Psalm 91

Psalm 91 says: He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” On hot summer’s days I often park my car in the shade of this lovely Paperbark tree; shade can be very refreshing; “Shadow”, as mentioned above, is a form of shade but implies protection as well; I was bullied at school, but if whilst the bully was attacking me the shadow of my older brother appeared on the ground near me it was remarkable how quickly that bully disappeared and that was a terrific relief; when that protection is supplied to you or me by our Almighty God we are really blessed.

The psalm goes on “I will say of the Lord He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him will I trust.” Anyone seeking “refuge” is a refugee escaping from something or someone they fear, like the people from Syria in that next photo. And most of us have things we fear. God is described here as the “place of refuge” that we come to for protection; but it also says that He is our “fortress” as well, which is very comforting because we know that we are safe there guarded by those that “man the battlements” (unseen Angels). So “In Him we will trust”. The next phrase says: “Surely He shall deliver you from the snares of the fowler.” A “fowler” is someone who traps birds, like the boys in the photo:

If that Butcher Bird yields to temptation and goes under that propped up box to get a piece of meat, they will pull the string and the stick holding the box up will come away and the box will fall and the bird will be their “prisoner.” The psalm implies that Satan is the “fowler” who sets traps for us, which are mostly temptations that would get us into some form of trouble, and we would then become Satan’s prisoners to some degree. Now isn’t it comforting to know that God will deliver us if we are seeking to do His will?  Of course the Psalms were written hundreds of years before the Christian era when Jesus was born in Bethlehem; however, God has been helping His children ever since Creation and the Psalms are as relevant for to-day as they were when they were written; over the years circumstances change and with them, our wants may change, but our needs never change, so the Psalms, when memorised, are like a Spiritual First Aid Kit supplied by God.

It’s simple for me to talk (as I have been doing) about putting on the full armour of God or claiming promises or using the sword of the Spirit and so on, which are all Christian terms, because I have been studying all this for 66 years. I was so soundly converted all those years ago that I immediately commenced studying to become a Lay Preacher and then went to the Evangelists Training Institute in Sydney, and at the conclusion of the course I was offered the appointment of Minister to Dapto- Albion Park, and I was only 20 years old.  You see I had a good grounding in Theology, Church History, Bible history, Homiletics, New Testament Greek, and even Elocution. Therefore, my instructors thought I was ready for that position, but I turned it down because I felt that I needed more experience in putting my Christianity into practice before I could shepherd a congregation of people and preach a sermon each week that would be helpful. In retrospect I believe that was the right decision: I was a bit like the early Corinthian Christians, where in chapter 3 of 1Corinthians Paul tells them that because they were so un-spiritual, he had to treat them as “Babes in Christ,” and that is fair enough as we all grow at different speeds. However, Paul also said when talking to his young friend Timothy, “Let no man despise your youth”. These two statements seem at first to be contradictions, but they are not because the secret is in his next statement: “Study to show yourself approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15). As new Christians the answer is to unearth the treasure we have discovered in the New Testament, and to do so in a dedicated manner, there is a cost. For example, if you want the Holy Spirit to dwell in you and guide you then throw those suspect DVDs into the garbage. Don’t blame me! The Apostle Paul virtually said so in 1 Corinthians, all of chapter 6 and particularly verses 19 & 20.  To reinforce that, Jesus said (in Revelation Chapter 3 and Verses 15 & 16) that He had no time for “Luke Warm” Christianity.       

Just a bit more “food for thought”.                                            Best wishes, Tom.