Security of the One Who Trusts in the Lord.
91 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 [a]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 [b]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 [c]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 [d]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 [e]trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 “With [f]a long life I will satisfy him
And [g]let him see My salvation.”
As the psalmist begins, he reminds us where our help comes from. That is, it isn’t from politicians, or doctors, or even ourselves. While any of those can be His instruments (especially us), our deliverance, our protection, and our shield is God alone.
The whole rest of the psalm speaks to God being the source for every good thing. Whether it be length of days, healing, rescue from trouble, etc., God is the one responsible for it all. That’s kind of comforting when our government seems incapable, we may question the motives of physicians, or we might feel there is nothing good in us. Well, there isn’t, not by ourselves. All the good in us is His doing, so we should be all the more thankful that God works in and through us.
Even in vv. 11-12, which we see Satan later use to tempt Jesus, He is then our example. Jesus knew that his Father would not let him die if he should jump off a mountain. But instead of coming up with some fancy rebuttal, some inner wisdom, Jesus himself turned to God’s Word and quoted “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Jesus, the very Son of God, did not rely on his own strength. Just as the psalmist, and just like us, he had to learn to trust in God for everything: for wisdom, strength, patience, and even the very miracles he “performed”. They were all from God, and not of his own doing. How much more then should we put our hope and trust in Him? As Paul wrote to those in Corinth, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”