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Psalm 91

Assurance of God’s Protection

1

You who live in the shelter of the Most High,

who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,

2

will say to the L ord, “My refuge and my fortress;

my God, in whom I trust.”

3

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence;

4

he will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

5

You will not fear the terror of the night,

or the arrow that flies by day,

6

or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

 

7

A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

8

You will only look with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

 

9

Because you have made the L ord your refuge,

the Most High your dwelling place,

10

no evil shall befall you,

no scourge come near your tent.

 

11

For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

12

On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.

13

You will tread on the lion and the adder,

the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

 

14

Those who love me, I will deliver;

I will protect those who know my name.

15

When they call to me, I will answer them;

I will be with them in trouble,

I will rescue them and honor them.

16

With long life I will satisfy them,

and show them my salvation.


14. Because he hath trusted in me, I will deliver him. It may prevent any feeling of disgust or weariness under the repetition and enlargement of the Psalmist upon his present subject, to remember, that, as I have already observed, he is influenced in this by a due consideration of our weakness, ever indisposed, as we are upon the approach of danger, to exercise a due reliance upon the providence of God. With this view he now introduces God himself as speaking, and confirming by his own voice what had already been asserted. And here it is noticeable that God, in declaring from heaven that we shall be safe under the wings of his protection, speaks of nothing as necessary on the part of his people but hope or trust. For the Hebrew verb חשק, chashak, which signifies to desire, or love, or, as we commonly express it, to find our delight in any object, means here to rest with a sweet confidence in God, and rejoice in his favor. He engages to extend us assistance, if we seek him in sincerity. The language implies that we must be continually surrounded by death and destruction in this world, unless his hand is stretched out for our preservation. Occasionally he assists even unbelievers, but it is only to his believing people that his help is vouchsafed, in the sense of his being their Savior to the true extent of that term, and their Savior to the end. Their knowing the name of God is spoken of in connection with their trust and expectation; and very properly, for why is it that men are found casting their eyes vainly round them to every quarter in the hour of danger, but because they are ignorant of the power of God? They cannot indeed be said to know God at all, but delude themselves with a vague apprehension of something which is not God, a mere dead idol substituted for him in their imaginations. As it is a true knowledge of God which begets confidence in him, and leads us to call upon him; and as none can seek him sincerely but those who have apprehended the promises, and put due honor upon his name, the Psalmist with great propriety and truth represents this knowledge as being the spring or fountain of trust. That the doctrine which he teaches was needful we may learn from the senseless and erroneous manner in which the Papists speak of faith. While they inculcate an implicit adherence to God, they bury the word which opens up the only access which men can have to him. The expression to exalt or lift up on high means no more than to keep in a state of safety or security; but the reason of this metaphor is, that God preserves his people in an extraordinary manner, raising them, as it were, to some high and impregnable fortress.


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