Rest for Weary Souls: Psalm 91

Okay. Today we continue in our series on rest and comfort for tired and wounded souls.

Her family had been hiding Jews in their home in Harlem, Holland. That's H-A-A-R-L-E-M. Harlem, Holland. It was February 28, 1944, when her family was betrayed. And the Gestapo came to her home and arrested her, along with her father, who was 84 years old, her sister, Betsy, and on that day, Kari Tenboom, who you see on the wall, that's her in her old age, was imprisoned by the Gestapo.

She and her sister would be imprisoned for 10 months, their last imprisonment being in the infamous concentration camp known as Ravensbrook. And I'll tell you the rest of the story in just a few moments. But on February 28, 1944, terror entered the home of Corrie Ten Boom. We live today, do we not, in a world of terror. Are you afraid?

Since 9-1-1, we have known terror probably as we have not known it in this country on our homeland, maybe any time in our history. But that's not the only thing that gives us terror. it's not just terrorists but it's all sorts of things that strike fear into our hearts SARS people fearful of this Asian disease that was so deadly but then some of us are fearful of more common occurrences cancer job losses what will happen to our children the circumstances that our children face for the future can cause fear for us as parents? Let me ask you, when is it that you have been most afraid in your life? What was that most difficult moment

when you didn't know what you would do and you didn't know where you would turn?

Maybe it was when you got the diagnosis from the doctor. Maybe it was when a family member was in a difficult circumstance. who had the most fear. We are in a world that is searching for safety and security. Go to the airport. We've got guards and people trying to protect us. Many of us now avoid air travel because we're afraid and we want to be safe and we want to be secure. We have all sorts of tests to screen us for disease, to ward off any possible danger from physical illness. We fingerprint our children and photograph our children in order to be sure that if something happens to them, they're kidnapped, we know how we can best try to find them. We do all sorts of things to protect ourselves. My question for us today is how can we learn to live without fear in a world that is so terrifying? And I'm going to argue that we can live without fear in this world that is at times.

so terrifying. Before we begin, let's pray. Lord, this day I pray that you will help us to face truly those things that cause us fear, but help us today to see that we need not fear. I know because I know some of the stories of people in this class that some are walking through fearful places even now. I know that some have been there.

And Lord, I know surely that some of us will be there in the future. But today, will you guide us and help us to understand how we can walk without fear even through terrifying places. For it is in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Let's read together Psalm 91.

Psalm 91. I'm going to just read the whole psalm straight through. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you make the Most High your dwelling, even the Lord who is my refuge, then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra. You will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him. I will protect him for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

him and show him my salvation so the question is how can we live learn to live without fear in a terrifying world my first answer is is we can learn to live without fear by recognizing who god is who god is if you look in the text in verse 2 we see first that God is the Lord. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. And I think we've talked about this. When all caps are there for the word Lord, that means it's Yahweh. This is the God of the covenant.

This is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the God of the burning bush. The first thing we need to know that God is a God who has a name. this is not God whatever you conceive him to be or whoever you conceive him to be God is the Lord and if you want to live in a world without terror you must first recognize that God is the Lord it is Yahweh this is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob do not be fooled any other name is just a cheap imitation the only one who is really God is the Lord there is no other. And Christianity comes and says with blazing affirmation there is but one God and then Christianity doesn't say that's a God whatever you conceive him to be is okay. No. There is one God he is the Lord.

The second thing we need to recognize about this God is he is the most high. That's what the text says in verse one. He is the most high. The Hebrew word is Elyon. He is the highest of the high. There is no other ruler, monarch, or power in the universe that is higher than He is. He is the ultimate. And He is also the Almighty.

second half of verse 1 he is El Shaddai and that word means he is the most powerful of the most powerful there is no power nothing in the universe that is stronger than he is there is nothing that can overcome him there is nothing that can defeat him because he is El Shaddai everybody remember the song El Shaddai, El Shaddai Patty. Amy Grant, excuse me. And it was Three Dog Night that sang, Three Dog Night that sang Celebrate. Why is it important to recognize who God is? If we want to be able to live without fear, we must know who the strongest force in the universe is because it is he and he alone who can deliver us from anything and everything.

