Psalm 91 – I Want In! – Bible study

Psalm 91 I Want In! This psalm begins by telling us of a secret place, a place that God has reserved for His own. It is not called a secret place because the saved do not know about it. It is called the secret place because the wicked cannot get to us there. It is a place of Gods presence, of Gods power, of Gods protection. God is inviting us into this place. The question is, "Do you want to go?" Let study the Psalm tonight. I. \#1\ Gods Invitation Has A Catch Ps 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. A. \#1\ is an invitation. 1. If you are saved, you can be the "he" that dwells in Gods secret place. 2. But it also gives an hint as to where the secret place is located and that is the catch. 3. To abide in the secret place, one must abide in Gods shadow. 4. To be in ones shadow, requires that you be exceeding close to that person. 5. In the morning and evening, shadows may be long but at their longest, you must still be close! 5. So the message from the first is that you cannot abide in Gods secret place and have the blessings of being there and follow God from afar. a. It will cost you something to abide in Gods secret place. b. You will have to forsake the world, sin, and self to the place that you can abide close to God for without that, you cannot abide in Gods shadow and without being there, you cannot abide in Gods secret place. B. My parents had a statement that I heard a few times growing up that is similar. "As long as youre under my roof" 1. Behind that followed something that I was either to do or not to do. 2. My parents were saying that as long as I was under their protection, provision, power or authority, I would obey them. a. As a child living under my parents roof, I had certain blessings, but there were also certain demands that were placed on me. To get the blessings, I had to meet the demands. b. Do not deceive yourself concerning the Lord. (1) He offers great blessings butoutside of His free salvationHe does expect obedience in return. (2) That is part of what this chapter discusses. c. As a teenager, I had to ask myself, "Are the blessings worth the demands?" (1) If they were not, it would be time to leave. (2) I found that the blessings were always worth following their demands! (3) So also are the Lords! C. The question you must ask is do you want the blessing of Gods secret place? If so, you will be willing to pay the price to live in His presence. II. What Are the Blessings? They are many. A. \#2\ God will be our refuge our fortress. 1. This is a reference to protection. a. We live in a day of enclosures. We expect everything to be done on the inside. A few weeks ago, a few of the men went into the Bibb Country Prison to host a basketball tournament and witness to the "residents." It never occurred to me that they did not have a gym. I got blistered on my head. b. Even our dogs sleep under shelter. 2. Davids life was not that way. a. As a shepherd boy, he was used to being under the canopy of the stars. b. As he grew, he became a soldier but was still forced to sleep in the outdoors. c. During the years of persecution, he had no place to lay his head unless it was an occasional cave. d. Even as king, he was often on military campaigns and sleep in nothing more than a lean to or tent. e. David was used to having nothing for protection except the Lord! In fact, at times in his life, David had nothing and no one but the Lord! g. God was literally a fort and refuge around David for protection. 3. How great is Gods protection? God describes it in several ways. Ps 91:3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. a. A snare is a trap. A fowler is a bird catcher. Men killed their prey with arrows in that day and one must be pretty skilled to kill a bird with an arrow so they would often lay out traps. (1) The difference here is that we, Christians, are the birds and the devil and sin is the trap. (2) While in the secret place, the devil cannot get to us. We are protected. b. The pestilence was also a very real danger. (1) Pestilence is not some typical sickness but a plague that comes upon the people and kills and destroys them allleaving few if any survivors. (2) The word "noisome" means evil or wicked. It describes the diabolical nature of the pestilence. (3) These diseases were real, deadly, and there was no medicine for them. (4) Yet, those who lived in Gods secret place, did not need to fear it. Ps 91:6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. (5) \#6\ Whether in the middle of the day or the night, God will protect. (6) \#7\ This is a realistic picture of the plaque of that day. Thousands, even tens of thousands dying. (7) But God promises this diabolical pestilence will not come near to the child of God who is in the secret place. (8) \#8\ God promises there will be a difference in what happens to us and the wicked. (9) I read once of a German physician who spoke this psalm as a preservative in times of cholera. B. But God also promises love and comfort. Ps 91:4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. 