He who dwells.... No evil will befall you

Psalm 91 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
³ For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

⁵ You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
⁶ Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
⁸ You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
⁹ For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
¹⁰ No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.

¹¹ For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
¹² They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

¹⁴ “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
¹⁵ “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶ “With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.”

The psalmist says:   He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.    The psalm goes on to speak of the security and protection found in abiding and dwelling in the Lord. He says: You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day;  Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.  A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you.    Surly in our times, confidence like this would be a blessing. We live in a world that is touched by terrorism daily. We see the effects of the darkness of disease all around us. Bullets, rather than arrows fly by day, even in our small and quiet communities. So what is this security we can have in the Lord and how do we get it?

The how will in part help to answer the what. As the psalmist says, the security comes when we dwell in God’s shelter, it comes to the one who abides with God. Most of us tend to visit God’s presence. We have designated times when we are intentional to pray, to worship, to meditate on God and in God’s presence. We spend the majority of our time seeking after and doing the things of our earthly life. Most of our dwelling and abiding is done here in this physical earthly realm. We are both body and spirit. There are things we need to do, responsibilities we have in this physical realm, things that require our bodies and our minds to present and focused here. How then do we dwell and abide in God’s presence while we live, walk and work here? I heard a teaching once that said we are bi-locational. We are both citizens and residents of this earth and at the same time we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says: “Behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." (Luke 17:21)  Literally, the kingdom of God is within us. In John 14:23 Jesus says:   “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”     We need to abide in the one who abides with us. We need to dwell in the kingdom of heaven even as it is within us.  It is only as we learn to dwell and abide in God, even as we walk and work in this realm, that we can fully know the security, protection and provision of God and the kingdom of heaven. We must learn to keep our spirit fully connected to and fully yielded to God, even as our minds and bodies are engaged in the activities of the world.

We are to be agents of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”     If we will walk in this world as ones who abide in and ones in whom the kingdom of heaven abides, we will bring the realities of heaven here to earth. Some believe that if the church, Christ’s true followers, will do this, we will walk in and have complete victory. We will truly see and bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. There will be no more sickness, no more disease. In John 14:12-14 Jesus Himself says:    ^“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.  Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”    The works of Jesus and greater works;   Jesus healed the sick. Jesus did open blind eyes, cause deaf to hear, lame to walk and mute to speak. Jesus provided food for the hungry and protection to the one threatened of physical harm. These are the works we too can and should be doing as residents and agents of the kingdom of heaven, abiding in and dwelling with God.

To think and believe though that we will attain the fullness of the kingdom of heaven, here on earth, now in this time, opens us to disappointment. To think that the church, believers can fully bring about the kingdom of heaven here on earth, does not line up with the evidence we see around us or the witness and testimony of scripture. Jesus Himself, when He was here and walked on the earth did not eliminate sin or its affects. He overcame sin and death on the cross. He said:  “It is finished.”     When Jesus was here He accomplished all that He came to do. He attained the victory, defeating the enemy of God and man, the devil. Jesus though did not, at that time, eliminate the devil. He did not eliminate sin from the world. Jesus redeemed man from sin, He reconciled us to God, so that we can dwell and abide with Him. The devil and sin do still exist though, and so then do the consequences of sin and evil still exist. To think that we can walk completely above that reality sets us up for disappointment. It goes against the evidence we see in scripture, where great men of faith, those who walked in the fullness of the power of the kingdom, healing as Christ Himself did, also suffered and died at the hands of evil, as Christ did. Throughout history there have been those who have faithfully followed Christ, those who have done the things He called them to do, the works He did, yet all have themselves died. Even those who performed great miracles and healings, even those who through the power of the cross and the resurrection, through the power of the indwelling, abiding Spirit of God raised the dead, both lost loved ones and they themselves died. To think that we will not also be subject to this physical realm is to be deceived.

The psalmist says:   No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.    The psalmist knew well the power, protection and provision of God. He as a young lad slew the giant Goliath, saying:   “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:37)  By the hand of God, David won many battles. But David, the psalmist also knew the bitterness of death and defeat. He experienced the loss of many he loved. He suffered broken relationships. He, like Jesus Himself, was rejected and betrayed, even by those he loved. Having known bitterness, death and defeat, how then can he say: No evil will befall you?

The psalmist also says:   The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.     If we, like the psalmist, will indeed dwell in the house of the Lord, if we will abide with Him, if we will follow Him, even as we walk in this world, then we, like the psalmist will know the security, the protection and provision that comes from the Lord. We will do the works of the Lord as we walk with the Lord. If we will fully yield to Him, following Him, then even though evil may be around us, we will fear no evil. Even death, though it will come, it will have no power over us. It is merely a shadow.  

Jesus Himself and The Book of Revelation in scripture, both speak of a time when Jesus will return and He will finally fully establish His kingdom. He will do away with sin, death and evil forever. Until then we are to live as we pray:  Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We are to live in the promise of abiding and dwelling with God who says:    “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.  “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.  “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.”     Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit.    Amen