If he is not the most powerful, the most high, then he can't deliver us. He can't protect us in all circumstances and through all circumstances. So we must first recognize where the power is if we want to be able to live without fear. And the power is with the Lord. who is the Most High, who is the Almighty.

The second answer is this. We must recognize what this God provides to us if we want to be able to live without fear. And He provides three things to us according to this psalm. And I've sort of summarized the three things He provides to us. The first thing He provides to us is refuge.

Refuge. That's verse 2.

He is my refuge. There are other words that are used to capture this sense of refuge. In verse 1, He is called our shelter. I will rest in the shelter of the Most High. And in verse 4, He's given the picture of sheltering like a mother hen.

With His feathers, He covers us under His wings. a refuge under the wings of the mother hen. Well, a refuge is what? It is a place of security and shelter. It is a place where we can be covered.

It is a place where we can hide from something. And in a sense here, it's where we can hide from the danger. like the chick does under the wings of the mother hen. In fact, the word shelter in verse 1 can be translated hiding place. Hiding place.

So God, if you want to find a place that is secure, a place of shelter, it is found in the Lord. And I particularly love that picture of the feathers of the wings covering the chicks who get up close. You want to find security? You want to find shelter? It's found here in this one.

He also provides protection. That's in verse 2. He is called our fortress. And in verse 1, he is called, we are to rest in his shadow. And the picture of the fortress is the picture of protection, isn't it?

The fortress is the place of walls to keep out those things that can harm us or hurt us. And the idea of protection is also seen in the idea of being in the shadow of the Almighty. The shadow or the shade protects from the scorching sun, those rays that would harm us. And if we want protection, we must be in the shadow of the Almighty. the idea that He provides us protection.

And thirdly, He provides us deliverance. That's verse 3. For it is He who delivers you. And He is the one who delivers us from difficulty. And He is the one who delivers us through difficulty.

So if you want security, if you want a place where you can be protected, if you want a place where you can be delivered, you must find it in the one who is the Most High, who is the Almighty. We must recognize that's where we go for this refuge, this protection, and for this deliverance. Thirdly, if we're going to live without fear, however, we must personally trust in Him. We must personally trust in this Lord.

This idea of personally trusting in Him is found in the notion of dwelling in His shelter.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High. It's not enough to know He's the Most High. It's not enough to know that that's where the shelter is. dwell in that shelter. And it's the idea that we take up permanent residence in that shelter.

This is where we go for our permanent home. Shelter is no good unless you dwell in it, is it? Just as an umbrella does you no good unless you are under it in the rain, knowing that God is the Most High and that He is the shelter does you no good unless you dwell in his shelter. And it's the idea that we must personally determine that we're going to live and abide and remain in him. Kari Ten Boom talked about the Lord being her shelter while she was in the concentration camp. And she actually wrote a book called The Hiding Place, which is another way to translate that word shelter. God was her hiding place, she said. She told stories about how they thought the lice in the beds were so terrible in the buildings where the people were kept as prisoners.

But she said they found that the lice was God's way of sheltering them because the guards wouldn't come into the rooms because the lice were so bad. She talked about God being their hiding place and their shelter because she said we had one bottle of medicine to help ward off some of the diseases that we faced. And she said every morning she would pray that there would be another pill in the bottle. And she prayed every day. And she says the pills just kept appearing in the bottle every day.

She knew that she found her shelter in this one here. her father would die in the concentration camp at age 84 her sister would die in the concentration camp but Corrie would survive and she said in it all God was my hiding place he was the dwelling who gave me shelter not only must we dwell in his shelter we must abide in his shadow the text says Again, it's the idea that we choose to remain in a place on a continuous basis. That's what abiding is, is to remain in a place on a continuous basis. And the place we are to remain is in the shadow of the Almighty. If you're in His shadow, that means you're close to Him.

