Psalm 91:13

Psalm 91:13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Our verse for today talks of the protection that a Christian has when he is acting in God’s will. Remember Paul and the viper on the island of Malta (see Acts 28)? He had washed ashore after a shipwreck and a snake crawled from the pile of wood he had gathered and bit him. The locals were convinced that Paul’s time was short because they recognized the snake as poisonous, but Paul didn’t die. Why? Because God wasn’t finished with him.

Our verse for today carries that same thought. Look at the things that are listed: lion, cobra, serpent. All of these can kill, all of these are in dangerous places. What does that tell us? God is going to send us to places that the world would call dangerous, but if He has sent us, it will be the safest place for us.

Look at your Old Testament. Remember Daniel and the lions den? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace? Both of these situations should have killed and yet in both of these God protected His people. When God gives us a direction we should act! You shall trample underfoot , what a wonderful thought! The dangers of the earth are nothing when we are acting for God. They are things to be trampled under our heels!

Dean Martin once said “Show me a man who doesn’t know the meaning of fear and I’ll show you a dummy who gets beat up a lot.” I’m not asking us to run off willy-nilly believing that God is going to preserve us (read the last post) what I am asking is that we should not let our fear in a situation get in the way of our service to God.

Do not run from adversity Christian. It is the crucible in which God builds the saints. Praise him in whatever storm you are enduring.

Grace and peace to you all.

Psalm 91:11-12

Psalm 91:11-12 11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. 12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Does this piece of scripture sound familiar to you? If you’ve read Matthew then it should because it’s the same piece of scripture that Satan used to tempt Jesus. Look at Matthew 4…

5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

Let’s look at what the verse means in context and then let’s look how it was misused by the adversary.

What ground have we covered so far? A quick re-cap is in order:

*We live inside of God. We are in His presence constantly (vs 1)
*We are ultimately protected by God. (vs 2-4)
*We have nothing to fear from this world (vs 5-6)
*We have nothing to fear from death (vs 7-8)
*We have nothing to fear from evil (vs 9-10)

Let me ask you a question based on these truths? If you are on a God appointed task what can stop you? Nothing.

Noah should have been stopped by the flood.
Samson should have been stopped by his blindness.
Moses should have been stopped by the Red Sea.
David should have been stopped by a giant named Goliath.
Elijah should have been stopped by a wicked queen.
Jonah should have been stopped by a fish.
Paul should have been stopped by a snake.

In each of these cases God had a task for them to complete and nothing was going to stand in His way. The verses today talk about that same thought. There is nothing that can stand against us when we are on a mission from God. We are unstoppable. ”He shall give His angels charge over you” our verse says. One angel was enough to strike blindness to a city of perverts in Sodom, imagine how much more secure we are with several. “To keep you in all your ways” the psalmist continues, they watch over our footsteps making sure that we continue on the path that God has chosen for us. Isn’t that a wonderful thought?

Now comes the tricky part – Jesus’ temptation. Satan takes Jesus to the top of the large temple and asks Him to jump off. After all it is God’s plan for Christ to go to the cross and there is nothing to stop it, why not test the Father just to make sure? Do you see the difference between how the Father intended the verse to be used and the way the adversary twisted it?

How can we be sure that we are acting in God’s will and not testing God’s provision? I don’t know but I think the clue lies in the examples of the men that I’ve listed above. You know what Noah, Samson, Moses, David, Elijah, Jonah and Paul all have in common? They all trusted God. They lived their lives in front of Him aware of His presence. They did not seek to display or flaunt their standing with God. They simply lived their lives by faith simply serving God when He called.

I believe that’s the difference. We must simply live our lives mindful of His presence at every second. Do you think Stephen went into his sermon knowing that He was going to be stoned at the end? I don’t. But what did he do as they gathered up rocks to bludgeon him to death? He asked God to forgive his murderers. That kind of faith doesn’t come from man.

Trust God. Live your life in front of Him. Do not fear the path that He has set before you. Trust that he will bring you through to the end. Who knows, one of us may be the next Paul?

Blessings and peace to you all…

Quote For The Day

“God’s goal is not to make sure you’re happy. No matter how hard it is for you to believe this, it’s time to do so. Life is not about your being comfortable and happy and successful and pain free. It is about becoming the man or woman God has called you to be. Unfortunately, we will rarely hear that message proclaimed today. All the more reason for me to say it again: Life is not about you! It’s about God.”

