The 91st Psalm of Protection

The 91st Psalm is a powerful Scripture that outlines the magnitude of the protection that we can count on.  It should come as no surprise that when we are in need of His shelter, think 9-1-1 because Psalm 91:1 is about just that.  It states that "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."

The sirens that you hear from the police cars, ambulances or the firetrucks are loud and alert the troubled that help is on the way.  It also is necessary to remind those that could hamper with the first responders arriving as quickly as possible, to move out of the way.  With God, He does not need a siren, He is always there.  He walks with us and carries us when necessary.  The difference is that we may not have that feeling that He is there.  In fact, we have to rest in the assurance that our faith is that He is there and we are not left alone to fend for ourselves.  We can absolutely count on Him.  In fact, He is the ONLY thing that we can count on.

When we are able to "dwell", it is synonymous with dwelling, or to take permanent residence in Him.  We have to do our part to remain in His presence as this should be our permanent home.  Do you tend to just call out to Him when you have had enough, you are scared and you feel the shakiness of your future?  In all the other times, do you cast Him aside because you do not feel that you are in need?  

While He is always there and knows that we will fall short of His glory, stay in the Lord's presence.  When we do that, we are able to "rest" in the "shadow of the Almighty", according to His Word.  A shadow is like a covering or a place where one can find protection.  Similar to the relief we receive from the heat of the sun, by the covering of the shade, it lowers the intensity of the heat.

Having lived in Arizona for over two decades, I can tell you that we experience some of the hottest temperatures found anywhere in the country.  In fact, there is a joke that natives (and those that have called Arizona home for a great amount of time) do not refer to any summer day as "hot" simply because it seems it can always be hotter.  The heat of the summer Arizona sun can be like the troubles that surround a person.  It comes beating down with an intense voracity, and yet one has to keep going forward and trudging through the difficulties.

It is God that gives us the assurance that when you walk close to His side and stay in the safe harbor of His shadow, the full caliber of life's difficulties will not come upon you.  He offers the perfect shelter and we can rest in the peace and calm that only comes from Him.  When life feels like a struggle and a ball of chaos, He is in control, and He wants the trust from us that He has got this!

The 91st Psalm, in its entirety, is filled with both the power and the goodness of God.  It offers a wonderful reminder that He will work faithfully on behalf of us ...those that love Him.  At the close of this powerful Scripture, he gives us eight solid reasons why we do not have to be in fear.

Instead of sharing those eight reasons, check out the 91st Psalm for yourself and see the power of these verses come to life.  Commit this to memory and you will be able to call upon these verses when the enemy wants to whisper lies and manipulations.  You are God's child and He will protect you as His own ...because you are His own.

The Trust Fall

Do you remember growing up and partaking in the infamous trust fall where one person (the trustee) stands behind the other person (the truster)?  The trustee extends his or her arms to catch the truster.  In this brave display of all trust being placed in the person to catch the truster, it is the perfect example of the ongoing trust we need to have in Jesus.

It sounds good to say, "I trust Jesus with my finances, my family, my health and my life", but the difficult truth is that the full trust of these things are often interfered by our doubts and worries that He will protect us.  We can find several examples of His promises of trust in the Bible.

"Give your burdens to the Lord.  He will carry them."  (Psalms 55:22)

"Let not your heart be troubled.  You are trusting God, now trust in Me." (John 14:1)

"Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)

Thankfully, we can rest assured that He is in fact carrying our burdens and we can lay them at the cross.  He actually wants us to give Him our burdens, but in order to do that one must fully trust that He can handle the burden, and that we can do the ultimate trust fall into Jesus.

Have you ever thought about the number of times that you put your trust into worldly things?  Just the other day, I remembered a friend that has experienced some success with investments and the ins and outs of how best to invest.  We entrusted a small amount of money to him with the hope that the invested money would experience growth and a return for us. 

But how about smaller opportunities for us to trust that we do so easily.  Do you check under the hood each time you get into your car?  How about this same trust when you get into someone else's car?  Do you check the tires to make sure they are not going to blow on the road and possibly inject you into oncoming traffic?  Do you pick up your prescription from the pharmacy and ensure that the medication is not poisoned?  Do you have a taste tester when you go grab dinner to make sure it is not tainted in anyway?  Every single one of the example questions offered were rather silly and yet, each one offers an opportunity for a trust fall that we do with not a blink of the eye.  Why is it that we can trust these examples and yet, the Creator, the One that made you and me and loves us more than we could ever be loved, we have to question the way in which He operates?

The next time you encounter an opportunity to stretch your trust of Jesus, close your eyes and imagine you doing a trust fall into Jesus.  He catches you every time with the precision and perfection that no human could ever match.  He gives us every reason to believe in Him as His historical record of evidence is spotless.  Give Him the opportunity today, and if there is a situation that you need some extra assurance, then lift it up to Him and He will guide you through it.