The outcomes of trusting God are numerous and spectacular in Psalm 91.
He delivers from the snare of the fowler
He delivers from the deadly pestilence
We will not fear the terror of the night
We will not fear the arrow that flies by day
We will not fear the pestilence that stalks in darkness
We will not fear the destruction that wastes at noonday
This all-encompassing trust flows from the deepest part of the person who dwells in the shelter of the Most High.
Where is that shelter located? How do we find that shelter?
Consider another scriptural location.
Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.
Where is “there?” Where does the Lord command the blessing?
Is the shelter of the Most High a spiritual location? Yes.
Jesus seems to have Psalm 91:1 in His mind as he speaks in John 15.
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
Abiding, similar to the dwell of Psalm 91, is featured by our Lord nine times in this brief passage.
Another similarity is the emphasis upon love.
Psalm 91:14
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
John 15:9
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
John 15:12, 13
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:14-17
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
The shelter of the Most High where we are to dwell, is a place of love.
To love God includes:
- ïAffection
- ïCommunication
- ïEmbrace
- ïEmotion
Feel the love of the Psalmist (73):
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strengthof my heart and my portion forever.
In this abiding and abundant love for God:
- There is an urgent seeking.
- I will seek him whom my soul loves. SS 3:1
- One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Psalm 27:4
- “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7,8
- ïThere is an intense holding.
- Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go. SS 3:4
- 5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 2 Kings 18:5-7
- This love captivates the heart.
- You have captivated my heart. SS 4:9
- For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”
- Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee. Augustine
Notice the Old Testament’s most significant verse, Deuteronomy 6:4, 5:
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
In some ways it is easier to give God your soul and your might than it is to give Him your heart.
- It is in our hearts that we hold bitterness and unforgiveness
- It is in our hearts that we cling to our brokenness, woundedness and pain
- It is in our hearts that previous and lesser loves have left us cut off and alone.
- It is in our hearts that we find our deepest fears and failures.
It is precisely with this heart that God longs for me to love Him.