Charles R. Swindoll, Paul: A Man Of Grace & Grit, p. 102

Psalm 91:9-10

I really enjoyed this entry for Psalm 91:9-10 from The Treasury of David so I thought I’d share it with you…

I’ll be back at the end of the post to say a few words - Jeff
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Before expounding these verses I cannot refrain from recording a personal incident illustrating their power to soothe the heart, when they are applied by the Holy Spirit. In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London twelve months, the neighbourhood in which I laboured was visited by Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. Family after family summoned me to the bedside of the smitten, and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. I gave myself up with youthful ardour to the visitation of the sick, and was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks and religions. I became weary in body and sick at heart. My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest; I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it. As God would have it, I was returning mournfully home from a funeral, when my curiosity led me to read a paper which was wafered up in a shoemaker's window in the Dover Road. It did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it, for it bore in a good bold handwriting these words: —

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm. The providence which moved the tradesman to place those verses in his window I gratefully acknowledge, and in the remembrance of its marvellous power I adore the Lord my God.

The psalmist in these verses assures the man who dwells in God that he shall be secure. Though faith claims no merit of its own, yet the Lord rewards it wherever he sees it. He who makes God his refuge shall find him a refuge; he who dwells in God shall find his dwelling protected. We must make the Lord our habitation by choosing him for our trust and rest, and then we shall receive immunity from harm; no evil shall touch us personally, and no stroke of judgment shall assail our household. The dwelling here intended by the original was only a tent, yet the frail covering
would prove to be a sufficient shelter from harm of all sorts. It matters little whether our abode be a gypsy's hut or a monarch's palace if the soul has made the Most High its habitation. Get into God and you dwell in all good, and ill is banished far away. It is not because we are perfect or highly esteemed among men that we can hope for shelter in the day of evil, but because our refuge is the Eternal God, and our faith has learned to hide beneath his sheltering wing.

"For this no ill thy cause shall daunt,
No scourge thy tabernacle haunt."

It is impossible that any ill should happen to the man who is beloved of the Lord; the most crushing calamities can only shorten his journey and hasten him to his reward. Ill to him is no ill, but only good in a mysterious form. Losses enrich him, sickness is his medicine, reproach is his honour, death is his gain. No evil in the strict sense of the word can happen to him, for everything is overruled for good. Happy is he who is in such a case. He is secure where others are in peril, he lives where others die.

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Can you picture the scene Spurgeon describes above? People dropping dead left and right around him and in the middle of it his faith in God is bolstered by a verse scrawled in a window. Talk about God's Word never returning void! It is my prayer that we would have that kind of faith when calamity strikes.

“The most crushing calamities can only shorten his journey and hasten him to his reward”, Spurgeon says. I say “Amen”. Let us live our lives with eternity in mind. We are not to live our best life now, our best life awaits us in Heaven. Let us present ourselves to the Lord at the end of our life as a drink offering completely poured out for His glory!

To the work!

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Psalm 91:7-8

Psalm 91:7-8 7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked.

In our previous post we talked about how we should not fear death because we are secure in God and we continue on in that same vein today.

But it shall not come near you our verse for today says. What does that mean? Does that mean that we have a shield around us protecting us from problems? Don’t you believe that lie for a second. Were the disciples protected? No, eleven out of the twelve died horrible deaths. Was the apostle Paul protected? No, he lost his head to an executioner’s sword. I could give you a laundry list of martyrs who died in the early church. They were not free from physical harm.

Let’s not limit our talk to martyrdom. Saints and sinners die alongside each other every day. We die together in disease. We die together in war. We die together in earthquakes. We die together in hurricanes. We die together in accidents.

So what is the Psalmist saying? I think the clue is in the reward of the wicked portion of the verse. What is the reward of the wicked? Let’s look at a couple of verses. First let’s look at Matthew 13:

41 “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Now let’s look at Job 19:

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, 27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another...

The reward of the wicked is Hell and we will be there to see that reward handed out with our own eyes. Man is an eternal creature in the sense that we have a beginning but we do not have an end. We will spend all of eternity in one of two places. We will either be in the presence of God enjoying His blessings in Heaven or we will be forever separated from Him in a place of judgment.

It is that thought that is brought to mind with today’s verse. I have heard it said of the final judgment that it will be a great and terrible day. It will be great because God will finally be revealed to all of existence in all of His glory. It will be terrible because there will be many condemned to Hell because of their unwillingness to accept Jesus. Can you picture that scene in your mind? Thousands of people condemned at the same time you are entering into God’s glory. Amidst all of the weeping and wailing you will not be touched because of your allegiance to the Christ.

Let us never forget that the only thing separating the saint from the sinner is God’s mercy. Let us remember that is was nothing special in ourselves that drew us to Him. It was only because of God’s mercy that any of us will spend eternity with Him.
Let us rest in the security that nothing can separate us from Him however let us not rest until the gospel message has been preached to every person. God has commissioned us to send His message to a lost and dying world. Get to the work…

Psalm 91:5-6

Psalm 91:5-6 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

I really enjoy the ”Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. One of the things that you discover about the main character, Jack Sparrow, is that he’s looking for a way to cheat death. He makes a deal with Davey Jones to get a boat that no-one can catch, his crew mutinies against him on the way to a treasure that gives it’s bearer eternal life (albeit cursed), he considers a plot that will allow him to live forever as the captain of the Flying Dutchman as a type of "cosmic cabbie", and the series ends with him pondering a map to the Fountain of Youth. All of these things he does to cheat death from his prize.

