vs. 15   You, Lord, promise to hear and answer my prayers and, most of all, to be with me in trouble!  WOW!  But it doesn’t stop there…You will ( a promise) also deliver and honour –->God’s way’s bring a good reputation and respect;  He gives the victory and leaves a good testimony for me while I glorify Him-Praise Jesus!

vs.  16  Long life – There are many Bible examples of people that followed God and “lived many days” before they “slept with their fathers”, but here God promises more than just staying alive; He says, “will I satisfy him”.  A long life of misery is no blessing!  You are so wonderful, Lord, You have brought to mind Psalm 68:19 – Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the GOD of our salvation, SELAH      Thank YOU – I will Selah today!

Keep Psalm, Read 91 began in April 2014.  Please look in the archives to read these posts from the beginning.

vs. 11  Angels, not just one!  Lord, You’ve charged, or ordered, Your angels to keep me safe and guard all my ways – and they can see that ‘fowler’ that I cannot!  Thank You that my guardian angel isn’t a little gold-plated pin I have to attach to my clothing!

vs. 12  Your angels shall ( a promise) carry me and bear me up in their (more than one) arms to protect me from hurt. (Angels are big and strong, God,…so You are keeping me very safe because I know I’m not that heavy.)  They will even fight battles against the forces of evil, as they did to reach Daniel.  I know not to praise the angels directly because they, themselves in Your Word have objected to it, but I thank You, LORD, for devoting them to me!

vs. 13  Here, LORD, You get specific and name those I will gain victory over, and such beasts I have no hope of defeating alone, but my victory is another promise.  My adversaries are strong and terrifying – lions, a dragon, and a snake,  but Your promises are sure.

vs. 14  Now You, Lord, are speaking directly in the psalm.
What more afirmation of the promises given but that they are spoken directlyto the reader.

-To know You as Saviour puts me in the place of  promise.

-When I set my love upon You or focus my adoration and afections toward you I gain Your protection and help.

Vs. 10  No Evil,  – if I’m dwelling in God’s secret place – not even near me or my house.

This got me thinking back to when my family “blew  up”.  I was saved, but I know and God knows I was not ‘abiding’ in the secret place. -God was not responsible to me according to this promise.

However, the instant I ran to Him (fell on HIM , into His arms as a dead man) and hid hehind HIM – MY SHIELD, I can now clearly see Psalm 91 all over me!  I thank and praise You, Lord!!

Plus, He is so wise and wonderful – He does all He works out to bring me to the place where I’ll see what He’s trying to teach me.  In my case it was a big, deep, serious, error that I’d been living a lie on God, just as my husband had on me.  I was not really loving the Person, God.  He wasn’t real to me.  I wasn’t living for Him as I should have been from my heart.

When He saved my life that night-when I really prayed and felt and heard in my heart His voice-my relationship with Him changed forever.  That would never have happened if God had let me go on happy and stupid.  I’m so grateful!

vs. 8  You even tell me I have to see it!  But, You say ONLY with my eyes – I will not experience any of your judgement – that’s a promise.  I need to cling to it, knowing You’re in control and I will only see the wicked’s reward.  (I will not go through any part of their punishments of the tribulation.)

This also reminds me of the  fowler that tried to destroy me…who’s destruction I have not seen with my eyes yet – the whole wicked bunch.  They will not win,  You will save my darling from the lions and avenge me and glorify Yourself – I wait and trust You.  I know I can count on You and Your protection.

vs. 9  Because I have met the conditions to claim the awesome promise of vs. 1-2, and abide and dwell with the Most High and have Him as my refuge, there’s another promise given to me.

Not only to my own self,  but my household shall be under God’s protecting hand.  My Whole dwelling – His forcefield is extended!  I think of Rahab and her Gentile nationality, and her sinfil lifestyle, yet God made provision for her whole household.  In the New Testament, Lydia’s whole household was also saved.  Cornelias, John Mark, Mary and Martha, … God keeps his promises.  The punishment of the wicked will not come nigh thee.

vs. 6  Not done with the scary stuff…and that’s the way it comes…waves of trials and turmoil; testings and troubles, wearing me down…ABBA FATHER!!!

This pestilence can walk, and sees in the darkness and is bent on my destruction – again in broad daylight (when I think I’m safe.) This is just a more specific and vivid description of the ugly villian You’ve conquered for me already in vs. 3!  I’ve nothing to fear – I’m abiding!  Help me to always be sensative to You and stay close.

vs. 7  Even Your rescue is scary, God.  I know You mean to assure me of my safety, that I will continue to stand even as ten thousand fall at my one side & ten thousand fall again on my other side (the wearisome, multiple attacks of satan), somehow, Lord, I don’t want to see this…I do fear this day…I trust You, and I am certain of my safety with You, but this scene is too awful.

I also know your judgement will come…I think of America…I think of those who reject Christ, and even the remorse of Christians, perhaps, who refused to abide with you.

I pray for these tens of thousands of fallen.  Help us to win them that still can be won.

vs. 5 – is spoken like a promise: thou shalt not or a command, even.

The promise is if I dwell & abide I will not be afraid, which is the opposite of the trust I declared in vs. 2.  But, it could be a command to “fear not”, in which case I need to dwell & abide in order to have the guts to obey it.  And look at what I’m not supposed to be afraid of:

terror in the dark & arrows shooting at me in broad daylight!