1. \#4\ God will be our covering, like feathers. a. Thats an expression of closeness. A chick would have to be close to the hen to be covered by the feathers. b. Thats an expression of care. (1) A chick under the hens feathers will be cared for by the hen. (2) The phrase reminds me of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! c. Thats an expression of comfort. (1) \#4\ The covering wings are mentioned in close proximity to the terror \#5\. (a) Have you ever been terrified? Not scared or afraid but terrified? (b) When a person is terrified they lose themselves to their emotions. (2) A child terrified usually wants to be held. (a) They jump into your arms and you instinctively hold them tight. (b) It is as if you are trying to protect them from the air itself! d. Together, these is an expression of love! 2. All of this and more is offered and God asks us, "Is this what you want?" III. What Are Our Duties? A. We have already mentioned that being in Gods shadow requires something from us. B. Three conditions are listed in this chapter. 1. There are more actions on our part that are mentioned in this chapter and I have noticed that some add those in to the conditions for being in Gods secret place, but if you will look closely, I believe you will see that the others are actions we do WHILE we are in Gods secret place. 2. The three that get us into Gods secret place all start with the word "because." C. \#9\ "Because thou hast made the Lord thy habitation" 1. This is additional information to what was given in \#1\. 2. We must dwell in the secret place of the Most High. a. Where is the secret place? Psalm 31:20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence b. The secret place is to be in His presence. 3. The difference in verse 1 and verse 9 is that here God called His presence a "habitation," a place to live. 4. Living close to God is not just a layover. It is a move. 5. This is one of the reasons we do not instantaneously receive all of the blessings of God. a. God is not just interested in a weekend with us. God wants a permanent relocation. b. Prayer, worship, righteousness, faith, the Word – (1) These are not things we will try to see if they work or not. (2) These are things we will do whether we ever get another blessing from God or not. 6. Anytime someone tells you, "I tried that Christian stuff and it didnt work." You can immediately know why. It is because they were just visiting not moving to Gods shadow. D. NOTE: There are two more but they are found in \#14-16\, but the pronouns change. 1. Instead of the Psalmist referring to the worshipper as thee and thou, he refers to him as he and him. 2. Instead of the Psalmist referring to God has the Lord, he refers to Him as Me and I. 3. God has stepped out of His role as the impartial God of the universe and into the role of the personal God of the secret place. 4. In the early days of my ministry, I could not type and Kathy had to do all of my correspondence. Sometimes, I would give her the thoughts and let her write the letter, but I would always put my signature on it. That was the personal touch. God is giving His personal touch in these verses. E. \#14\ "Because he has set his love upon me" 1. God gives entrance into the secret place because we love Him. 2. God wants to be loved. a. Is there anything that we have neglected more than to love God? b. I do not even know what love is. I have thought I did but the more I live the more I realize I have never understood it. c. Americas home are missing love! (1) More than 50% of marriages end in divorce. (2) 3/4 teenagers drink regularly. (3). 1/20 get drunk once a week. (4) Average age of unwed mothers is 13. (5) Some parents may still rebuke. Some may still spank, but what our kids need more than anything is to be loved! d. Let us make sure that we love God. F. \#14\ "Because he has known my name" 1. Knowing a name shows importance. a. Using our first name shows care and concern. b. Using a private name shows intimacy and a relationship.. 2. To enter into that secret place, we must learn Gods names. 3. It is more difficult in the English Bible than in the Hebrew to see that after an experience with God, the person who had the experience would call God by a new name, a name that grew up out of that experience. Gen 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. a. Jehovah Jireh means "God will provide." b. It came out of God telling Abraham to sacrifice His son, Isaac. c. As they were walking up the hill, Isaac asked Abraham what they were going to sacrifice. Abraham answered: Gen 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. d. When it was over and God has provided, God and that place had a new name. 4. To get into Gods secret place, you are going to have to through some valleys and hard times and learn Gods names. 5. That will come by staying in His shadow during those desperate hours, but it will come. Do you want Gods power, protection, provision? You need to enter into Gods secret place!