READ: Ps. 91:1–16: … I will be with him in trouble …
The bond of faith with God that you share with other believers is deeply personal. Psalm 91 speaks of the wonderful privilege that, as a believer, you may dwell and abide, with God Himself.
The psalmist immediately points to the depth and uniqueness of this privilege by declaring who God is: the Most High, the Almighty, the faithful God of the covenant, who is his God and in whom he trusts. God is his refuge against every danger.
From verse 3 onward the psalmist addresses believers directly. Therefore they need not fear anything or anyone: not hostile people, not deadly diseases such as the plague, nor any other form of calamity. Such disasters may suddenly strike others all around them, while they themselves are spared. This is because they are so closely united to the LORD, the Most High, that He has, as it were, become their dwelling place. It is like a bird protecting its young beneath its wings—so tender, so personal.
This does not mean that believers never experience sickness, persecution, or opposition (see Rom. 8:35: persecution, peril, the sword). It does mean that nothing happens apart from the LORD’s sovereign will and that, for His own people, He causes even evil to work together for good (Rom. 8:28). For this purpose He even employs His host of angels, so that no real harm can ultimately befall them (vv.11–12).
Angels are the heavenly servants of the LORD who carry out His will. Jacob saw them in a vision at Bethel, continually ascending and descending on a ladder between earth and heaven (Gen. 28:12ff.). This was meant to encourage Jacob with the assurance that the LORD was continually near to him and his descendants, protecting and caring for them. Therefore the LORD declared: ‘Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go … for I will not leave you.’
We may also apply this protection to the whole church that has descended from the patriarchs, including the Gentiles who are brought to faith in Christ (Gen. 12:3; Ps. 87). For this purpose angels go throughout the whole earth (Zech. 1:10), especially in the service of those who will inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14).
Do you take the ministry of angels into account (cf. 1 Cor. 11:10)?
Sing: Ps. 91:1,3,5