Terror is hard not to be afraid of.  It will take some Holy Spirit Filling and some super-natural power to overcome terror-but GOD promised…And someone very evil and focused on my destruction enough to shoot me down with flying arrows (darts of the wicked) in broad daylight(where I’m vulnerable) is very frightening-but GOD promised-NO FEAR-Not with Him!

I’m glad You see in the dark, LORD – Thank You; and I’m glad I do trust You, that You have my back-always.  I know no one’s arrows can get past You!  Thank You!

vs. 2  I need to make the decision of the psalmist in verse 2 because  verse 3-7 is coming.  Determine ( I will ) to brag on God’s goodness to me (say of the LORD.)

Remember, I’m abiding in that shadow, that pleasant, secret place; now it’s the shadow of a great, high fortress lined with battle armaments poised for my protection, so I can say…I trust Him.

vs 3 All kinds of dangers and attacks buffet me, but GOD, in His love and loyal care considers all worthy to protect me from.  Be it the snare of a person who seems to hunt me, or a (vs 4) sickening pestilence that is clinging to all those around me.  GOD Promises to be that very shield and buckler to fend off these attacks.  His truth, it says, shall be, it says.  That’s a promise.  His truth is His Word, and that is JESUS – my Knight in Shining Armour!.

vs. 4 He becomes the Bird!  When persued by the fowler, He covers me with His feathers! and hides me under His wings!  He saves me-delivers me-by He Himself taking my place as the target of this fowler, just as He did for me at the cross.—WOW!

The noisome pestilence is a deadly disease, highly infectious.  I know, LORD, You protect me continually from harms and pitfalls on my path, and hedge about my loved ones, church family, home and workplace.  Later the psalmist speaks of thousands falling all around me, and I see and feel Your powerful protection on me, my family, and everything that concerns me-Thank You!  So much you do for me I am totally oblivious to, but I do see You working for me in everything that happens and all the blessings and trials You bring to me.  Thank You!

This noisome pestilence also hits my heart as a plague of  sin; striking down all it touches, bringing death and misery.  Highly infectious, we spread it ourselves.  The deliverance from the pestilence is placed AFTER the snare of the FOWLER.  We all could, at times. have a ‘fowler’ on our tail, but there is a Fowler (who is foul) who has already laid a trap for mankind, and we’ve all been caught in it;  and he is in hot pursuit!  If we don’t seek refuge under God’s soft, white wings, and say “in Him will I trust“, the noisome pestilence will destroy us.

And, Christian, if you are not abiding in His secret place and really living the words of vs2,  the noisome pestilence can still get you, and cause you to fall into sin.-You did not claim His promises-meet His conditions, stay under His shadow or in His feathers and make God’s Word your truth-which is your shield. (That means you live by it) And you did not call God your refuge and your fortress (That means you run to God, not to some one or something else)

Lord, I am so glad that I have you to run to .  I am sorry that I have murmured about loneliness and complained, “I’m all alone.” If I did have someone,  I would not have turned to You or clung to You as I had in the past.  That (as You knew) is what began our relationship, and it has grown and grown over time.  It’s always been You-there listening, teaching (and I’m a hard case), giving, hugging my heart, and bapping me on the back of the head, too!  Thank You, I Love You!

This psalm is so full of promises. -What A blessing !

vs. 1.  These promises are spoken so matter-of-fact; but all of God’s promises are a sure thing.-SOLID.

I am living in God’s shadow, within His sight, under His protection, in his reach, when I am a Christian, but perhaps this says something deeper. I  am all of these things but too often I side-step God’s safety net and step from His shadow (on purpose) which is not done by the Christian who is abiding.

In order to claim God’s very solid promise opening this psalm, I must see it is given to one dwelling – living with God in His secret place.  That’s intimate.  He calls Himself “Most High“.  This most amazing, excellent, “most popular” person is so seeking a special, intimate relationship just for Him with me that He has put out all these enticing, life improving  promotions (promises).

-Am I seeking Him too?  Am I making Him feel our relationship is all        “one-way”?

-Do I really share things with Him?

If I am dwelling properly – in peace and harmony- I will abide in that place.  Under God’s shadow is also a submissive position, I believe. (He can’t keep me safe if I don’t follow the “rules of the house”.)  One who abides is not constrained or forced.  Abiding sounds pleasant.  When I live pleasantly in a right relationship with Jesus, His wonderful Presence is with me-always.  Seeking and following the Holy Spirit’s leadership and direction provide  power to do what’s right; I get God, the Most High’s protection and get to live in His secret place!

When thy friends despise, forsake thee…

Some of the most painful things we face are not physical hurts.  We’ve heard it said, “I would rather you had punched me in the mouth,” or, “it felt like a kick in the stomach.”

Jesus felt it – All His devoted followers and FRIENDS forsook and denied even knowing Him in the very hour He needed their support.  Those He fed and healed of their blindness and leprosy and shared His secrets with.

I challenged and warned my Sunday School girls that this weeks’ lesson would present itself an opportunity for us to follow Jesus’ example of compassion and look beyond our own hurts and offended selves ( which is rooted in pride and arrogance, traits in us God says He hates ) when He prayed as He hung, hurting and bleeding on our behalf from His cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

We must also, to be faithfully following our Wonderful Saviour in a worthy manner, realize that people “know not what they do” and that Jesus’ desire for us is to forgive.

LORD help us.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD….To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, …