This
is about Bible chapters that are powerful, not because I am the teacher, but because
the Bible is just that powerful. Certain chapters have been priceless treasures,
comforts, guides, and prophetic maps to the saints for two thousand years.
PSALM
91
First,
please read the chapter in your own Bible all the way through before joining me
in study of this chapter. Please use the King James Bible since that is the one
I use in all of these studies.
Bible
texts are always in RED.
Everything
in black is my commentary and must be examined with a King James Bible in
hand.
DISCUSSION
OF THE CHAPTER
Getting
where you belong:
Psalms
91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Watch
the verbs in verse 1-2.
"Shadow"-
This is a defense term in Hebrew. God is your defender, but ONLY if you dwell
in the "secret place". In the Hebrew this implies a secret hiding place.
Since the wicked do not know Christ or God personally, they cannot find the secret
place. For this reason I have seen, many times, an unbeliever who hangs out with
the godly because he knows he is with people who seem to be protected. Hmmmmm
This
text also implies that the secret place is divinely chosen, and divinely guarded,
so that the wicked do not find it. When you are surrounded by the wicked, and
when many of them would love to destroy you, God has you RIGHT WERE HE WANTS YOU.
Isaiah
25:4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his
distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the
terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
Psalms
121:5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
Jesus
is praying in sorrow because Israel, most of the nation anyway, had rejected him
and was about to crucify him:
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!
Does
it seem like God is crowding you a bit close? Do you feel like you need a little
more space to do it your way? If so, that is because you are not born again. You
should crave the covering of God, the same closeness that Christ craved to show
the Jews in Galilee. As you come into Christ and begin to long for him to draw
you closer each day, the shadow comes over and will never leave you.
Now,
you may be in a physical or social or vocational situation in which you cannot
escape from the wicked, but there is a secret hiding place where only God is found--
that place is where your mind or soul is secure and safe.
Romans
8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace.
Philippians
2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
1
Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct
him? But we have the mind of Christ.
You
see, Jesus was set upon by Satan and the Jewish leaders day and night. He was
later crucified under much pain and sorrow. But, his mind survived, and he got
the victory. He was able to press on through all the hate and betrayal to accomplish
his objective for his Father in heaven.
That
is what God will make sure happens in your mind, and you will have the victory.
2
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will
I trust.
"Refuge"-
The word in Hebrew speaks of two meanings-- hope and refuge. You may LOOK FORWARD
to God providing refuge when you are under attack. Hope in it, my friend.
"Fortress"-
This is what it sounds like, a fort, and the wording implies that God is looking
for you to come to the fort.
"My
God"- The world uses those two words as a thoughtless expletive. They blaspheme
God as they do so. The implication is that rebel sinners think they can mouth
the words "my God," and divinity settles in around their shoulders as
his witness that they are horrified, disgusted, or shocked at something they just
heard. It is very instructive that these same blasphemers will follow "Oh,
my God" with a four letter word related to procreation, and the most dreadful
thing is that many of them no longer even know they are saying these words. Men's
hearts do indeed wax worse and worse.
When
the Bible believer says "my God," it is not so that he can call God
down to justify himself-- it is because the Bible believer is in awe of the majesty
on high, and his reverence is also displayed as affection. My God, the One whom
I love above all others.
Do
you want to stop the blasphemer dead in his tracks when he roars, "My God"?
Simply say something like this, "Oh, I see you love the Lord Jesus Christ
and call out to him like I do." I promise you, the blasphemer will be totally
dumb struck because you suggest that his words were based in love for God. There
is then a good chance the blasphemer will say, "What the hell are you talking
about?" To which you might respond, "Oh, I see now that your god is
in hell. Sorry about that. My God is Jehovah God who is in heaven."
I
was at a yard sale in Michigan one day. There was another man in the garage browsing,
and two ladies were sitting at a table in charge. The man picked up something,
looked it over, and bellowed, "Jesus Christ." I believe the Holy Spirit
gave me the words. I am not very clever sometimes when I should be. I said, "Praise
the Lord ladies, I do believe we have a born again Christian man over there. He
keeps calling out to Jesus Christ." The man looked at me with shock which
turned to hate, cussed again, and buried his nose in a box of books. But, he did
stop blaspheming.
