Psalm 91

Psalm 91- Source of Strength, Protection and Security
It is an unhappy fact that with very little effort, we could update the language
of Psalm 91 to fit our present age (and although the RCL only takes the first
and last few verses, this Sermon Commentary will encompass the whole
psalm). Talk of a “fowler’s snare” sounds suspiciously like the kind of traps
terrorists like to spring on the unsuspecting. Talk of a “deadly pestilence”.
Talk of terrors in the night sounds like a description of burglaries and
murders.
These days there is fear aplenty for all of us. But there is also a fair amount of
cynicism fueled by uncertainty. Can we really be secure? Can we ever build
enough walls, hire enough security personnel at airports, invent ever-more-
sensitive scanners to look for explosives and guns, develop a vaccine to cure
our every ill.
Yes, Psalm 91 could be retrofitted to describe the times in which we live.
But a description of the times is not the core of this ancient psalm. The main
message of Psalm 91 is not “Times are bad” but instead “Times are bad but
for that very reason your confidence in God needs to be stronger than ever!”
The threats around us make people nervous, uncertain, afraid, and cynical.
Psalm 91 conveys a counter-message: the poet who composed these words
wants to tell us that instead of letting the wider world determine how we feel,
we need to let our ultimate confidence in God become the lens through which
we view the wider world. God, not current events, is what shapes our
viewpoints, informs our hopes, and brings us a confidence that avoids
cynicism.
Throughout this psalm God is presented in several ways but all of them
deliver the same message: security. The God of Israel is said to be like a
fortress, a refuge, a high tower in whose shadow you can be concealed from
those who are out to get you. God is compared to a mother bird who will
cover you with the feathers of her wings. The faithfulness of God is
compared to a shield, a fortified rampart or wall. God is a kind of “safe
house” where angels are at work to keep evil at bay and to catch you even if
somehow you do still fall.
To put it mildly, the language of Psalm 91 is unstintingly confident. Listen:
he will save you; you will not fear; a thousand may fall but it will not come
near you; no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near you; you will
not strike your foot upon a stone.
If you were to take all of this straightforwardly, it sounds like an iron-clad
guarantee. It makes it sound as though being a faithful follower of God will
give you an automatic pass in all of life.
That’s what this seems to be saying yet when we read this, in the back of our
minds we immediately think, “But we know things don’t always work out
this way.” Psalm 91 concludes with “He will call upon me and I will
answer.” Psalm 88’s last line is “You have taken my loved ones from me;
the darkness is my best friend.”
Maybe we can start to figure that out by recalling the most famous time that
Psalm 91 was ever quoted. Ironically, the single most well-known recital of
this psalm came from the lips of the devil himself (which is why in the RCL
this psalm is paired with Luke 4 in the Gospel lection). Satan led Jesus up to
a very high place and tempted Jesus to step right off the edge because, after
all, didn’t God promise in Psalm 91, “He will give his angels charge over you
so that you will not dash your foot upon a stone”? The devil knows the
Bible.
But Jesus refused. Jesus knew what we also need to remember: the promises
we find in the Bible are not supposed to become fodder for some divine “fear
factor”-like dare. We are not supposed to base our faith on whether or not we
can force God to come through for us.
What Psalm 91 says is that no matter what happens, if God is your bottom
line, your refuge, the place you most want to be, then there are several
wonderful things that can never change. First, God loves you and wants you
to flourish. God does not wish harm on any of his children. We can ponder
where God is when bad things happen in our lives. We can argue back and
forth for a long time whether or not God ever “permits” bad things to come
our way. And we can affirm that God is able to use unhappy events to make
us stronger so that we can in turn help others. That may be so, but based on
the witness of the Bible we need to know that God does not desire us to be
hurt. Whatever else Psalm 91 says, it lets you know that if you make God
your refuge, you can be assured that God will receive you. When you run to
embrace God, he is going to hug you back, not slap you in the face!
Psalm 91 is a call to confidence in God and so is a call away from the
cynicism of our age. At a time when many people seem to live only for the
moment (because beyond that, who knows what will happen), Psalm 91 is a
call to confidence in a God who, if you make him your resting place, will
never leave you. Nothing will separate you from this God because it is the
very power of God that fuels his determination to be with you always, even if
the worst somehow comes, even when one day you die as we all must. Psalm
91 shouts a loud “No” to the cynics who say that you cannot rely on anybody.
You can rely on God! You can have confidence that he wants the best for
you.
There are maybe a million whys and wherefores that come up when bad
things do happen to followers of God. And there are no easy answers. But
Psalm 91 is here to proclaim that whatever reasons one may try to advance to
explain bad things, there is one that can never be allowed to stand: the idea
that bad things happen because God wants them to or because God is
indifferent to suffering. No, God is for us. God is with us. God wants the
best for us and will deliver that once and for all one day. Psalm 91 tells us to
trust that this much is true. And that’s not a small thing to know.
Our great God created us for joy and one day joy itself will be the serious
business of heaven. So as Psalm 91 reminds us, already now we can be
confident that our God wants us to feel joy. God wants us to make him our
very home, the place we want to be more than anywhere else.

Psalm 91

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Psalm 91- Source of Strength, Protection and Security

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