In His Presence -- 2/4/07

Sunday, February 4, 2007

IN HIS PRESENCE
Psalm 91

Our studies the past few weeks have been quite intense, as we have been going through the tests of life in I John. This morning let’s take a little break. One morning this past week I found myself singing a song that we sang last Sunday morning. You will recall that we sang that little song that sets Ps. 91:1-2 to music. Yes, we sang it again this morning. Let’s read it again… "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust" (Ps. 91:1-2).

As I was singing it, I opened my Bible and decided to spend some time in this Psalm, which has long been one of my favorites. How blessed I was. And I want to share some of that with you this morning.

Before we look at Psalm 91, please turn back to Psalm 37. Let’s read Ps. 37:1-6…
Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 2. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. 3. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 6. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

This is a wonderful Psalm, but I want to focus on verse 4, "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." What does that mean? If I delight myself in the Lord, He will give me what my heart desires. But what will my heart desire? When I truly delight myself in Him, I won’t desire selfish things. I won’t desire the things of this world. In a nutshell, I will desire to delight myself in the Lord. Yes, when I delight myself in Him, the desire of my heart will be for more of the same. This is a "glorious cycle"! Praise God! Too often we think that if we delight self in the Lord, then we will be able to have certain things. Perhaps these are even very good things – joy and peace, power for service, etc. While the Lord may indeed give those things, isn’t the best and most glorious thing His very presence? When I truly delight myself in Him, is there anything more that I want?

This goes along perfectly with Psalm 91. "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Do you see it? To dwell in the secret place of the Most High God is basically to delight yourself in Him. And what is the reward for that? To abide under His shadow, the shadow of the Almighty God. Now it is true that this picture speaks of His wonderful protection. Speaking of this protection of the Lord, the Psalmist says in Ps. 121:5-6, "The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." But even more than protection, this picture speaks of nearness. For a little boy to walk in the shadow of his father, he has to draw close to him. And as the sun moves up in the sky and the heat increases, that boy has to draw even closer to his father, in order to remain in his shadow. So it is with us. When the heat of life’s storms increase, we have to draw closer to the Lord. But it isn’t really a "have to;" it is a delight, for there is nothing sweeter than being in His presence.

I want to show you how this truth is emphasized in this Psalm. Psalm 91 is really a very popular Psalm that is often quoted. What parts of this Psalm have you heart quoted (or maybe you have quoted)? Let me give you a few statements from Psalm 91 that are often quoted as wonderful promises…

… Though a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, the evil will not come near you (7)
… No evil shall befall you and no plague shall come near your house (10)
… God will give His angels charge over us. They will hold us up so that we won’t even strike our foot
against a stone (11-12)
… We shall walk on lions and poisonous snakes. We will trample them under our feet (13)

Without doubt, these are wonderful promises, but they are often taken out of context. Let me give you one example. Who is the most famous person that has quoted from Psalm 91? Do you know? It is the devil himself. When Jesus had been in the desert for 40 days without any food, Satan came to Jesus. After unsuccessfully tempting Jesus to turn the stones into bread, he then tried a second temptation. Let’s read it in Matt. 4:5-6, "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6. And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." There it is – Satan himself quoted scripture. But you will remember that Jesus did not yield to that temptation, though it contained scripture, for the scripture was taken out of context. As we proceed, I believe you will see that more clearly.

As you look at this Psalm in the future, I trust you will begin to see that the rewards listed throughout simply tell us that nothing can pull us out from under His shadow, as we dwell in His secret place. I want us to look at two statements in this Psalm which will help us to see the beauty of abiding in His presence.

I. Thou Shalt Not Be Afraid (5)

Let’s read verse 5-6, "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." At first glance, we might say, "Isn’t this wonderful. The Lord has promised to deliver us from the terror in the night and the weapon that comes against us in the daytime and the terrible disease of the night and the destruction that destroys in broad daylight." But is that what the text says? No, it does not. The Psalmist says nothing about delivering us from those circumstances. Rather, he tells us that we won’t be afraid when any or all of those things confront us.

Make no mistake about it, these troubles and others like them will come to us, just as they come to everyone in this world. The Lord never promises to deliver us from such trials. He says only that we won’t be afraid when these things comes. Ps. 27:1, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear. The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid." David would not fear, but it wasn’t because he had no cause to fear (humanly speaking). He immediately says, "When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident" (27:2-3). And, of course, because we know the history of David, we know that these "if’s" were reality. In the midst of that turmoil, he then says: "One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple" (27:4). David didn’t ask that the way be smooth, but only that he be able to dwell in the Lord’s presence.

God doesn’t promise us a smooth path. He will not lead us in a way where there is no suffering. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me" (Ps. 23:4). There it is again! Praise God! Even in the shadow of death, he doesn’t fear.
I can expect trials and difficulties. I must not think that because I know the Lord, He will somehow take away the circumstances that cause others to fear. Nor must I get the idea that if I draw near to Him, dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, that He will then remove the thorns of life. Never. As a matter of fact, there may be more! But in the midst of it all, I will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Yes, I will dwell in the house (presence) of the Lord.