Regarding
survival-- In verse 1 through 2 you had to choose to get in a proper relationship
with God. There is no promise to the believer who arrogantly goes out looking
for help from the wrong source. Reading survival books and conspiracy theories
is a suspect occupation, for it suggests that you are NOT "abiding,"
"dwelling," and "trusting" in your God very much.
Now,
let us see what God promises if you ARE where you belong in Christ and your God.
Those
who "abide" are cared for by God:
3
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
and from the noisome pestilence.
Now,
watch the verbs as you read what God does for you who abide in him.
The
drama moves on now to the zeal of the enemy to trap you. The fowler is the bird
hunter who sets clever snares and nets in the forest, or on the thrashing floor,
to catch unwary birds.
Also,
Satan has sent you calamity in the form of plagues or sickness (pestilence) which
are severe and even life threatening. This is clearly to both discourage you and
even kill you. Satan hates you because you are eternally the child of God and
destined to dwell for eternity before God Almighty, the place Satan lost and will
never have again.
When
I was growing up in Tanganyika, Africa, my African playmates used to get a piece
of fiber from a sisal plant, make a loop in one end, and fasten the other end
to the ground with a stick. They made many of these on the thrashing floor after
the harvest because grain had been missed when the ladies swept it up and stored
it. The doves would come and eat the grain, and they would catch their foot in
the fiber snare. Doves were a delicacy to the Africans. This is exactly the picture
of Israel long ago when the "fowler" set snares the same way, and probably
for the same kind of birds. Satan and wicked men will go to great lengths to try
to snare God's children, as many stories in the Bible suggest.
While
we were working with the African church in Kenya, I visited a prospective local
church that wanted to join in fellowship with our local assembly. In that church
was a man who was making a living in what, even in 1975, was a rare art. He was
a fowler. His land area, given him by the local chief, was totally given over
to bird catching and no gardening. Tall grass grew over the whole field. We visited
the field, and it was crisscrossed with dozens of quail runs in the grass. In
the early morning the man would hoist a pole up in the air with quail in small
baskets which acted as temptation to other quail in the wild. The decoy quail
would start chirping loudly. Wild quail would hear the captive quail, and they
would fly to the field and land in the grass, run to a quail run, and turn onto
it. They would not run a couple of feet before they would be caught in a thin
fiber snare. This man made his whole living from doing this every morning and
evening.
Now,
if you are reading with a friend, please discuss the parallels in this story of
the African fowler to modern life in the local church and in society. Do you have
any friends who are decoys?
If
you were on your own, Satan would catch you sooner of later, for he is master
of deception and stealth. This is why this promise of deliverance by our God is
priceless. It is also why we must "dwell" and "abide" in our
God at all times.
4
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings
shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
You
are covered by his wings as in this Bible text:
Deuteronomy
32:9 For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he
led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad
her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12 So the LORD alone did
lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
The
shield and buckler are curious in this context. God covers you and protects you,
but this does not mean the battle is far away.
A
shield is well understood, but what is a buckler?
In
Hebrew is literally means "something that goes
around." It is armor or mail which protects the body. Today, police will
often wear body armor. One can be wounded in the arm or leg and even keep fighting,
but a wound to the body is deadly. It causes more than injury and pain-- it causes
shock by its effect on the mind. Most people who are wounded by an allow die of
shock. Natives in primitive times, in battle, would try to hit a man in the abdomen
with an arrow. You see, my friend, God covers all of your vital areas in this
life. He WANTS you to survive.
Ephesians
6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the
breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the
helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
So,
while God is covering you with his wings, you are also expected to be making war
on Satan and his evil forces. All the fight has gone out of most Christians today
in the whole world of Christendom. The pressure to be politically correct, to
be nice at all costs, has made wimps and pansies of men of God. Even most preachers
are fearless only when standing in a pulpit in a church house. The war on the
saints by Satan is 24/7, and you have no choice but to stand fast and "war
a good warfare" in Christ 24/7.
1
Timothy 1:18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies
which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
5
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for
the arrow that flieth by day;
Again
the drama of life is lifted higher as the enemy tries to terrify you. The terror
by night is that alarm which is sounded in the night time. When you want to be
at rest, panic is in the air, and darkness hides the enemy.
The
greatest terror in life is when you are physically hurting, or a tragedy takes
place with those you love dearly. Satan comes and terrorizes you with his suggestions.
"God is not taking very good care of you, is he"?
