Under the Wings That Rule the World
Psalm 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 he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.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 look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place —
the Most High, who is my refuge —
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
Why does Psalm 91 exist?
One reason is because threats to human life exist. Whether wars or wildfires; earthquakes or illnesses; hurricanes or heart attacks — threats to human life, hazards to human flourishing — they exist. And they’re plenty in number, many in form, and perennially active. And have been since Genesis three, and humanity’s exit from Eden.
And so the question then becomes, how do you live, as a human, in a world, that’s loaded with threats to human life? How do you live as a human who’s: Not covered in steel-plating, but flesh. Not taller than the mountains, but shorter than the ceilings. Not immune to disease, but prone to it. Not beyond disaster, but within range of it. Not personally immortal, nor having loved ones who are immortal, but living as a mom, or dad, or sister, or brother, or friend, who’s not even been promised tomorrow, let alone this afternoon?
How do you live, as a human, in a world, that’s loaded with threats to human life?
You could lock your doors, and try to avoid reality. You could close your eyes and try to ignore reality. Or, you could face reality from a place of refuge.
Why does Psalm 91 exist? Yes, because threats to life are real, and because refuge is available. And as we’re going to see in Psalm 91, this refuge is in a God who is powerful, personal, faithful, and just.
Let’s pray and ask God for his help before going further.
So, Psalm 91, a Psalm for finding refuge in God who is powerful, personal, faithful, and just. Let’s begin with that first one — powerful. God, your refuge, is powerful.
Powerful
Look with me at verse one. Psalm 91:1, where God is referred to twice, and by to two different titles:
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”
Most High and Almighty — two terms communicating complete superiority over all things.
He is not just high, but Most High. Meaning that no human ruler nor so-called god ever rises above him. When God looks up, he sees no thing and acknowledges no one. He is Most High.
And he is the Almighty. Having all power and all authority throughout all the universe. Reality is entirely contingent upon him, and never the other way around.
God, your refuge, is powerful, brothers and sisters. His titles in Psalm 91 assert this, as does his activity. See with me down in verse 11. Psalm 91, verse 11, where it says of God:
“For he will command his angels…”
Now, admittedly, that may not strike you right away as a verse that communicates God’s power. And the reason for that is because in our modern minds, we tend to think of angels as being small, harmless, and kinda like children in form. And so for God to command them in verse 11, well, it doesn’t strike us as being all that impressive.
But when it comes to how the Bible actually talks about angels, almost nothing could be further from the truth. Friends, angels in the Bible are fearful beings. Just ask Zechariah in the Temple (Luke 1:12), or the shepherds in the field (Luke 2:9), or Daniel in Babylon (Daniel 8:17), or Cornelius in Caesarea (Acts 10:4) — when angels show up, people run for cover. When angels show up, people collapse in fright — cowering before the colossal power of these magnificent ones.
But not God. No, as God sits on his throne in heaven ever surrounded by a vast army of these mighty ones — God unhesitatingly commands each and every one of them, and they obey him. They bow down to him. They recognize the immeasurable gap between their relative greatness and his, and act accordingly. God command his angels.
Do you believe God is powerful? Do you believe he has total authority? You may fear political tension. You may fear economic turmoil. You may fear disease and disorders. You may fear vandalism and robbery. And as you fear those things, the size of each one might only ever seem to grow larger and larger in your mind. Consider God. Consider the almighty. Consider the commander of angels. Consider the one in whose hands the hearts of kings are like streams of water.
Cities Church, looking out upon a world that’s loaded with threats: find your refuge in one who is powerful — the Most High, Almighty, and commander-of-angels powerful. God, your refuge, is powerful.
And, he is personal as well.
Personal
Look again with me at verse one, and consider for a moment just how fantastic of a thing it is that God being the supreme authority that he is nevertheless calls his people near to him. The Maker of the universe beckons his 5-foot-tall, highly vulnerable, injury-prone people, “Come close to me.”
See it with me, verse one:
“He who dwells, in the shelter, of the Most High…”
He who dwells in — not he who lingers nearby, or remains just outside, but dwells in — the shelter of the Most High.
Now, make no mistake, this is personal proximity to God. Personal proximity to the one who speaks worlds into being. Yes, there is language here in this psalm of shelter and refuge and fortress, but don’t for a moment think that connotes anything like a building. For the shelter of the Most High, at least in Psalm 91, is not a building; it’s God himself.
See it with me in the second part of verse one. For it is not within a bunch of high walls that we are to dwell. Nor behind a set of heavy gates that we are to abide. No, but it’s “…in the shadow of the Almighty.” See, he is the covering. His shadow is the shelter.
And that’s why, in verse two, the psalmist says not that God has a refuge, but that God is “My refuge and my fortress.” And even further, down in verse 9:
“Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place...”
Not the Lord’s house, but “the Lord” himself.
Psalm 91 is saying God’s proximity is our security. So, God is personal.
