite me to go to eat with you?” See, he not only didn’t mind us seeking to develop a friendship with him, he actually sought us out to pursue friendship with us.

That is the picture of God in this text, not of tolerating our needs and meeting them though he has other things to do. Rather, God is running after us, as it were, so that he might grab our attention and let us know his commitment to us. Stooping down with the imagery of a mother hen is a clear example of such care. He chases us down, as it were, so that he might tell us, “I am between you and every evil that might come your way.”

And, knowing our weaknesses and temptation to doubt, he seemingly exhausts the arenas in which we might fear: surprises (v. 3), day and night (vv. 5-6), when all around us are falling (vv. 7-8), and when we unknowingly are about to step into danger (v. 11-13). It’s as if he wants to cover every area in which we might be tempted to fear. It’s as if God gives us every kind of evil imaginable to show us that those under his care are in a state of absolute safety.¹

Yet he also reminds us that he even gives his angels charge to guard us. And note the plurality of the word “angels.” The picture is not as if God is willing to allow one angel duty to watch over you as you venture through life. Rather, he is willing to send the angelic armies of heaven to labor on your behalf and to fight for your care and protection. They are even under-girding your feet lest you strike your foot against a stone (v. 12)

Is it not clear that God earnestly seeks to communicate to us, his people, his commitment, care, protection, and deliverance of us from evil? Indeed it is. God labors, if you will, to make it absolutely beyond all doubt.

But does this then mean that we will not have troubles? No. For Jesus himself says in John 16:33, “In this world you will have tribulation.” So then is this psalm out of touch with the new covenant age in which we live? Was this psalm true for those who lived before Christ, but now that he has come he brings the announcement that things are about to change, and whereas God protected and delivered saints in the Old Testament so that they had great health and wealth, but now he’s pulled back his hands, as it were, from guarding and protecting so closely?

No, these things are not the answer. In fact, there is no contradiction between this psalm and John 16:33, for look at verses 14-15 of this psalm. There, God proclaims of the one who belongs to him, “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.”

In verse 15 the Lord clearly acknowledges that there will trouble in this world but he also affirms that he will be with us in trouble. Therefore, in light of this verse and the rest of the psalm, we can conclude that:

God’s protection and deliverance does not mean that we will not have trouble (indeed great trouble), but God will be with us in times of trouble and he will measure out our troubles

God’s promise to be with us in trouble is a demonstration of his loving character that we see throughout the Scripture. In the text we read earlier, Joshua receives the promise that God will be with him. In Judges 6 Gideon receives the same promise. In fact, there is rarely a difficult task to which we are called in which we cannot look at a text reminding us that God will be present in that circumstance. Is this not the case with the great commission? Jesus tells us that all authority is his, commissions us to a difficult task, and then tells us that he will be with us even to the end of the age.

Yet one of the most amazing occurrences of this comfort in times of difficulty and trouble, I think, is in Matthew 18. In this text Jesus calls the church to remove one who refuses to repent of his sin from the membership and treat him as a Gentile and tax collector. That is to say, he is calling the church to be willing to place one outside of the church as a statement that he does not give evidence to be a believer.

That is a charge that is so difficult that the practice has fallen out in the church in this nation almost entirely. Yet as you read the text it seems as if God is bending over backwards, as it were, to encourage and comfort in this time of difficulty. For those feeling crushed under the task of making such a statement to the one being removed from the church, he affirms his people that whatever they are binding or loosing on earth has been bound or loosed in heaven. He’s trying to encourage them that they are simply carrying out the Lord’s work. And where they tremble at the difficult task of the church gathered to do such a work he says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20).

He could have simply said, “Do it. I’ve commanded it, and therefore you should know that it is right, obey, and need no encouragement.” But he doesn’t. It’s as if God is willing to stoop down and hold our hand in such difficulties.