To have the shadow cast on you by an object means you're close to it. That's the picture. the shadow, in the shadow that you get the protection. If you're outside the shadow, you don't get the protection. So again, it's the sense of moving into a position where we get the protection. The other idea of how important it is to personally trust in him is in the text in verse two, where the psalmist says, he is my refuge. He is my fortress. He is my God in whom I trust.

until you can say he is my refuge, he is my fortress, he is my God, I trust in him, the benefits that he can provide will not come to you.

In other words, we can only claim the benefits when we can say he is my fortress and my refuge and my God. Where are we putting our trust? what are we looking to to protect us in an ultimate sense? Where do we think our safety and our security lies? For some of us, we think it's in our bank account.

If we have enough money, we're safe. For some of us, it's in our medicine or in the physician.

Some of us think it's in other people. Now God provides all of these things as means sometimes to help protect us, doesn't He? God gives children parents. He gives patients doctors. He gives us money when we need it.

But at root, all of these things do not come from anyone but God. He is the great provider. And if you ever put your trust in the means He provides, and in the provider himself, you will never be able to live without fear because the means disappear. Bank accounts disappear. Stock investment accounts shrink. Doctors die.

Medicines don't always work, do they? So ultimately, ultimately, our trust must be in the one who provides all things that are good for us. It must be in God Himself. And it's clear in the text that the promises about His protection are conditional. That means unless we meet the conditions, we should not expect the protections.

As it says in verse 14 of the text, because He loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue Him. I will protect him for he acknowledges me. He acknowledges my name. So the sense is that if we want to be rescued, if we want the deliverance, then we must first love God. We must commit to him.

We must have a relationship to him. After 9-1-1 in this country, how many people were saying, how could God let this happen to America? how could God let this happen what kind of God would let this happen and I can't remember if it was Ann Graham Lotz or if it was Franklin Graham who finally said this country has turned its back on God we don't pray to him we don't seek after him yet we complain when we don't get all the protections the protections are conditional

if you are afraid If you don't sense His protection, if you don't sense His comfort, then I would ask, are you resting in His shadow? Are you dwelling in His shelter? God has not moved. He is there. And He's calling us to come into His shelter.

He's calling us to come into His dwelling. And it is there and there alone that we will find the protection that we so long for.

My fourth answer of how we can learn to live without fear is by knowing and then acting like we are secure.

there's no need for us to fear either known or unknown dangers. If you look at the text in verses 5 through 8, he says, You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. There's a real sense that sometimes in the darkness we're most afraid. We see that in little children, don't we, at night. There are all sorts of unknown fears that are lurking out there to get us, and we're afraid.

And I think the psalmist is trying to tell us here in this imagery is there are things out there that we can't even fully appreciate how dangerous they are that we can be afraid of. They haven't even presented themselves yet to us, but we know they're sort of lurking out there, and we're just afraid of what might happen, afraid of the unknown. But then there are fears that we see very clearly. These are the fears we see in the day. The arrows being shot at us.

And those arrows can represent any sort of danger. Dangers that come from people who are trying to trip us up. People who don't have our best interest at heart. People at work who are working against us. People at work who don't treat us fairly.

There are all sorts of dangers we can face that can be represented by these arrows. Or it can be the pestilence. It can be some disease that we fear.

and these images can represent all sorts of fears and all sorts of dangers that can come to us, but we need not fear either known or unknown dangers so long as we rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Because, because no evil harm will ever befall us. that's what it says in verse

10 if you make the most high your dwelling even the Lord who is my refuge then no harm and I'm going to come back and talk about that word in a second no harm will befall you no disaster will come near your tent for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways that word therefore harm has the sense of a harm that does evil to us or a harm that is bad for us a harm that is bad for us because of God's providence we are sometimes spared from difficulties and pains and harm doesn't befall us in any sense sometimes because God has protected us life when God protected you from a certain harm so that it didn't affect you in any way, shape, or form. Sometimes his protection is what I would call a complete protection from even experiencing difficulty or pain. That happens sometimes, doesn't it? Sometimes we are in the midst of pain because of God's power and protection we are delivered out of it or we overcome it because of his protection there's a sense in the text that sometimes God protects us with those guardian angels the text says he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways Louise gave me a story as I was preparing for this lesson about a gentleman lives in Bangor, Maine. In 1980, he was working to start a homeless shelter up in Bangor, Maine. And one night he was out late looking for a place to work with the homeless. And he was trying to find a shelter for them. When he was approached by three men who said, let's get him. And he heard these three large men say they were going to get him. And they were coming after him, apparently to attack him or to rob him. And as the three men came running toward him, suddenly they stopped and they said, oh my God, run, run, run.