But,
something just as terrifying is to have a frontal attack by the enemy in broad
daylight. This happened to Nehemiah when he and the Jews were rebuilding the walls
of Jerusalem:
Nehemiah
4:1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he
was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spake
before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews?
will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a
day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?
3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build,
if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.
The
mockery was powerful. Sanballat came a couple more times in broad daylight so
the Jews would hear him talking to Nehemiah. He hoped the Jews serving under Nehemiah
would be frightened and quit helping Nehemiah. When Satan's fiery arrows fly at
noon, God has PLANNED for you to have no reason to be fearful, for he has victory
planned for you.
6
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that
wasteth at noonday.
The
drama of the Christian life now becomes a 24/7 affair, and the prospects are deadly
from a human perspective. Who can even go to sleep in this kind of world? If human
governments are not listening to every phone conversation and storing every email
on a hard drive somewhere, spammers and criminal creeps are trolling for every
detail of our lives. And, it is all unknown to us until, long afterward, some
ugly revelation comes out of nowhere to destroy our peace. Drones now fly the
skies of the USA, and you in the rest of the world need to know that the US Military
will send a drone to watch you anytime they feel like it. Thugs in high places,
and thugs on the streets night and day--
Galatians
1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
The
believer often longs for peace, and most denominational and Evangelical churches
build an aura of alleged peacefulness around their activities, as if they can
escape the battle-- as if the enemy is not right here in our town, even possibly
right next to us in the pew at the church house. Peace that risks no warfare is
dull peace for dull people in dull spiritual morgues. If these pansies DO escape
the battle it is absolutely certain that they are NOT true Bible believers. How
can I say that?
2
Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being
deceived. 14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast
been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
Paul
tells Timothy that he WILL receive persecution. Then Paul has the nerve to tell
Timothy to just keep doing those things that brought persecution upon him.
Either
that dull milque toast Presbyterian patriarch, and the Lutheran dead beat preacher,
are unsaved damned-to-hell sinners if they are never persecuted, or Paul was dead
wrong. If you NEVER receive persecution, you are not born again. Your precious
doctrine of eternal security which you got from Calvin's Institutes may
be true, but you do NOT have it.
Romans
8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,
For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Count
on it, saint-- God does.
The
fact that you are expected to go to war for your God does not mean he has given
you a "DIP" order. Definition-- "DIP order"-- Dead In Place.
Your God intends for you to win in the spiritual war.
7
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it
shall not come nigh thee.
You
ARE on a battlefield, and people are being destroyed in this battle. You cannot
hide-- you are surrounded on all sides. There is one big difference between you
and your unsaved friends:
2
Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things
are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him.
You
are an ambassador of the King, and your unsaved friends are perpetual victims
of sin, wicked men, and chance. When we lived in Ethiopia we knew when US Ambassador
Adair was driving by. He had the only black Buick in Ethiopia, and he had a small
American flag attached to the right front fender. The US Ambassador was special.
We joined the Ethiopian citizens and stood still in respect as his car went by.
He was special.
When
I was in the US Army on duty at Fort Knox, I would often have to go to the main
post area where the high command had offices. I would often see the General's
car go by. It looked like any other staff car, but it had a plate with a big white
star attached to the front bumper. It behooved me to come to attention and salute
as the General passed by. He was special.
Saint, when
you go by, in this spiritual war torn world, the wicked may not stand still, but
if you belong to Jesus Christ and they know it, you are special. They will either
love you or hate you for that. That, dear friend, should feel good. You serve
the God of heaven, and they serve Satan. That is why Richard Dawkins hates the
Ten Commandments so much. They condemn him, so he makes jest of them. See
Video >
8
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
God
has no intention of letting you be destroyed. Now, we know from the Bible, especially
the teachings of Jesus and Paul, that we will have persecution, and even may die
for the testimony of Christ. But, we are talking about who wins the war, not just
the individual battle. Even if you die for Christ, you will at once find yourself
in his presence, and the wicked will find himself in hell screaming for water.
I think that is indeed a WIN!
Harry
Truman was the commander of an artillery unit in World War I. He loved his men,
and they were intensely loyal to Captain Truman (who later became a US President).
He was proud of his men, but he was also very proud of himself. That sounds vain,
right? I think not because of what he was proud of-- not one of his men were ever
killed in combat. He won battles consistently without ever retreating, but he
had a masterful way of avoiding situations that would put his men in severe danger.
