Psalm 91 God's Umbrella of Protection

I have always loved Psalms 91. My mom would quote it to me and pray it over me as a child, and I memorized much of it. I have called on those verses in many situations, but I didn't know to the full extent what God has made available to us in these verses.

I recently read the book, "Psalm 91 God's Umbrella of Protection" By Peggy Joyce Ruth. She has studied the passage in depth and as God revealed to her the promises and truth in that Psalm, she wrote it into a book. Now, I know there are a lot of Christians out there that believe that God uses bad circumstances for His good, which is true. However, I know that He is not the cause of the bad circumstances, because as Jesus said, a house divided against itself shall not stand. Jesus could not rebuke a storm if He in fact was the cause of it.

So, as we take a look at this book, I ask that you have an open mind and heart, and allow God to show you what He wants you to see. I can't go into every chapter, but plan to highlight the parts that meant the most to me.

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust!"
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of trapper,
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not apporach you.
You will only look on with your eyes,
And see the recompense of the wicked.
For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, you dwelling place.

No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
Lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and serpent you will trample down.

Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And let him behold My salvation.

The very first aspect of this verse is God saying 'he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High'. When reading this verse, it really creates a picture in my mind of being in a secret, safe place where we can seek refuge. Psalm 91 is really a literal place of physical safety and security that God tells us about here in these verses.

This secret place is literal, but it is also conditional. Our part is to choose to dwell in His shelter. How do we do that? A love relationship with the Father, one that you've developed in this secret place, by investing enough time into it to make it personal and intimate. The place has already been made available to us, but we have to choose to be in it. Make sense?

If you are caught in a bad storm, and someone is waving you over to take cover in a strong, sturdy building, you have to run in there to be sheltered from the storm. God isn't going to drag you in there.

" For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence." Psalm 91:3

We have an adversary, an enemy, Satan, whom Jesus called the thief in John 10:10. He is the trapper, his sole desire is to destroy us. No matter how hard we try, we can never deliver ourselves from the traps set out for us. Only God can deliver us.

The enemy custom makes, places and baits his traps specifically made just for us. He knows exactly what will most likely hook us, and he knows which thought to put int our minds to lure us into the trap.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that we are "not to be ignorant of the schemes(traps) of the enemy." Then goes on to say

"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. "

God not only delivers from the traps of the enemy, but in the rest of the verse He says He will deliver us from the deadly pestilence. When I think of pestilence, I think of mosquitoes, bugs that kill plants, mildew etc. When the author did a word study on pestilence she found it meant pestilence was an attack on people.

Webster's New World Dictionary says that pestilence is " any virulent of fatal disease; an epidemic that hits the masses of people- any deadly disease that attaches itself to one's body with the intent to destroy."

Wow. And God says He will deliver us from it. This verse is a twofold deliverance- being delivered from temptation and deliverance from harm. Isn't God awesome?

More to come soon...