We see an even more intimate picture of this in verses 3-4 where, amazingly, the psalmist has us looking upon our situation from the perspective of a helpless baby bird. Look at it with me, verses 3-4:
“For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler [a fowler is a person who hunts or traps birds] and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions [feathers], and under his wings you will find refuge;”
So, baby-bird-in-a-nest-type imagery is what we’ve got here.
Now, it just so happens that a few weeks back, I actually got a real life look at this. The kids and I had, yet again, gone over to the neighbor’s yard to get a look at his pet frogs. We we’re standing over in his yard when all of a sudden, I began to hear this kind of high-pitched chirping coming from the bush behind me.
So I turned and looked into the bush, and sure enough saw deep within the branches, one single thinly framed, lightly feathered, baby cardinal, sitting in its nest. I was not intimidated by this bird. It appeared to me as neither strong nor ferocious. In fact, just one look at this tiny bird, and I think you’d agree with me that this thing stood no chance against the many other predators lurking all around it. No chance.
This is where the psalmist brings us in verses 3-4. This is where he frames up our situation, saying, you are the baby bird in this picture. You, in and of yourself, are totally vulnerable to all that is around you. You’re totally vulnerable to:
Verse 3, the snare of the fowler and deadly pestilence.
Verse 5, the terrors of the night, and arrows by day.
Verse 6, pestilence that stalks in darkness and destruction that wastes at noonday.
In and of yourself, you are totally vulnerable to it all, and yet, you need not fear. In fact, verse 5, you will not fear. And we think, why wouldn’t I fear? Why would I not be afraid? Why should I not go running for cover?
Answer: Because of the wings.
Verse 4:
“He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge…”
In other words, look up — Christian, you’ve got wings over you. You’ve got your protector watching over you. You’re under the shelter of the wings that rule the world. You live under those wings. You can face every trial underneath those wings. You never need leave the wings.
What do you most fear in life? Illness. A car accident. Natural disaster. Death of a loved one. Go ahead, don’t ignore it, put it right out there in front of you. And now, see Him, God himself, your refuge all about you. How does your fear change when facing it from the shelter of God? When facing it with God, and in God, and near God? Threats exist, but so do the wings.
Cities Church, in a world loaded with threats to human life: find your refuge in God who is personal (covers you with wings).
And, third, faithful. God is faithful.
Faithful
Now, here is where I want us to recognize a tension. A tension some of you may be feeling in this moment. A tension that some of you began feeling the moment this psalm was read. And it is a tension between what it seems this psalm could be saying and what we know throughout history has in fact occurred.
I mean, we’ve got world history — which tells of innumerable Christians, innumerable people who found their refuge in God, who ended up being persecuted, tortured, and even martyred for their faith.
You’ve got that in world history, and you’ve got your own personal history: That day you did get the diagnosis, that evening you did get in the car accident, that morning you did get the phone call, that night the terror did show up, that day the arrow did sink deep, that noontime the destruction did come about.
And so when you read verse 4…
“His faithfulness is a shield and buckler.”
…You might think, is it? It seems some things have gotten past his shield. Some enemies have pierced through his shield.
Or, when you read over all these “will” promises from Psalm 91:
“For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler” (v. 3).
“He will cover you with his pinions” (v. 4).
“I will deliver him; I will protect him” (v. 14).
You might think, did he cover me? Did he protect me?
Or when you read the even more sweeping statements like:
“A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you (v. 7).
“No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent” (v. 10).
You might think, Christians have fallen. Evil has come near.
It makes us wonder: How do you understand God’s Psalm 91 faithfulness in light of life experience?
Another way to ask it: How do you read Psalm 91 as a Christian?
As a Christian
First, you recognize that even within this very psalm there’s a hint of the fact that not every trouble in life will be avoided. Note verse 15:
“When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble;”
Not, “I will keep him from trouble,” but “In the trouble, there I will be with him.” So, the shadow doesn’t leave. The wings don’t fly away. God stays, but, at least here, the trouble stays as well. So, that’s the first thing.
Here’s the second: Recognize Psalm 91 was first written to Israel under the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant which did contain literal promises for physical safety that were contingent upon the peoples’ faithfulness.
And so when those members of the Old Covenant read Psalm 91, they likely took every one of these promises to be literally true, and were basically right to do so, assuming they were following the Laws of Moses.
But, as the church, we’re not Old Covenant Israel. We’re members of the New Covenant which, while being so much better than the old, contains no promise of worldly safety. Safety, to be sure, but of a far greater order and greater scope than mere safety in this life.
As an example, Jesus says in Luke 21:16-19,
“You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But [and catch this] not a hair of your head will perish.”
You’re going to die, but not a hair of your head will perish. Safety, yes, but a safety stretching well past the vapor that is this life.
Or, from Romans 8:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”
In other words, these things may happen to you, and Paul even adds…
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
But can any of it separate you from Christ? Verse 37:
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
You see, there’s a safety of a different order that’s been promised us as Christians. A safety that’s far more long lasting, far more secure, and far more satisfying. Knowing that can help us get perspective here as we read these very specific promises in Psalm 91. The promise of safety that God gives us as Christians is not less than Psalm 91, but greater.