This prepared
Harry Truman to make a terrible and enormous decision much later when he dropped
two atomic bombs on Japan. You may judge him for that, but Military experts estimate
that this event saved as many as 2.5 million lives on both sides of the war. President
Truman knew that every Japanese man would fight to the death if the US Army invaded
Japan, and millions on both sides would die. If a good man knows how to protect
his people in battle, a good God certainly can be trusted to do so.
You
may see the reward of the wicked in this life as God brings down terror and death
on them, as he did Sodom and Pompeii, the most filthy city in the Roman Empire.
You may also have to wait to see the reward of the wicked at the Great White Throne
judgment one day. That will be final, and you will be vindicated for all that
the wicked did to cause you suffering.
Be
thankful that God virtually cannot bring any charge against you:
Romans
8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
The
battle is the Lord's, and the victory is the Lord's, but the damnation of the
wicked is NOT yours. You will see the reward of the wicked, and to even contemplate
it now is frightening. Look what God promised the children of Israel long ago:
Psalms
68:22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again
from the depths of the sea: 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of
thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.
The
ONLY thing God forgets in all of eternity is your sin. All of the sin of the wicked
will be paid in full as you watch. You cannot hate the wicked and weep for their
lost souls also. Do not let the emotion of hate get in the way of your duty in
battle.
The
Bismarck of Germany, long ago, trained his men to obey and anticipate orders so
loyally and absolutely that every man down to a private knew the battle plan,
and many orders were obeyed almost before the order was given. He taught his men
to march to battle to the beat of their own hearts, not in cadence as today. But,
the most deadly thing about the Prussian army was that the men WERE NOT PERMITTED
TO HATE THE ENEMY. This meant that they were 100% focused on the battle, responding
to the Bismarck, and the orders of the day.
Read
that paragraph again please. I expect you to learn something from it, friend.
9
Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
Survival
is selling great these days. There are hundreds of books for sale teaching people
to prepare for survival when the world crashes down on us. I agree that, from
the physical perspective, it would be well to get more food in the pantry, some
drinking water, and such things. Nations do collapse. It is historic. Also, there
are natural disasters to prepare for. You are real dumb if you have only three
days' food in the pantry and no drinking water in the garage. Some people who
have wells for water don't even have the sense to fill the bathtub as a dangerous
thunder storm approaches when lightning causes power outages.
These
verses do not cancel the admonition to "go the ant thou sluggard" and
learn about preparedness in the face of life's issues.
But,
we are talking here about EVIL and the war of the saint with the wicked. This
is a cut above the inconveniences of a physical crisis. If a burglar is climbing
your fence in Texas, you do well to have a gun on hand and use it since Texas
expects you to defend yourself against common crime. In Texas when you call 911
about some stranger outside your home of fence, the sheriff will almost always
ask, "Do you have a gun?" That is because the time between when you
see trouble and when the sheriff can arrive may be lengthy, even if the sheriff
is driving 120 MPH.
But,
when Satan or his servants attack you on the spiritual plain-- are you prepared?
An AK-47 will not do my friend. Where is your "habitation"? Are you
in the "refuge"? Are you "abiding" in the Lord? If so, there
is no way you can be defeated, not because you are so mighty-- you belong to someone
who has ALL POWER. The only way you can prepare for spiritual warfare is to spend
time with your Commander.
11
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Angels
do minister to the saints. We are NOWHERE encouraged to communicate with angels
or pray to them. Nor do they have to obey our commands. Your Charismatic guru
be damned if he has you chatting with alleged angels and praying to them. That
sloppy agape doctrine came from old moldy Roman Catholic mystics who preferred
communication with anyone other than Jesus Christ. Angels are totally under God's
control, and you must be content to learn, when you get to heaven, which angels
ministered to you.
You
may be a bit chagrined to learn how many angels God had to use to get you though
life. Can you imagine how it will feel if you arrive in heaven one day, and there
are a dozen angels standing there wiping the sweat from their foreheads, and one
of them says, "Hey Buddy, it sure is good to you. Maybe I can take a break
for once and just sit by the crystal sea. You wore me out" I join you in
this contemplation. I do wonder how I may have taxed the angels God sent along
to keep an eye on me.
The
point here is that angels are given a charge (old English), as military men are
"on charges," to watch over you and "bear thee up" at times.
