Trust God's Love

In many ways it was because it testified like we don't control everything. She was pontificating eloquently for some time about how weather is this grand testimony that we might be able to predict things but we can't control. And so I then made my contribution to the discussion and I explained how in the Marvel comic universe there's this character named Storm. And she has the power to control weather, and I really felt like that power was underutilized in the storyline in the Marvel comics. And to this member's credit, she resisted and had the self-control not to roll her eyes at her pastor physically, even though I think down deep she was doing so, and rightfully so. But if we really think about what happened in Houston, yes, it was a record storm, record rainfall, but it really does show us how we need help. That weather, there was no control, there was no power. Those floodwaters rising, creeping up the road, then the driveway, then into the home. And the fear, how long am I going to be stuck here? Am I going to have enough resources to survive if you're in your home? Or if you're driving away, watching the floodwaters rise and watering the bridges, are they going to be intact? That's terrifying. There's real fear there. We do not have control or power. Now if we just think about our normal everyday life, let's just remove kind of the danger of that great hurricane and the damage it did. Think about how much we consider fear. Fear of the future. What will come of my parents? My children? My spouse? my vocation, my success, fear of the past. What if I've messed everything up? What if I've done so much damage? I can't find forgiveness, I can't find peace, and I can't bring about a good life because of all my mistakes. We're worried about a doctor's visit. Why didn't he just tell me what's wrong over the phone? Why do I need to go see him in person? There's a fear of man. What if he or she doesn't like me? What if I'm not accepted? If you're a first year college student, am I going to be able to succeed here and be accepted and find the friends that I need? Or just, it's dark. What was that noise? If we're honest, we are constantly motivated by fear. Everyone around us and in ourselves, we're constantly gripped by insecurities and making decisions based upon fear. There are so many things unknown and so many things outside of our power, but we like to keep up that facade as if we have everything under control. The beautiful thing about God's Word is it addresses our reality. God's Word does not pretend there is not real danger. God's Word does not pretend there is no real fear. No, it talks to us right where we are. This morning, we're gonna look at a Psalm, as you just heard, that talks about what we should do when there is a real danger and we feel real fear. This is what's amazing about God's Word. God doesn't lie to us. He doesn't tell us, don't worry, everything's gonna be hunky-dory, great, happy, happy, happy. God's Word doesn't lie to us. God's Word is very clear. Trouble will come, but this is the promise. I will be with you. I am for you. That's what God's Word said to us. He commits Himself to be with us in our trouble, no matter what it is. God's Word commits Him to be with us and for us, no matter what we're going through. So if you're looking for one simple sentence for what we're gonna be studying and looking at this morning in Psalm 91, in the midst of danger, we can draw near to God with confidence. In the midst of danger, we can draw near to God with confidence. Let's look at our text. First, we're gonna consider our commitment to trust God. commitment to trust God and this is verses 1 & 2 and we're gonna camp out here in verses 1 & 2 because everything else in this psalm is just elaborating verses 1 & 2 if you're a child just go ahead and write these words down on your children's bulletin Write these words down. It's helpful for you to go ahead and write these down. This is what you want to memorize. Not just these, but if you're going to memorize anything, these two verses are rich. Let's first look and see what they point to. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Notice how much emphasis is put on the object of faith. The Most High. The Almighty. The Lord. My refuge. My fortress. My God. The first thing we need to see is how the emphasis is on the Most High. These names given to us by God Himself so we can know who He is that we trust. The Most High is simply saying He's the strongest of the strong, the greatest of the great. There is no one who has more authority anywhere. Because He created all things. The Most High has supreme authority. The Almighty. He's omnipotent. He can do whatever it is He wants to do. So the object of trust in this psalm is the one who has supreme authority. He's the one who has all power. He is the most trustworthy. Now what do we make of this shelter and shadow language? Again, this is Hebrew parallelism. I believe in many ways he's saying the same thing twice, but there is a little bit of a more explanation in the second line. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. He's simply saying if you draw near, if you place yourself near to God, the One who is all-sovereign, the One who is almighty, He will help you. But it doesn't say place, does it? It uses more permanent language. Dwell there. Abide. If you draw near and stay near to the One who has all authority, all power, it will be well. This is where we're supposed to live. It doesn't say if you run off and get into yourself into sin and then have consequences and run back, He's gonna remove all the consequences. No, it says the shadow of God is over you, protecting you, caring for you, as you abide near Him and with Him. As I think about this picture of abiding and dwelling, I think of a toddler of the mom. Just watch after the service. Go up and find someone ranging between two and five who's with their mom and go up to them and smile real big and say, hey, how you doing? And watch that child in terror flee from you. And where are they going to go? They're going to climb up behind their parent as close as possible because they know that that person, that mom who has nurtured them and loved them, that's the one protection. It's a simple faith. My parent loves me. They'll always protect me. I don't know this crazy person is with a big smile, but I'm going to try to get as close as possible like an ostrich just digging in behind the legs. How close can I get? That's the simple childlike faith we're supposed to have. The problem is we usually come to God with a qualified faith. God, I'll draw near if you do this. God, I'll come to you when these circumstances are right. Now, when we see danger, we know we need to come simply by faith to trust in the one who is most trustworthy. Now we'll look later into what He'll protect us from. As we look at verses 1 and 2, verse 1 is a truth. Verse 2 is a commitment to trust. Verse 1 is a truth. Dwell in the shelter of the Most High. Abide in the shadow of the Almighty. And then there's a commitment. I will trust. If we've been looking at Psalms, if you're new here, We normally go through books in the Bible, chapter by chapter, section by section. We've been looking at a variety of psalms, kind of jumping around, and we're looking at the different kinds of psalms. How to lament according to God's word. How to rejoice and praise according to God's word. Here, this is a trust psalm. How can I trust God in fear? So here we see the commitment. It's drawing us into the main focus of our psalm. And look again, we have names that help us. I will say to the Lord. Now, that is a name of God. It's a very personal covenant name. There's a tradition where we take Yahweh out of the text and we put the Lord in. Yahweh is the covenant name of God that the Lord is replacing. And it's important that we realize what Yahweh is saying to us because it's a name he gives to his people to call upon. And the basis behind that name is, I am with you, I am for you. I have committed myself to be your God, you are my people. So the psalmist is calling upon the personal name, Yahweh, the God who is with me and for me. Then he continues to give us some descriptions of God. There's three my's. My refuge, my God, my fortress. Again, we have this repetition. He's a safe place. This is where we can reside in safety, and my God who has committed Himself to me, in Him I will trust. Notice there's just one basic action for us here. Trust. We're simply called to trust the One who has told us who He is, and what He's done for us. So there's a commitment, trust God. There's fear, there's danger, there's real trials, there's real trouble, trust Him. Now let's go to the next section, and it's a longer section of text, verses three to 13. Our commitment to trust God, and then our psalmist, he gives us our assurance that we can trust God. First there's the commitment to trust God, now there's an assurance that we can trust Him. I want you to look at verse 3. Why would you trust Him? Verse 3, He will deliver you. Verse 4, He will cover you. Verse 11, He will command His angels concerning you. We know we can trust Him because He'll deliver us, He'll protect us, and He'll help us. He'll deliver us, He'll protect us, and He'll help us. Let's first look at that assurance that He will deliver us. For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. Now, a fowler is what you think it is. It's someone who catches birds. And a snare is a bird trap. Now, this is obviously a metaphor, right? No one's crying out, I just stepped on a bird trap. Help me. It's a metaphor. What is it pointing to? Well, a fowler's snare, it has an element of deception to it, right? The effective snare tries to trick the bird that things are safe, enter in, when really it's danger. There's deception. A fowler's snare has a form of enticement. You want something. This is good for you. Come in where it's safe and you'll get what you really want. We can see why the early church interpreted the fowler's snare to be Satan. It's a dynamic temptation and deception of accusation. Here we see that the Fowler's Snare is a corruption, it's a pestilence that twists the heart. It's trying to deceive you to think you need something that God has not intended for you to have, or is seeking to make you feel guilty for something you have done and God says you're forgiven of, or that you haven't done. It's like a disease that poisons the heart. It twists our desires. The Fowler's Snare. lures you in to trap you. Now here are some of the typical lies of Satan that he wants you to believe. Okay, I'm just gonna run these through these real quick. Satan wants you to believe that one, God is not good. When circumstances start to look bad, the first thing he wants you to think, God must not be good. That is a lie. Be prepared for it. Second, God is not able. If God were able, he would help me here. That's a lie. He is all-powerful. He is most high. Do not believe that lie. The third lie Satan