He was a little surprised at that. But a little later that evening, a friend of his drove by, waved, went on. The next day, Dave saw his friend and the friend said, well, I started to stop and talk But those three guys with you, I thought you were busy with them, so I didn't stop. And Dave said, there were no guys with me. The guy said, yeah, there was a big guy.

He was at least seven feet tall next to you and two other men right there. Dave said, no, there was nobody with you. The guy said, yes, there were. They were there. I think sometimes God sends guardian angels.

It's sort of like with Elisha in 2 Kings 6. was surrounded by the armies of Aramaia. And his servant comes running to him and saying, Oh, Elisha, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? And Elisha prays, Oh, Lord, open his eyes.

And the Lord opens the servant's eyes, and the servant sees chariots of fire in the hills. God's guardian angels there to protect. The scriptures, I think, do teach that angels are there to minister to believers. Angels rejoice at our conversion, 1510. They serve our needs. They protect us. They watch over our lives. So sometimes through those ministering angels, we have protection. But sometimes, sometimes we do experience harm in a sense, don't we, in this life? We get sick. We go to the hospital. We lose our jobs. Yet the text says no harm will befall us. The sense is that there is no harm that is ultimately bad for us that we will ever experience. Anything we experience ultimately will not be harmful to those of us who love God and who abide in His shelter. It's the promise of Romans 8 28 God will cause all things ultimately to work together for good to those who love him to those who call who are called according to his purposes and the reason that we can live without fear in this life is because no matter what happens even if we die we're okay. It's only in the shadow of the Almighty we can say that.

The only way we will live without fear in this world is if we recognize that ultimately if we're in Him, we are okay. John Wesley, the great Methodist minister, before he was converted, was a missionary to this country. And as he was traveling from England to the U.S., it wasn't the U.S. then, and it was the colonies at that point, but as he was traveling here, his ship was caught up in a great storm, a very violent storm. They thought the ship was going to sink.

And John Wesley was terrified, he said. He thought he was going to die, and it scared him to death. But on the same boat were a group of Moravians. That's a group of Christians over there in Europe. There were women and children, and he noticed that in the midst of the storm, We're not afraid.

In fact, they were singing hymns in the midst of the storm. And he went to them after the storm subsided. He went to some of the women and even talked to some of the children. And he said, how is it that you've remained so composed in the midst of the storm? And they said, we knew if we died, we'd be okay.

We would be in the presence of the Almighty. We would be in the dwelling of the Most High. I'm going to tell you, we will never be able to live without fear in this world until we are persuaded that no matter what happens, no matter what we experience, the Almighty is able to take care of us.

I'm not saying that's an easy lesson to learn, folks, but I'm telling you it's the only way we will ever be able to live without fear. If we really believe that if we are in Christ that death is gain as the Apostle Paul says then we can live without fear. If you do not believe deep in your soul that when you die it will be to your advantage to your prophet, that you will be better off. You will live a fearful life.

But I want to submit to you that Christians should be fearless.

For two reasons. One, because when we die, we go to a better place. and also because if we face what may seem like fearful circumstances, we face them for a purpose. God has a plan, and we can trust that his sovereign plan is being worked out in and through us no matter what we face. Sometimes we experience difficulty so that we can be more and better.

Louise gave me an anonymous poem that reads in part I asked for health that I might do greater things I was given infirmity that I might do better things I asked for riches that I might be happy I was given poverty that I might be wise I asked for power that I might have the praise of men that I might feel the need of God. So if you're struggling with difficulty in life, we need to hear the words of the Apostle Paul. Power is perfected in weakness. When we are weak, He is strong. And His grace is sufficient to see you through whatever you face.