That is the picture of Psalm 91. We will go through troubles, but God will be with us, alongside of us, measuring out what we can handle, unwilling to let any temptation greater than we can handle come to us. Thus, Luther can write comfort to a friend with these words:

We must not willfully seek or select afflictions, but we must accept those which God sees fit to visit upon us, for he knows which are suitable and salutary for us and how many and how heavy they should be.”²

He will even on occasion bring us out of the troubles in this life, and where he does not do that he will show us his salvation by bringing us out of this world. Therefore, Luther can again write to his friend in the labor of the Reformation as enemies are seeking their demise:

"By His Spirit, God will bless and further this work which he has graciously given us to do, and he will find the fitting time, place, and method to help us. He will neither forget nor forsake us. Those men of blood have not yet accomplished what they are now undertaking, nor have they all achieved security or whatever else it is that they desire. Our rainbow is frail and their clouds are mighty, but it will appear in the end to whose tune we shall dance."³

Such is the gracious state of one who belongs to the Lord. Shall we not then find comfort and rest in the Lord? Indeed we shall.

“But what,” one might ask, “does God require of us?” After all, to whom exactly does such care, commitment, and protection apply?

The psalmist tells us that …

The call to us is to dwell in the shelter of the Most High, make the Lord our dwelling place, and to hold fast to the Lord in love

That is those to whom this promise applies are those who have placed their lives in the Lord’s hands and love him. In short, the promise is for believers. So, again, one might ask, “Why not just say that this is for those who believe, in this text? Why does he need to shape it in terms of those who trust in God (v. 2) and hold fast to God in love (v. 14)?

I think the answer is because such terms define faith. Faith is not simply assenting to something in your mind, though it is certainly not less than that. Faith is a willingness to place your entire life in the Lord and seek after him as the greatest delight which exists. As John Piper has said, “Saving faith is the confidence that if you sell all you have, and forsake all sinful pleasures, the hidden treasure of holy joy will satisfy your deepest desires. Saving faith is the heartfelt conviction not only that Christ is reliable, but also that he is desirable. It is the confidence that he will come through with his promises and that what he promises is more to be desired than all the world.”⁴

I think that is why the psalmist describes the nature of the one to whom these promises apply in terms of trusting God, seeking shelter in him, and holding fast to him in love. He wants to show that there is more to a relationship with God than mental assent to some realities. Faith is active. Therefore, this psalm calls us to be active.

This psalm is not written so that we might affirm that its declarations are true but so that we might live a life of obedience. Calvin is indeed right as he writes in his commentary, “Though many talk much of God’s providence, and profess to believe that he exercises a special guardianship over his own children, few are found actually willing to intrust their safety to him.”⁵

Therefore, the reason the psalmist describes the believers’ faith in these ways, it seems, is to remind one that the one to whom these promises apply are not those who consent with their mouths to these truths but those whose lives reflect that God is worth putting their live in his hands. It is those who find God so delightful and his promises so assuring that they give up their goods and comforts and take the gospel to men and women in dangerous parts of the world. It is for those who look the fear of speaking the gospel to their neighbor in the face and remind themselves of God’s protection, care, and presence. It is for those who are willing to give of their goods, time, and very life to care for a brother or sister. These promises are for those who know that faith without works is dead and show their faith by their works. These promises are for those. And my prayer is that we might show ourselves to be those very people.

Do not therefore hold back from difficult obedience because you fear God will not protect, comfort, and care for you while extending to you his very presence. Nor affirm these truths today in your minds or your mouths without determining in your heart to actively demonstrate such trust. Rather, as we come to the table and declare that the Word has been heard and received, may it be a declaration that we will walk forth in radical obedience, whatever task to which the Lord calls us, regardless of our fears, for we know that our God is the God of Isaiah 6 and Psalm 91, and we are those who hold fast to him in love. Amen.

¹John Calvin, Commentary on The Book of Psalms, Volume Third, James Anderson, Trans. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999, reprint), 481.

²Martin Luther, Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, Vol. 18 of Library of Christian Classics, ed. Theodore G. Trappert (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955), 165.

³Ibid., 157.

⁴John Piper, Desiring God (Sisters, Oregon: Multnoma, 1996), 69.

⁵John Calvin, Commentary on The Book of Psalms, Volume Third, James Anderson, Trans. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999, reprint), 477.

UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY