Satisfied

DEVOTION

PSALMS

SATISFIED

Psalms 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.   2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 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 observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you make the Most High your dwelling — even the LORD, who is my refuge — 10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent

14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

NIV

Any questions? This is one of those conditional situations. All the blessings, all the promises that are laid out for us in this psalm have one condition attached to them. Verse 14 has it, “Because he loves me,” says the LORD. In the Hebrew as it is translated in the interlinear it says, because he has set his heart upon me, I will deliver him and set him on high because he knows my name. What a great promise within this song. Life itself will be to the fullest, we have nothing to fear from life or the enemy who wants to destroy our life. God is our dwelling place. This earth is not. We may live within the confines of this physical planet and maybe even subject to some of its troubles, but this is not where we dwell. Our heart is not here in this planet, it is in the kingdom of God, a place of great satisfaction. We dwell in the shelter of the Most High. We rest, which means the lack of anxiety, stress, turmoil, tension, or consternation. We rest, we abide, we find lodging for the night, which is the Hebrew word here translated rest. We will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. What harm can befall anyone who is abiding, living, resting under the shadow of God. Again it is as if we are protected from the rain under an umbrella, we don’t get wet unless we step out from under it, or we simply close it. This is the idea of living under the shadow of the Almighty. We can choose to try to live with one foot under his shadow and the other foot in the rain, the world, with its system of life, or we can choose to trust God and stay completely under his shadow. This sort of reminds us of not wanting to make a shadow of our own. That is we could want to make our mark on the world, get recognition for our contribution or we could just live under his shadow, meaning we give him all the credit, all the glory for anything in our life, the good, bad or the ugly. Except, according to the promises of this song there is no ugly, not even bad. If we make the Most High our dwelling, then no harm will befall us, no disaster will come near our tent. It makes us wonder about seeing harm, supposed disaster come near the tent of people who profess to believe. Is this that divided heart issue again, one foot in, one foot out, the trying to serve two masters thing? Come on, the time is to get real. If we trust him, if we dwell in him, under his shadow, then he will charge his angels to guard us in all our ways. They will lift us up in their hands so we will not strike our foot against a stone, we will not get hurt, harmed or afflicted.  Not only that but we will trample on the lion, and the cobra, even the serpent the devil himself. He not only has any no power over us, we have power over him, because of the name of Jesus. Because we love the Lord God with all our heart, mind, soul, and body, he will protect us. We do not hide the fact we are believers, we acknowledge him before everyone, we are not silenced by anyone, we do not lie in fear of the world, or its people, we stand tall proclaiming Jesus as our Lord and Savior before all people. When they are in pain, we pray with them, we proclaim the power of Jesus in their lives, we witness of his great love. We live in a victorious manner, because we are victorious, we call upon Jesus and he answers us. We call upon Jesus, and he answers us, yes, he does, he is not silent, he does not turn a deaf ear to us, he hears us and he answers us. He will be with us, rescue us, deliver us, honor us and with long life he will satisfy us, he has shown us Jesus. We live satisfied.