Psalms 91

April 1 – Today’s Readings – Deuteronomy 1-3 and Psalms 91

Seeing that our Deuteronomy reading today is a review – [a great review I might add, with some juicy details omitted elsewhere] – I decided to focus on one of the great Psalms of Scripture. In Psalm 91 you will find a fantastic portrait of the heart of God towards us. Here we find:

“Dwelling” in place of vagrancy

“Rest” not strife

“Refuge” in a storm

“Trust” to overcome doubt

“Salvation” instead of the slavery of sin

“Covering” for nakedness and shame

His “faithfulness” instead of disloyalty

Peace and faith to drown out fear

Health instead of pestilence and plague

Standing instead of falling

“No harm” instead of disaster

“Angels” not demons

“Lifting up” instead of putting down

“Love” instead of selfishness

“Long life” instead of slow death

Wow – what a God we serve! These are His attributes – even when things are not going so well for us, we can always look back to this Psalm and know God’s heart. We live in a sin-sick world, but we have a heavenly Father who watches over us. His purpose in our lives is sure.

Here is a selection of related verses found in Isaiah 61:

1 “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to…”(fill in your own blanks)
3 To “bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…” (the clothing of beauty, gladness and praise)
7 “Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs”.
This is The One we serve – this is good news for us and for the entire world. This is the message we need to be sharing with people. This is what people hunger after spiritually. You’ve got friends who need to hear this!

Questions:

1. How do we deal with things like misplaced shame or despair?

2. How do we appropriate some of these marvelous blessings in our lives?