The Hebrew word for "bear thee up" is interesting because it can have
dozens of meanings. The list of definitions, taken together, seems to imply that
angels are under orders to do anything it takes to preserve you and accomplish
their assignment for God. I like that thought. What a comfort.
Do
you see now that God is absolutely determined to bring you the victory in Christ
Jesus?
1
Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may
exalt you in due time:
Satan
may send his evil spirits, devils, to torment you and impede your progress in
the Christian life, but God's angels pull rank on Satan's forces.
Jude
1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about
the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said,
The Lord rebuke thee.
Satan
had made havoc of Sodom long ago (Genesis 19), every imaginable sin was found
there, to include sodomy by all the men in Sodom. Satan must have worked for many
years to build that little kingdom in Sodom in tribute to his hate for holiness
as defined by God. But, the angels of God burned that city to cinders in minutes.
If Angles have that power assigned to them, what must God himself have in reserve?
13
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt
thou trample under feet.
When
I was a kid growing up in Tanzania, we lived in a big solid house build on a pile
of boulders, and the garage was also on a pile of boulders. In the foundations
lived several cobras, and we always carried a light if we went out at night.
One
night, my Dad needed something in the garage, and he got a flashlight and headed
up the path. We had a mid-sized tiger striped cat that was tame to us, but he
was crazy wild otherwise. He loved to walk ahead of Dad wherever he went, as if
he were clearing the way for the King of Siam. As Dad walked up the path, suddenly
the cat jumped high in the air and landed on a boulder next to the path and was
staring at the path ahead with huge terrified eyes. Dad shined the light were
kitty was looking, and a huge cobra was slithering into the rocks of the garage
foundation.
Dad
did not actually step on the cobra, but stepping on cobras is almost always fatal,
so God arranged for Dad to not have to go quite that far.
Then
there is the treading on lions. I have heard of wild lions tolerating humans up
close. Usually, the male lion of the pride will stand, walk back and forth, thrash
his tail and complain with limited grunting and mini roars. And, if the human
is bold enough to stand his ground, and lion will make a short charge and take
a stand. That usually convinces the boldest, or stupidest tourist, to move away.
But, there are stores of people walking about in a lion pride without being molested.
But, if you walk up to a male lion and step on his tail my friend, I promise you
he will take umbrage, and swiftly.
How
is it then that we can tread on lions? The lion represents the open frontal attack,
and the cobra represents the scheming and hidden attack. The point here is that,
whether Satan makes an open attack on you in broad daylight (verse 5-6), or Satan
hides in the thicket along the pathway and waits for you to come by unsuspecting,
God will preserve you. More than that, you will walk on Satan in the power of
the Holy Ghost. Please read this paragraph again if you have been recently thinking
God was out to lunch in regard to your situation.
If
you crave big cat stories, I have one in my YARNS
SECTION of this journal telling about a English White settler farmer who beat
a lion soundly and walked away. If you read it you will realize that the man had
no fear. The key to being bold with deadly animals is that, for some reason, the
human offender had no fear. This is a human example of the results when a Bible
believer experiences the results of being under God's constant care-- "Thou
shalt not be afraid....."
Psalms
56:3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. 4 In God I will praise his
word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. 5
Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. 6
They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when
they wait for my soul. 7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast
down the people, O God.
Footnote:
What about the "dragon"? Well, there are said to be ancient historic
writings from China talking about dragons as if they were real. I know of a missionary
in Africa who saw a lizard, as best he could describe it, that was thirteen feet
long while driving on the floor of the Great Rift Valley. It is only the White
race that cannot believe there were once dragons in the earth with which men had
to contend. I have read that the Chinese even write of taming them to pull the
emperor's carriage. I personally believe "dragons" were dragons, not
jackals or pythons or hippopotami blah blah blah.
What
is the explanation of even bigger reptiles long ago? Reptiles never stop growing
until they die. We know from the genealogies of the Bible that men lived much
longer in the beginning. The genealogies of ancient Sumer also claim their kings
lived many more years than we do today. If there was some natural reason that
all living creatures lived much longer in the early years of the earth, and since
reptiles never stop growing all their life, a lizard in your back yard might be
quite a handful to "trample under feet" in ancient times.
The
precious promise of God to his children-
14
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set
him on high, because he hath known my name.
The
Rabbis tell us that the point of this wording gives us a look at the nature of
God. When we love him in truth, he responds immediately. He does not lag back
or contemplate how he will respond. Since he is not like us with human temperamental
attitudes, God does what is divinely predictable-- he loves us back totally and
unconditionally. Who else in your life loves you that way EVERY TIME you love
that person?
So,
do you love God? When is the last time you told him you love him? Is that a bit
too mushy for your macho religion? Preacher, are you such a tough-as-nails jackboot
that you will not let yourself openly confess your love for God? I have been around
a lot of Bible believing preachers over the years, and I noted long ago that a
tender love of God is missing. If they really love God, they keep it a deep dark
secret. Shame! Jesus has some tough words for YOU also:
Luke
12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the
Son of man also confess before the angels of God: 9 But he that denieth me
before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
There
will be NO silent believers in heaven. You will show open affection for Jesus
Christ and God the Father for eternity. How about getting some practice down here?
Am
I being too hard on you? I think not. Look at the "because" in verse
14. That is a conditional word. You cannot be expected to be delivered by someone
you refuse to acknowledge before other men, and God puts the same conditions on
his relationship with YOU. In fact, if you never show open affection for God and
Jesus Christ, why should I believe you are really born again?
15
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I
will deliver him, and honour him.
The
same thing is operating here. God always hears when you call, and it is in the
divine nature that he cannot procrastinate. If his answer is, "Wait,"
that is not a lack of interest by God. He has something in mind for you, and it
will come along down the road at the right time.
Notice
that God does more than rescue the perishing. He honors his children. Listen to
God bragging on one of his children:
Job
1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before
the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 7 And the LORD said unto Satan,
Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and
fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8 And the LORD said
unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in
the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Satan
could find no flaw in Job, so he accused Job before God, claiming that if Job
suffered greatly, he would deny God. The point I am making is that Job was intensely
loved by God. The wicked these days have no idea what it means to be loved by
God, and they don't care to learn. This is why it is so frustrating to talk to
them about the way our God loves us. They think we are just fantasizing.
16
With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
Long
life means "length of days" which is God's way of both rewarding the
saint in Christ, AND it is God's way of proving he never leaves us. God also wants
to, in giving you length of days, satisfy you with the time you want to finish
your work for him. I hear too much about God shortening Christians' lives because
they let God down. I personally believe that God wants to please you far more
than he wants to thrash you. How else can we explain his patience with us when
we wander off for a time?
Psalms
23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I
will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
If
you feel like you need more time to finish your work in this life for God, try
asking him for more time. Hezekiah did, and God gave it to him. God likes to "satisfy"
his children.
Parting
Thought
Psalm
91 is a song of promise from God promising that he will bring you through the
worst, and he will see that you have victory. But, there is that which is your
responsibility and joy-- love him intensely, abide in him, and intentionally dwell
in his presence. How do you expect to see the tender love of God when you are
walking afar off from God out of your choice?
Psalms
73:28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord
GOD, that I may declare all thy works.
Now,
though this will look silly to the high browed scholars who happen to drop by
this page, notice something very curious about how this Psalm starts and ends:
Your
part-- He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most
High.....
God's
response-- With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him
my salvation.
The
Calvinist creams "Off sides". He will tell us that it is possible to
be born again, stop dwelling in the secret place of the most High, but still be
eternally secure. The Calvinist will tell you that God elects you first, and then
you cannot resist loving him, even if you live like the devil. I have met a good
number of Calvinists who DO life like the devil while claiming to have a personal
friendship with God. They imagine that the prodigal son, had he never come home,
would still have somehow found a ring on his finger and a fatted calf in his dinner
pail by and by.
I
think not:
1
John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth
in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Oh
yes, my scholarly friend, the tenses in the Greek in that verse allow us to sin,
repent, and return to fellowship with our God. 1 John 1:9 certainly teaches that.
I agree. But, there is more to the story.
While
a person can be very religious, even in the Christian model, they can still go
to hell because they have never confessed faith and love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But, it is inconceivable that someone would make a sincere confession of faith
in, and love for, Jesus Christ and live like the devil all the rest of their life.
Jesus told us that by their fruits we will know them. So, beware if you made a
confession long ago to be approved by your local church, by the domini, and by
your parents, but you have no intention of loving Jesus Christ. If your life was
never changed by Jesus Christ, he does not even know you.
