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We live in an insecure world. Every one of us wants to be safe and secure. So we lock our doors. We buy insurance. We save for retirement. Cities have police. Nations build armies. Yet none of those things can guarantee safety. Wealth can disappear overnight. Good health can suddenly fail. Governments rise and fall. Even the strongest fortress can’t protect us from every danger.
Psalm 91 teaches us that the safest place in the world is making the living God our dwelling place. Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
The Hebrew word translated “live” means dwell, settle down in a place, make a home somewhere. The word shelter (seter), refers to a hiding place, a place of protection.
The Hebrew word translated as finding rest, or abiding, or remaining, comes from the idea of settling in somewhere safe for the night. Finding rest in the shadow of the Almighty means being close to God. You can’t rest in someone’s shadow if you are far from him. To rest in someone’s shadow you need to be near him.
Living in the shelter of the Most High and finding rest in the shadow of the Almighty is not describing someone who visits God occasionally – like when a crisis arises. It describes someone who has a close personal relationship with the living God and wants to be close to Him, live in communion with Him.
Yeshua taught the same thing when He said, “Abide in Me. Remain in me.” Following Yeshua is not just believing certain truths about Him. It’s living every day close to Him, experiencing fellowship with Him.
How do we do that? By knowing that Yeshua is the Messiah and the Son of God and transferring our loyalties to Him. Then we are born again and receive a new godly nature, and the Spirit of God lives in us, abides in us, takes up residence in us.
Then, we continue to be close to God by frequently interacting with the Word of God by reading it, studying it, discussing it with others, hearing it taught by God ordained teachers, and by obeying God’s Word – and returning quickly to Him when we disobey; and by talking to the Lord throughout the day; and by walking in His Spirit, yielding to the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit; and by faithfully participating in a good community of Yeshua-followers.
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Notice the names the psalmist uses for God: the Most High – Elyon, and the Almighty – Shaddai. The Most High is higher and greater than everyone and everything. Shaddai speaks of God as all-powerful – stronger than any creature or any force. How wonderful to know that the Most High and the Most Mighty is able to protect those who are close to Him.
And we need His protection because we have dangerous enemies. We have human enemies. We have spiritual enemies – Satan and the fallen angels. The world and all its enticements is our enemy. And sometimes our greatest enemy is ourselves – as we sabotage our own lives through sinful choices, foolish decisions, pride, anger, selfishness, fear and unbelief.
More about being close to God and experiencing His protection: This I declare about the Lord: he alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. We look for refuge and safety in our wealth, our health, family, the government, our own abilities. Those things are good but every one of them can fail. There is only one refuge and place of safety that can never fail – God Himself.
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God. This is the language of a close, personal relationship with the living Lord. It’s the difference between knowing about God and really knowing God. It’s the difference between life and death, between Heaven and Hell.
He is my God, and I trust him. When the Lord is our God, we belong to Him and He belongs to us. When the Lord is our God, He comes first. We devote ourselves to serving Him above everything else.
Everyone has a god or gods. Everyone has something occupying the center of their lives. For some it’s money. For others, pleasure, success, family or reputation. For some it’s themselves. Whatever occupies first place in our heart functions as our god.
Can you honestly say, “The Lord is my refuge and my place of safety. The Lord is my God”?
This personal relationship with the living God, and the protection that flows from it, depends on trust. He is my God, and I trust him. To trust God means to know who He is – that He has good character, that He is righteous and faithful and true, that He always keeps His promises.
It’s easy to trust God when life is going well. It’s harder to trust Him when our enemies are attacking, our prayers seem unanswered, and we are afraid and suffering.
Can you honestly say, “the Lord is my God and I trust Him?”
The psalmist now describes God’s ability to protect us from the dangers of living in a fallen world that is satanically controlled and is in rebellion against God and is under a curse. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. Satan and the demons lay traps for us. Human enemies lay traps for us. Our sinful nature can trap us. Yet God is able to rescue His people from every trap.
More about His ability to protect us when we are close to Him. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. The writer of this Psalm compares God to a mother bird gathering her chicks beneath her wings when danger approaches. The chicks are safest when they stay close to their mother.
Yeshua used the same illustration when He lamented over Jerusalem: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.
Stay close to the Lord. Stay close to your God. Stay close to Yeshua. When trouble comes, don’t run from God – run to Him. When you are experiencing dangers, trials, hardships, difficulties – don’t distance yourself from God. Don’t stop praying, reading your Bible or participating in Messiah’s community.
More about divine protection: His faithful promises are your armor and protection. What are some of God’s faithful promises and why are they our armor and protection?
“I will never leave you or forsake you.” “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” “Nothing can separate you from my love.” “All things work together for good for those who love me.” “My grace is sufficient for you.”
Why are God’s faithful promises our armor and protection? Because the Lord is faithful to His promises to protect those who are close to Him. What He promises He does – always.
More about the Lord’s ability to protect us from danger: Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished. If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you, no plague will come near your home.
God’s protection is comprehensive: He is able to protect us from dangers of the day and dangers of the night – from visible and invisible dangers. He is able to protect us from the arrow that flies by day and disaster that strikes at midday – open attacks and unexpected calamities. He is able to protect us from the dangers of disease and epidemics, and from battles where thousands are dying around us.
The psalmist assures us that those who are under God’s protection won’t be touched, won’t be conquered – while the wicked will be punished.
To help the Most High protect those who are close to Him are the good angels: For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you will not even hurt your foot on a stone. The Hebrew word for angel is malach. It means “messenger.” Angels are God’s servants who serve Him in various ways, including strengthening, protecting and ministering to God’s people. They are able to protect us from dangers great and small – like not striking our foot against a stone.
More promises of protection, and even more than protection – victory: You will trample upon lions and cobras. You will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet. Few creatures inspired more fear in the ancient world than lions and serpents. The lion represented overwhelming strength, the serpent – hidden danger and death. When we remain close to God, not only do we lose our fear of the things that once terrified us but we are able to overcome them.
Up to this point, the psalmist has been speaking about God. Now the Lord Himself speaks, promising His protection, His help, His victory : The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer. I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my yeshua, my salvation.”
A promise of divine help: I will rescue those who love me. The Hebrew word translated here as “love” means to cling, to be deeply devoted. This is a person who has a strong and loyal attachment to God. This is not mere intellectual belief. It is heart‑level clinging to God.
A promise of divine protection: I will protect those who know my name. The Hebrew word for “know” means more than knowing facts about a person – it means having the kind of knowledge that comes from having a close, personal relationship with someone. For example, I know Martha. After living together for years, I know her joys, her burdens, her thoughts. I often know what she is about to say. God wants us to we know Him in the same way – not just to know about Him, but to really know Him.
Another promise of divine protection: I will protect those who know my name. To know God’s name is to know who He really is: His holiness, righteousness, goodness, mercy, compassion, faithfulness and love; His power, greatness and wisdom. The more we know Him, the more we will trust Him. And the more we know and trust Him, the more protection we will receive from Him.
Another promise of divine help: When they call on me, I will answer. Calling on the Lord means seeking Him, praying to Him. God promises to answer those who call on Him and help them.
And another promise of divine help: I will be with them in trouble. This world is full of troubles. God promises to be with those who are close to Him when they are in trouble – and when God is with us, He is there to help us.
And a promise of divine help and divine reward: I will rescue and honor them. God promises rescue, which will be followed by being honored.
And another promise of divine help and divine reward: I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation. God promises to reward those who are close to Him with one of the greatest gifts possible in this world – a long life.
And He promises to give them “my salvation.” The Hebrew word for “my salvation” is “yeshua-ti” – from the same root as Yeshua. That’s no accident. Every promise of salvation, rescue, help described in Psalm 91 ultimately points to God’s greatest gift of salvation – our salvation through Yeshua the Messiah.
These promises of help and protection and reward for those who are close to God are amazing. But by this point, many of us are thinking, “If these promises are true, why do the faithful become sick, experience tragedy and die? Why do the righteous suffer?”
The answer is that sometimes God grants miraculous protection. He protected Noah through the flood. He protected the nation of Israel when we crossed the Red Sea. He protected Daniel in the lions’ den, and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. He is still able to protect His people whenever He chooses.
But even the most faithful believers, who are living in the shelter of the Most High and resting in the shadow of the Almighty – experience sickness, loss, tragedy, grief, persecution, and death.
So how do we understand these promises of divine help and protection? By looking at the life of the man who was closer to God than any other human being who ever lived. Yeshua continually lived in the presence of God.
Throughout His earthly ministry, Yeshua’s enemies repeatedly tried to arrest and kill Him. There were several times when crowds tried to kill Him – yet Scripture repeatedly says, “His hour had not yet come.” No one could harm Him until the Father’s appointed time. The Father perfectly protected His Son until the exact moment His redemptive plan required His sacrificial death.
And the same principle applies to us. Sometimes God protects us from trouble. Sometimes He protects us through trouble. He knows exactly what we need – whether it’s keeping trouble away altogether, or allowing us to experience trouble so that we are refined like silver is purified in the fire.
So where is the safest place in the world? Not in wealth. Not in perfect health. Not in a secure government. Not in human relationships. Not even in the absence of trouble.
The safest place in the world is making the living God your dwelling place. So, stay close to Him. Live beneath His wings. Know His name. Trust Him. Call on Him. Seek Him. Cling to Him. Be filled with His Spirit. Walk with Him every day.
Someday your health may fail. Your possessions may disappear. Friends may disappoint you. Governments may crumble. But if God has been your dwelling place, He will one day welcome you into His eternal dwelling place.
Until that day – stay close to God.
Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father, thank You for being our refuge, our shelter and our dwelling place. Work in us so that we remain close to You, know You more deeply and trust Your faithful promises with all our hearts. Teach us to run to You, not from You, in every trial. Whether You protect us from danger or carry us through suffering, help trust You. Keep us faithful until the end, and one day welcome us into Your eternal dwelling place.