I still love to think about the sermon E.V. Hill preached when his wife, and he called her baby, died. You know E.V. Hill? Black Baptist minister, he's now deceased.

His wife died, and he preached her funeral sermon. And his text was, my grace is sufficient. And he talked through his tears about how much he loved his wife. he kept coming back to that refrain my grace is sufficient

God's grace is sufficient to see you through trust that you're where you are for a purpose trust he will see you through trust that no matter what comes you will be safe my son Caleb is now engaged some of you may know that he'll get married next May he's starting to think responsibilities now, the husband, jobs, what are you going to do, you know, how are you going to earn money? Trying to figure all those things out. Louise and I were talking with him and we said, don't worry, don't worry, don't worry, don't worry, don't worry, because it will be worked out in God's plan. And we've got a few years of experience on him abiding time and time again. But we need not fear.

Let me close with some lessons for life.

Admit your dependence and bend the knee.

Bend the knee and say, my God, my fortress, my refuge. Secondly, pray first, not last. learning this lesson. I try to do everything else myself. I try to handle the difficulty myself.

I try to figure it out. I try to deal with it. I'm slowly learning that going to the Lord first is the best place to begin. The reality is, folks, there's so many things we face in life, so many difficulties, so many dangers, so many fears that we can't deal with. I've experienced this particularly with my children. They're now away from home. I'm not there with them.

So I have to pray that God will take care of them. And I pray a lot now, more than I ever have. Give your fears to God. Some of you are living in fear. I think you need to specifically identify those and go to God and say, Lord, take this from me. Let me give you this fear and you take it from fearful, go back to him and pray again for him to take the fear. It's a mysterious thing to me, folks.

But if we do that day in and day out, God will begin to take the fears away. Fourthly, practice being fearless.

Practice being fearless. I think we as Christians need to practice. We need to go into situations and we need to say we're not going to be afraid. We need to relax. and we need to trust that God will take care of us.

We need to be willing to face difficult situations. We need to be willing to go in God's name to places that can be dangerous, but we need to be able to go without fear. But you have to work on this, asking God to help you to not be fearful. Fifthly, when difficulty comes, ask God to help you understand why. One thing that helped me so much in my personal journey God gives us difficulties for purposes.

He's shaping us, He's molding us, He's using it to direct us. Christians of centuries ago didn't complain when difficulties came or pain came. Instead, they said, God, show us why. Help us to understand what you're doing. Help us to understand where you want us to go, how you want us to be changed.

So quit complaining to God. afraid and instead start to ask how are you using this God to change me, to shape me, to mold me, to direct me, to lead me, to guide me. Sixthly, when we are weak, He is strong.

More and more I'm appreciating His strength. More and more I recognize my own weakness. Maybe the older I get, that becomes more evident.

But you know what? I'm starting to relish the weakness.

because then I can see God's strength. It's not us, folks. It's God. And sometimes we don't see that until we are, in a sense, flat on our backs and have nowhere to turn but to Him. And lastly, take time to remember.

In preparing for this lesson, I sat down and began to think about how many times when I thought things were dark and black saw me through. Begin to see God's hand working in your life. See where He's delivered you before, where He's protected you before. The more you see His protection in your life, the more you'll begin to trust Him.

When Elizabeth Elliott's husband was killed by the Aukah Indians in 1956, she later wrote a book about the loss of her husband. And she titled one of the books she wrote, In the Shadow of the Almighty. She knew that when her husband died on that sandy little beach by the Curare River in Ecuador, that when he died, he was in the shadow of the Almighty and that no real harm came to him on that day.

May we live with such a confidence. Let's close in prayer. Lord, help us to be people in your presence, who dwell in your shelter, who abide in your shadow. I pray for all who are afraid today, who are facing difficulties. I don't want to minimize the reality of the difficulty, but I do want to maximize the reality of who you are and what you can do in and through the difficulty. Help us to be more trusting of you.

Help us to lean more heavily on you. Help us to quit thinking we have all the answers and all the strength and to recognize that all ultimate answers and ultimate strength reside in you and you alone. These things we ask in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.