Last one: How do you read Psalm 91 as a Christian?
First, note the hint of trouble even in Psalm 91: “Be with you in trouble.”
Second, note the difference between safety in the Old Covenant verses safety in the New.
Third, note how Jesus responded when Satan quoted it.
Jesus and Psalm 91
Now, turn with me to Luke 4. It’s in the New Testament. I really want you to see this with me so grab your Bible and find the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4.
The setting is just after Jesus officially began his ministry. Baptized by John, filled with the Spirit, Jesus has walked out into the wilderness for a forty-day solo journey without food. He’s starving — literally starving — by the time we see him in Luke 4. And there we find Satan whispering in his ear.
He first tempts Jesus to turn the stones into bread. Jesus refuses. He’ll keep starving.
He then tempts Jesus toward riches and idolatry — “worship me and I’ll give you worldly splendor.” Jesus refuses. He’ll keep serving God only.
Then, Satan quotes Psalm 91. Why? Why would Satan quote Scripture? Wouldn’t that run entirely counter to his schemes? Wouldn’t Scripture just spur Jesus onward?
See it with me in Luke 4:9,
And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written [Psalm 91:11-12],
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’11 and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
And so it is Psalm 91, but set up as a question… “If you are the Son of God,” and a challenge… “throw yourself down from here.”
The intended effect is clear: to take what is a testimony to God’s faithfulness and turn it into a set of criteria for testing God’s faithfulness.
Satan is saying, “If you really believe Psalm 91, Jesus, then make God prove it in this particular way and at this particular time.”
Now, let’s ask: What does Psalm 91, no-evil-shall-befall-you, trust in God’s faithfulness look like in such a moment? What does Psalm 91, trust in God’s faithfulness look like when trouble comes and you are, like Jesus, staring it right in the face?
When you get home from travel and realize that while you were away, the house was broken into; or when you pull up your bank statement, recognize your credit card got stolen, you’ve been robbed; or when the boss calls you in, fires you without reason or explanation; or the car gets backed into; the cough gets worse; the teenage rebellion continues; the doctor calls you and gives you the diagnosis you’ve always feared.
Does it look like:
“God, you must now prove to me your faithfulness by protecting me in this exact way?”
“God, if you are who you say you are, then you must rescue me at this exact time.”
“God, here are my Psalm 91 criteria, you better toe-the-line or I won’t believe you.”
Or does it look like Luke 4:12?…
And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
You see it? Psalm 91 trust says: Father, because I know that you are who you are, I trust you to guard me in your way and your time. I don’t need you to prove yourself to me; all I need you to do is keep me under your wings.
God is faithful, brothers and sisters. His wings won’t lift. He’ll be with you in the trouble. Your safety, in him, is sure and lasting. What can separate you from Christ? Nothing. You are more than a conqueror through him.
Cities Church, in a world loaded with threats to human life, find your refuge in God who is faithful — in his time, in his way, for your eternal security.
Now, last point, and this will be very quick. God is powerful, personal, faithful and, lastly, just.
Just
Psalm 91:8,
“You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.”
Another way to render that word recompense is judgement. In other words, Christian, there may be a gap between the moment trouble comes and the moment trouble leaves. There may be a time between the hurt and the healing. There may be a difference between what you are expecting in heaven, and what you’re experiencing on earth. There may be a prolonged season in which you need to fight to keep believing that God is who he says he is. There may be decades in which it seems you’re not more than a conqueror, but a conquered one, whose enemy is just having a field day.
Nevertheless, your eyes will see your enemy bite the dust. Your eyes will see your enemy fleeing in terror. Your eyes will see Jesus, your King, come again, and condemn all who ever wronged you and remained unrepentant.
No one gets away with anything with God. No injustice will ultimately stand. It may linger for a time, the gap may remain. It will end. God will make it end. God is just. You will, one day, “look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.”
And so, Cities Church… In a world loaded with threats to human life, find your refuge in God who is powerful enough to command the angels, and personal enough to cover you with his wings, and faithful enough to keep you in him through all of life, and just enough to punish any evil ever committed against you.
The Table
Now, what brings us to the table this morning is the fact that not only did Jesus trust his Father while suffering in a desert, but also while hanging on a cross…
On that day when the terror of the night in Gethsemane gave way to the arrows of the day through his hands and feet.
On that day when the people challenged: “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him.”
On that day when Jesus took his final breath and kept trusting:
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
This table reminds us of our savior who died trusting, and then rose again three days later. Our savior who now invites all who believe in him to eat with anticipation for the day when we’ll eat with him in heaven with all life’s threats finally and forever behind us. That’s what this table represents.
I gladly invite those who are trusting in Jesus to take and eat this meal with us. If you’ve not put your trust in Jesus, we ask that you’d let the elements pass for now, but encourage you in this moment — turn to Jesus. Ask him to become your refuge. You need one. The threats are real. You’re human. And God is inviting you, right now, find your refuge in him by faith.
