New: 8 February 2025
The Power of
God's Protection
Psalm 91
He who dwells in the shelter
of the Most High will abide
in the shadow of the Almighty.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.
Psalm 91:1, 11 NASB
The Almighty Protector
We all need protection. There are dangers out there, some beyond our control. The psalmist speaks of the Most High (El Elyon) and the Almighty (El Shaddai) in parallel manner (Psalm 91:1), which is to use two different descriptions of God. Yahweh is above all forces and dominion and almighty in His power. When God is our protection, we are safe. We can say, as the psalmist did, that Yahweh is 'my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust' (v 2). God delivers us from traps and deadly forces (v 3); He covers us under His wings (figuratively speaking) in His faithfulness (v 4). There is protection and safefty with God no matter what goes on around us. We can make Him our refuge!
Be it 'terror by night' or the 'arrow... by day' (v 5), be it the pestilence in darkness or destruction at noon ( v 6), or be it the wicked that fall at our side (vv 7-8), those who made Yahweh their refuge and El Elyon their dwelling place, 'no evil' shall befall them, no plague will come near them (vv 9-10). This is the power of God's protection.
Angelic Protection
There is also angelic protection to guard our ways (v 11), protect us from harm (v 12) and keep us from dangerous entities (v 13). The almighty has powerful angelic armies under His command. When thousands of soldiers came to arrest the man of God, he wasn't afraid for he knew who was on his side (see 2 Kings 6:8-17). Elisha prayed for his servant to see with his 'spiritual eyes,' so to speak. His physical eyes were open, yet the prophet prayed for God to 'open his eyes that he may see' (v 17), that is, see the spiritual realities: 'the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha' (v 17). He knew that 'those who are with us are more than those who are with them' (v 16). When God is on our side, we have nothing to fear. If God be for us, who can be against us? Paul asked (Romans 8:31) There is power in God's protection. It doesn't mean that we won't have challenges; it means that God is there to get us through and keep us safe. Nothing can separate us from His love; we can overcome through the One who loves us (vv 32-39). Daniel's friends were not saved from the fire, but in the fire (see Daniel 3). The Israelite God was more powerful than the Babylonian flames.
The Power of Loving God
The psalmist finishes the psalm with the very words of God directed at those who take refuge und the shadow of His wings (Psalm 91:14-16):
'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 honour him.
With a long life I ill satisfy him
and let him see My salvation.'
God is faithful and powerful. He is able to keep us and promises to do us. We can trust Him and experience the blessing of protection, answered prayer and long life. Those who love God and know His Name are blessed!
For it is written:
'He shall give His angels
charge over you,'
and
'In their hands they shall bear you up,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.'
Matthew 4:6b
Applying God's Word Properly
It is interesting to note that two verses of this powerful psalm about God's protection were quoted in the New Testament. One could think that the many positive verses might be applied in a positive light. Yet we see that two verses were used as a distortion of God's word, quoted by the devil himself in the temptation of Jesus! It sounds crazy, but check this out, it is important.
Somehow, the devil managed to get Jesus to stand on the Temple in Jerusalem and told the Son of God to throw Himself down to prove who He was (Matthew 4:5-6). In an attempt to give Jesus some 'biblical assurance,' the devil quoted two verses from Psalm 91 (vv 11 and 12). How are we to understand this? The devil is the tempter, opponent and accuser. He has no good intention; he comes to steal kill and destroy (John 10:10). Quoting the Bible doesn't make him 'a good devil'! It makes him an even more dangerous devil, unless we apply God's Word properly.
Jesus had countered the devil in the first temptation with God's Word (Matthew 4:3-4). 1:0 to Jesus, if it was a game. Temptations are no games; this stuff is real. But the devil couldn't get Jesus to make a mistake and fail. The second temptation makes it even clearer that these are life-and-death situation. He tempted Jesus to commit suicide by jumping off the tallest building at the time. We can't speculate here if that would've been possible; the reality is, Jesus refused to jump and gave the right application of God's Word to counteract the devil's trick to make the Son of God fail. Jesus' response was yet again from Scripture, and with the right interpretation: 'It is written again, "You shall not tempt the LORD your God" (Matthew 4:7; Deuteronomy 6:16). In other worse, jumping off a building and getting your life in serious dangers, but somehow relying on some verse, usually out of context, is wrong. It would be to tempt God, which we are not to do. Psalm 91 does not promise us protection when we do stupid things; it is God's protection as we abide in His presence and remain in His word.
Each believer mist rightly handle the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). The devil can appear even as an angel of light in order to deceive (see 2 Corinthians 11). Paul had to contend with such demonic 'apostles,' that is, false apostles who preached a false gospel. He used the temptation of Adam and Eve at the beginning of Creation as a parallel case of what the devil is trying to do through false teachers: to deceive and mislead, to lead away from Christ and the truth of the Gospel. Like Jesus, we must stick with what is written in the way God intended it. Stepping outside the boundaries of the Word of God is dangerous and quoting a verse from the Bible while doing things contrary to it, won't work. Abide under the shadow of His wings. That's where His protection truly is and it's powerful! Fear not.