likes to give you is that you need this sin. That lure of temptation. You need this. I know God said it's not good for you, but he's not good. I'm telling you what you really need is what Satan wants you to believe. And then finally after you take a bite, How could you? You can't be forgiven. Those are lies Satan wants you to believe. Those are over against the truth that God is good, God is able, God can give you the power to resist, and God is able to forgive. So continue to look at this. He is the most powerful. He delivers His people. Satan is a roaring lion that is a real enemy and we have to be very aware of it, but we have to be more aware that God is greater. He's the most high. Let's look at the second assurance we have that we can trust Him. He'll protect you. Verses four to 10. He'll protect you. He'll cover you with his pinions. That's wings or feathers. Under his wings we'll find refuge. We've got a lot of bird illustrations here. His faithfulness is like a shield. It's like body armor. He's going to completely cover you when you draw near so that that shadow protects you. God offers you his protection. And look at verse five. There's a change rather than talking about what God's gonna do. He's gonna talk about what you don't do anymore. You're not gonna fear. And look at the repetition. You're not gonna fear in the night or the daytime. You're not gonna fear the darkness or the noonday. It sounds like there's a real personal problem that's attacking the person, and it is all the time, and you're not going to fear because God will cover you. Verse seven makes it sound like it's more of a battle scene rather than the one-on-one. Thousands are gonna fall at your sides, 10,000 at your right hand. You're going to look and see the recompense of the wicked. These are all promises God's making to comfort. As Andrew said earlier, one of the great things is that God's wrath is no longer our enemy. The righteous revenge of God is our friend when we're his. And then look at verse nine. It goes all the way back to verses one and two, doesn't it? Because you look to the Most High who is my refuge. You have made Him your dwelling place. No evil shall be allowed to befall you. The Most High, the Most Powerful, has saying nothing is going to happen to you. No plague will come near your tent. You will be protected. When we look at God, we look and see how good He is, how powerful He is. What can evil do to me? He's got me completely covered with His grace and His power. But we must believe that He's actually greater than evil. Now, I want to pause here, and as we trust this covering, as we trust when there's real temptation, real fear, real danger in the darkness, when there's real arrows flying, Whatever that trial looks like, I wanna run through a few questions that are commitments that we should make so that we are persevering, trusting they'll protect us. So when we're in a trial, the first thing we should ask, what sin of mine has caused this? And it may be there is no sin of yours that's actually caused this trial, but that's the first place to start. What sin of mine has caused this? And then what sin is God seeking to help purify through this trial? Those are two different things. It may not be that my sin has caused this, it may just mean that when something troubling is happening, God is seeking to refine you to trust him more and to repent of sin. That's the first thing we should ask. The second thing is, I'm gonna commit to live by faith. In the worst kinds of trials, we're not gonna understand what's going on. Our inclination is to say, I will persevere if I can understand. God, you have to help me understand. No, I just have to know that He is most high, all powerful, and I can trust Him. We don't have to understand what He's doing and what's going to come of it in order to believe. We just have to know who He is. Third, proactively thank God for all things, even the trial. To help you do this, go to James. Consider it joy when you go through various trials. Know that He is the good and perfect giver of every good thing. So when a trial comes and you're asking, God, can you deliver me? Can you protect me? Satan's lying. God can't be good. He can't be able. Look, just take this sin and it'll make you feel better. Oh, and then you can't be forgiven. No, no, we go. I ask God, what are you trying to put out in my life so that I can love you more and trust you more? What are you trying to help me understand that I can trust you and I don't have to understand you're just a good God? I can be thankful that you are always good to me. One of the things we have to remember, Christians, this world is not our playground, it is our battleground. We too often think this is the place where I'm supposed to enjoy the happiest, most fulfilled life, and that's not necessarily the case. It's a battleground. There's a real enemy really roaring, seeking to devour you, and we need to realize and pause ourselves to recognize there's a battle. Our third assurance, we can trust him because he will send help. Look at verse 11. He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways on their hands They will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone You will tread on the lion and the adder the young lion the serpent. Well, you will trample underfoot So so here God simply saying I'll deliver you I'll protect you and and I'll send help when necessary For those of you who have been reading Pilgrim's Progress, or have read Pilgrim's Progress, you know