Your profession of faith, your catechism, your confession at the front of the
church, and that dribble of water on you when you were and infant ARE NULL AND
VOID if you do not DWELL and ABIDE in God. You see, those two verbs imply that
this is always where you come home to-- THE MOST HIGH GOD.
DWELLING
AND ABIDING CAME FIRST IN PSALM 91. If you do not like that, deal with it-- God
said it, not me.
Now,
if this little closing discussion is something you never heard of before, you
may be a victim of Calvinist desperation to rescue rebels who leave God and stay
away until they die. The theological logic and clever contortions will not save
you from eternal damnation.
If
you are dwelling and abiding in Christ Jesus, just stay there. That is all that
counts.
LETTER
FROM A READER
Steve,
I’m reading
your Psalms study.
I
do not minimize the toll on you for doing this work. Who can even go to sleep
in this kind of world? Then Paul has the nerve to tell Timothy to just keep doing
those things that brought persecution upon him. Psalms is the instruction manual
for the individual person actually actively engaged in spiritual warfare.
I
just suffered a major terrible defeat in battle, but praying the Psalms all day
and when I got up at night got me through it. Otherwise, there is nothing that
could’ve held my mind together. You also mention unsaved friends. Yes, it’s a
reality which the Lord prepared us for by telling us about being friends with
unrighteous mammon. It’s just instruction in the matter of survival, so that we
don’t have to feel guilty about doing what we have to do to eat and afford a roof
over our heads.
Persecution
is the opposite of being treated like a pillar of the community, and so it won’t
be the social climbers who’ll take you in when the hoity-toities won’t give you
a job. My unsaved friends seem to regard my service to Israel (in the IDF) as
worthy because I’m supporting underdogs, whom they see themselves as for not being
social climbers. But when I tell my unsaved friends about my expectation of the
Rapture, that’s where they think I’m a little bit crazy and probably somewhat
responsible for my own problems. They don’t say this outwardly, but neither do
they claim Jesus’ blood as their salvation. They prefer to think they’re humping
along and making it on their own in a hard world, and their acceptance of me is
based on my love and respect for them. They also have a notion of God, but it’s
misguided. They give me work, I do it, and don’t harangue them about being lost.
One thing
I’ve learned is that I would much rather be feared than respected.
We
might as well be honest about that. I too jumped up and saluted the general’s
car – a lot more out of fear for what would happen to me if I didn’t. They fear
the judgment I represent. As you said about Richard Dawkins, they hate me because
I represent their condemnation.
After
my big final loss in court (trying to win my Mom's home back which wicked people
took from her), I looked at my Bible without touching it for about a day wondering
whether or not I was abandoned. I was utterly spent and numb. I thought that if
I were instantly in the presence of God, I might not want to have any kind of
relationship with him. Don’t take that to mean that I would reject my salvation
– I would claim that more than anything and be thankful for it – but I didn’t
know of anything that God and I would have to speak about.
My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Well,
that didn’t last too long until I once again had the peace that passes all understanding
and I again opened my Bible and read it with relish for the vengeance God was
going to wreak on my enemies. The Holy Spirit assured me that things with my mother
were fine, even though she’s being abused, and I had done an exemplary job as
her son.
Yup,
the unpersecuted life is a life not worth living. There is pure joy in being hated
and feared by the evildoers. Your series on Psalms can only be understood by true
Christians, but might possibly reach into the heart of those with enough common
sense to realize the truth that they’re not Christians since they’re not being
persecuted. It’s kind of hard to put into words when you’re trying to tell people
that they have to be persecuted in order for their souls to be saved from eternal
damnation.
Believe
me, the difference between being persecuted or not is like night and day, and
you’ll know it because satanic authorities will threaten you. Persecution comes
with threats and condemnation. If you can’t write down those specific quotes of
threats and condemnations against your statements and actions of Biblical truth,
then you’re far from saved. Plus, your statements and actions will not be accepted
by anyone in the church you’re sitting in.
Good job. Your commentary on the Psalms is the most powerful thing ever put in
your journal. I love the promise of watching my dogs lick up the blood of my enemies.
Your fellow
servant of Jesus,
Editor's
comment: Spiritual warriors terrify the US Homeland Security people so much that
they have tagged them as "potential terrorists." You need to understand
that a Bible believer with an old black backed King James Bible under his arm
terrifies our depraved rulers more than all of Al Qaeda.
