"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honour him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
Psalm 91
First of all, in 3-6, the Psalmist speaks of dangers that strike suddenly and unseen, against which the strong are as helpless as the weak, attacks on mind and body alike. There is no assurance that these will not come to the trusting soul; rather, we are assured that we need not fear them, for God will protect us in them. The twofold picture of that protection in 4 - the tender care a mother eagle gives to her young, and the hard, un- yielding strength of armour - is very wonderful. In 7-10 it is individual protection that is in view. What these verses assure us of is that nothing can touch God's servant but by God's leave (Kidner). In 11-13 it is miraculous protection, and we are given in these verses a revelation of the unseen host 'sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation', and who will draw all the poison from the arrows of the evil one before ever they reach us, so that any wounds they make will be clean wounds. The assurance that these verses give, taken together, cover the whole ground of life, as Maclaren says, both in moments of hidden communion in the secret place of the Most High, and in its times of diligent discharge of duty on life's common way.
The high point of the Psalm comes in the last verses (14-16), in which God Himself speaks, for in them He confirms His word and announces it to all the world, especially the words 'Because he hath set his love upon Me...'. This is the construction that our Lord places upon our service for Him, and our feeble and faltering faith and love. We often say, 'weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought...' and this may be true; but God looks on it differently. He says, 'My child you have done better than you think, and your love - poor, faint and fitful as you have often thought it to be - has delighted My heart'. This, then, is what He thinks of us! C.S. Lewis says somewhere, 'This is the courtesy of deep heaven: that when you mean well, He always takes you to have meant better than you knew'. And because this is so these verses tell what God undertakes to do for us, He is no man's debtor. Please God the encouragement of this wonderful word will bless and hearten us in the circumstances we face today!