every time Christian gets in trouble, the king, he sends his bright ones. He sends the messengers, and there's angels that help along the way, and I believe he's picking that up from passages like this. God will soon help. And here's actually the amazing thing. There's no guardian angel that God promises us. There's a host of angels that God promises us. But here's a hard truth, and we're going to think about this psalm differently at this point. This is the hard truth. I don't believe any of us can pray Psalm 91 in our own strength. No one in this room, I believe, or in the history of humanity, except for one, can actually say, I fully and completely trusted God so that I know nothing will befall me like a pestilence. You see, the whole reason we have sickness, sin, and death is a lack of trust. That first man, Adam, chose not to trust God. He chose to believe the lies of Satan, and now we're in this mess, and we all have followed his pattern. Only Jesus can actually pray this prayer fully. And now that sounds discouraging, I will get to the encouraging, but we need to get here first. Only Jesus can pray this prayer in his own strength, and that's why it's actually fascinating. Turn to Matthew 4 with me, page 809 if you're using a pew Bible. Matthew 4, that first man Adam, he took the bait. He sinned, he doubted God, he trusted Satan. Jesus Christ came, he's been baptized, identified as the Son of God, so he goes into the wilderness, fasts for 40 days, and then the tempter comes to him because he's the new Adam, and Satan wants to destroy the new creation God's trying to bring about. The difference between the old Adam and the new Adam, the new Adam does not fall for the snare. He resists Satan, he continues to say, no, it is written, and he resists him. But let's look at the second temptation. Let's look at this second temptation because it quotes Psalm 91, and I believe that's significant. Verse five, the devil took him up to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. And he said to him, if you're the son of God, throw yourself down. Notice Satan is now going to quote this passage as a reason why Jesus should follow his orders. That's really twisted, right? Satan's appealing to a truth, but he always appeals to truth in a deceptive way. He will command his angels concerning you. That's Psalm 91 verse 11. And on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone. That's Psalm 91 verse 12. So he's directly applying this promise that God made to Jesus, the Son of God, the new Adam. Jesus says, no, it is written you shall not test God. Jesus says, no, it's not my choice to decide when I will suffer. He doesn't actually argue a statement. He simply says, no, God's word says not to test him. I'm not going to try to impose my will. Now, this is amazing for us to think about, I believe, because Jesus has the right to claim no suffering. He has the right to claim no death. He could call down an army of angels to keep him from any suffering. And if we just fast forward, we have to think about this dilemma. This one who could call upon angels so that his foot does not strike a rock, he's gonna be mocked, beaten, spat upon, crucified, murdered. What happened? Did Jesus' trust fail? Did God's power fail? Is he really even good? These are questions we could ask. But what I want us to see is that what actually happened at that moment when Jesus gave up, he forfeited his right to protection. He's demonstrating the greatest act of love the world has ever seen. Flip over to Matthew 26 for me. Sorry, we're doing a lot of flipping because we wanna make sure we're looking at this in light of the gospel. Matthew 26. I'm gonna be looking at verses 47 to 56, but just let me summarize what's going on here. Jesus continues to say, it's not my time, it's not my father's time, it's not my time. He's now being betrayed by Judas. The guards come and they're gonna arrest Jesus and Peter. A fisherman, he gets his sword out to attack the guards. It already looks kind of silly, right? Here's a fisherman trying to defend Jesus against guards. Well, what does the fisherman do? He takes a swing and he cuts off an ear. Well, Jesus says, Peter, put the sword down. And then he bends over. I always picture the ear falls off completely. It may be hanging, I'm not sure, but I picture the ear has come off. Jesus picks the ear up, puts it back on the man who's seeking to arrest him, and it attaches. It heals immediately. Now, I love this because I'm just thinking, all right, if you're the guard, don't you kind of recalculate right now? I'm coming to arrest the guy who just put my ear back on my head. And then Jesus, I believe, gives us a word that we too often overread in the story of crucifixion. That really helps inform us. Verse 53. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father? And he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels. Peter, thanks for the sword. I've got an army of angels that are greater than human beings. I have an army that will swarm this earth and destroy it. Every time I think of this, I'm sorry, I think of Indiana Jones. The face melting scene that now probably looks comedic, I haven't seen it in a while, but just the angels of God hovering around sinners, we just melt. There's no resisting, there's no fighting. They swarm. They would swarm down and they would overcome all of the evil that has been rebelling against God. They would overcome and take out everyone who is opposed to God and that would have included us. That is one way God could have brought justice to this world. To alleviate the problem. Our sin. Our rebellion. But God chose to do something else. Instead of sending His angels down to protect His Son and to bring about peace and justice so that we were suffered for our sin, God sent His Son to become like us in every way, except for sin. God sent His Son and He suffered for our sin so that we would not suffer our sin. God's Son, He forfeited His protection so that He could protect us. And it doesn't cover us with feathers. It covers us with the power of His own blood. He perches us on the cross. He protects us. He delivers us from the domain of darkness. Because if we look down to Matthew 26, verse 54, But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled? The Son does not send down angels because God made promises. Jesus came to fulfill the promise that God would bring peace between him and man. God made promises that he would love us, he would forgive us, he would renew our relationship. That's why Christ came to die. So look at Psalm 91, this is first Christ's psalm, and he actually forfeits the rights of protection so that we can have protection. If you're not a Christian this morning, this world is a scary place, and you aren't even aware of your greatest danger, and that is when you face God, you will not be able to give an answer. Your sin will become so obvious. The wrath of God will be overwhelming. And your only hope is to turn to Christ now. Believe in Him so that when you stand before God and your sin is obvious, He will step in and say, Father, I am His protection. I came and took His sin upon myself so that He's now forgiven. We're bringing Him in in love. Christian, the good news for you today is we now get to pray Psalm 91 in the name of Jesus. This is our prayer in the name of Jesus. Think about how Jesus taught us to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. I believe that's a paraphrase of Psalm 91. We now get to come and pray to the Father in the name of the Son this kind of protection. That He's with us. He's for us. We have the greatest prayer. We have the greatest protection in the midst of temptation. The blood of Christ has freed us. We have the greatest power to reject and resist accusation. We're forgiven. This is now our prayer. Let's look at this last section. Notice the change in language because it goes from the prayer of the one who's going to trust God to, I believe, God declaring His promise. Because He holds fast to me in love, I will deliver Him. I will protect Him. Because He knows my name, When He calls to me, I will answer Him. I will be with Him in trouble. I will rescue Him and honor Him. With long life, I will satisfy Him and show Him my salvation. Notice there's still an expectation of trust, but listen to the promises of God. I will deliver Him. I will protect Him. I will answer Him. My ear is bent to Him. I will be with Him in trouble. I will rescue Him. I will satisfy Him. These are the promises of God that we get to look forward to in the midst of suffering. We have to remember that the victory is won. God's promises are ours. He has risen from the grave to give us these great promises, and we know He's good. I want to go back to that fortress language, and I want us to think about what it means to meditate upon His salvation. The part of Romans 8 that we did not read, One of the ways I actually think about this passage is that it's a fortress. Those he foreknew, predestined, justified, sanctified, glorified. There's a fortress, four walls and a ceiling. That is your fortress. This is what God has said he has done for you. What can we possibly fear? The issue, we have to draw near there. We have to make sure that's our identity. We're called by God. We're predestined. We're justified. We're sanctified. We will be glorified. That is the fortress that brings about a sure identity. That is a fortress that assures us of a great victory. No matter what comes crushing in on us from the world, when we're in that fortress, we rejoice. because of what God has done for us and the promises he's given to us. Finally, I wanna prepare us for the Lord's Supper. As we think about the bread and the cup, we're reminded that Christ was crushed. His blood was poured out. It's a reminder to us that yeah, we may feel pressed, we'll never be crushed. will never be crushed like He was crushed. That this is the great promise of salvation. We will be pressed in. We will go through pain. We will go through difficulty. We will not be destroyed because Christ died for us. He protects us. We've been purchased. We now belong to Him and He loves us. As we meditate on the Lord's Supper in just a few moments, this is what we're gonna meditate upon. As trials come in, I'm going to remain steadfast with Him who has kept me. I'm going to meditate upon His great love and His great assurance and praise Him who's truly worthy of praise. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You that You did not send down Your angels, the armies that would have destroyed us in a righteous wrath, but instead you sent your Son so that we would be protected from your wrath. So that we could know you are the God who is with us and protects us in the midst of danger. You can help us. Help us to trust you. Help us to look to you and abide in you and draw near to you. We thank you. that you've given us these promises and these commandments. We thank you that you hold us fast. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.