It’s a common quest for all of man – cheating death. There are pills, potions, and programs all guaranteed to extend your life. In the words of Kenny Chesney “Everybody wanna go to heaven but nobody wanna go now”. Death is scary for the common man because it is unknown.

We could try to spiritualize the verses for today but I think if we take these verses at face value we see that the Psalmist is simply telling us not to fear death. See if you agree - we just finished up talking about the safety that comes from being in God’s presence. We talked about how we are surrounded by the prickly hedge of His word and are doubly protected by the covering of His wings. If we are indeed protected by God what do we have to fear from death?

Death is not a mystery. It is clearly explained to us in scripture. We should not look at it as a loss - look at the apostle Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 15:

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Isn’t that wonderful? Death has no victory over the Christian – to be sure we all die but Heaven awaits! There is no better place for us to be!

Look at the verses for today – they all talk about ways to die. Death by the unknown, death by attack, death by disease and death by calamity; none of these have any power over us because we serve the one who cannot die. We are immortal brothers and sisters! We will live forever in the presence of the Son!

When we are in God’s presence we have nothing to fear. Stand in that place of shelter. Let us stop looking for maps that lead to the empty treasures of this world. Let us instead keep a weather eye on the horizon focused on the Son. He has given us the map of His word and has promised us a seat at His heavenly table.

I’ll close with Jesus’ words from the gospel of Matthew 28… “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Amen and amen…

Psalm 91:4

Psalm 91:4 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

Today we’ll be talking about seeking refuge with the Father. The Psalmist has given us some pretty clear illustrations to consider. Let’s start with the easy one – chickens.

We raised “free-range” chickens when I was a youth. One of my chores was to gather the eggs and I’d notice that a hen would go missing for a time. When she’d show up again she would usually have several “beeblees” in tow (that’s my grandmother’s word for baby chicks). One of the things I always thought was pretty neat was the way that the hen would call the little ones to her for protection. When myself, a hawk, or anything else she perceived as danger would appear she’d cluck in a certain way and the beeblees would come runnin’. She’d hunker down under a tree or a bush and puff out her feathers until she appeared twice her size and the chicks would all run underneath her. She’d settle down upon them and from all outside appearances you would never know she had those babies with her. If you approached her during that time she’d puff up and growl (yes chicken’s growl) and if you continued to come closer she’d fly out of that position and flog you, always returning to gather her chicks underneath her. You could always count on seeing the chicks underneath the hen because that was the safest spot for the beeblees to be.

It’s that thought that the Psalmist is talking about today. We are helpless to defend ourselves from the attacks of the adversary. We have no choice but to run to Him for protection. And once there we are hidden – safe from all attacks.

Look with me at a piece of scripture from 2 Kings concerning Elisha and the King of Syria:

2 Kings 6:13-18 13…And it was told him(the King), saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.” 14Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. 15And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17And Elisha prayed, and said, “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 all around Elisha. 18So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

Elisha’s servant was worried because they were surrounded by an army that there was no escaping from. Elisha prayed to God for the young man to see what he saw and the young man came to realize that they were not alone because they were surrounded by God’s army. I would argue that more of our days are like this then we tend to believe. There is an unseen battle going on around us all the time and the resources of God are brought to bear in our lives to defend us in ways that we will never know this side of heaven. We are like the chick, we are oblivious as to whether the danger is from the hawk or the rain, it is simply enough for us to know that we are safe under His protection from whatever is going on around us.

Look at the last part of verse ”His truth shall be your shield and buckler”. “Sword” and “buckler” come from Hebrew words meaning “a large shield (as if guarding by prickliness)” and “something surrounding a person”. Those are two beautiful thoughts to consider when we think about God’s truth. First it is something that completely surrounds us – protecting us from all sides. There are no chinks in God’s protection – it is complete. Not only is it complete protection but it damages (prickles) those who would attack us. God’s word is wonderful – we are safe from all attacks in the “briar patch” of His word. You can try to come after us but you’ll only end up bloodying yourself and if you could get through that you have to face the protection of the Father Himself as we stand under His wings.

Rest in the comfort that God stands with you. Remember that the cares of this world are but for a moment. Keep your eyes upon heaven and trust completely in the Father.

Blessings and peace to you all…

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Its something for us all to keep in mind after the election - no matter who wins.

What are we doing to change the culture?