I said earlier that God doesn’t promise to remove the trials; He only promises that we won’t have to fear. Strike the word "only." This is a far greater promise, because this doesn’t deal with outward things but with our hearts. How much would you pay to have all fear removed from your heart? I’m not talking about the fear that others can see; I’m talking about the fear that grips you down where no one else can go. This is the promise we have from the Lord: "You shall not be afraid."

But who can claim that promise? This is how so many things in this Psalm are taken out of context. This promise isn’t for just anyone. And no, you cannot claim it just because you profess to be a Christian. This promise is for the person who dwells in the secret place of the Most High and as a result abides under the shadow of the Almighty. When you are in His shadow and protection, you can’t fear. What a promise this is.

II. There Shall No Evil Befall thee… (10)

What does he mean when he says that no evil will befall thee? First of all, who is "thee"? Is it not the person who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, and therefore abides under the shadow of the Almighty? This promise isn’t for everyone. It is conditional, dependent upon this drawing near unto God (Ps. 73:28).

So if a person does indeed dwell in the secret place of the Most High, how is it that no evil shall befall him? This is where misunderstanding often comes. We have a tendency to think that God will protect us from the "bad" things of life, from outward circumstances that would be difficult.
I find that I can best get a handle on this by looking at a couple of very godly examples…

1. The first is Joseph of the Old Testament. I believe that this man did indeed dwell in the secret place of the Most High. How else would he have been able to escape the bitterness and resentment that would have destroyed most men? His own brothers had sold him. Potiphar’s wife had falsely accused him, which led to his imprisonment. The butler had totally forgotten him. For the better part of 17 years Joseph rotted in that prison. And yet when the baker and the butler were sad one morning, Joseph noticed. Isn’t that amazing! Didn’t Joseph have enough problems of his own? And when he finally saw his brothers -- 22 years after they had sold him -- he forgave them. More accurately, he expressed his forgiveness. Surely he had forgiven them many years before. A man filled with unforgiveness would not have prospered in every circumstance, as Joseph did. It was through dwelling in the secret place of the Most High that he was able to forgive the inexcusable wickedness of those ten brothers.

Now if Joseph did indeed dwell in the secret place of the Most High, how is it that evil came upon him? Is God a liar? It would certainly seem that plenty of evil came his way. Wasn’t what happened to him evil? Did not his brothers and Potiphar’s wife deliberately bring those evils upon him?

The key is in Gen. 50:20, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." When viewed from the human perspective, evil not only befell Joseph, but it swallowed him up. But because Joseph was abiding under the shadow of the Almighty, he didn’t see things from the human perspective. He was able to see the hand of God in all of it. I’m not sure when Joseph began to realize what God’s plan was for preserving the life of his family, but even before he saw it, he trusted God. He understood that God was indeed his refuge, his fortress, his God, in whom he could trust (Ps. 91:2). As Joseph viewed his circumstances from the divine perspective, he could say that no evil came to him.

2. Consider Jesus. If anyone ever dwelt in the secret place of the Most High, it was Jesus our Lord. When the devil tempted Him for 40 days in the desert, Jesus drew closer to His Father. At the end of those 40 days, when Satan tempted Him to turn the stones into bread, Jesus could say, "It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4). But wasn’t Jesus already dwelling in the secret place of the Most High before the temptation experience? If so, then why would God allow the devil to tempt Him so severely? What could be worse than having Satan himself working on you for over a month?
By the way, God not only allowed it; God engineered it. That’s right. Read it in Mt. 4:1, "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." It was the Spirit of God who led Him out into the desert for the very purpose of being tempted by Satan. Is that not evil? If we look only on the surface, we might be tempted to accuse God Himself of evil.

Think about it. Jesus was out there in the desert and ate nothing. As the devil tempted Him, there was no one around to encourage Him. As He continually dwelt in the secret place of the Most High, He found that His Father was indeed His refuge and fortress. The more intense the temptation became, the more fully He experienced the blessing of abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. The temptation was intense, but the more intense the temptation, the greater the opportunity to draw near the Father and meditate on His promises. While we read the account and are impressed by the evil of it all, Jesus would have said that no evil befell Him there.

Now go to the cross. Who can possibly say that no evil came to Jesus? Was this not the most evil thing that has ever occurred in the history of mankind? The only righteous person who ever lived was hung on a cross. He was ridiculed, mocked, spit upon, and tortured. But that wasn’t the half of it. That righteous man took upon Himself all the evil of man. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Cor. 5:21). If that isn’t evil, what is? Was not Almighty God able to protect His own Son from this unspeakable evil?

That "evil" was none other than "the grace of God that brings salvation" (Tit. 2:11). Had Jesus not viewed the cross from the divine perspective, He would have never endured it. Remember that Jesus did not have to die there. He Himself said, "No man taketh it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of myself" (Jn. 10:17). In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that if possible this cup might pass from Him. And what was that cup? The cup was the experiencing of God’s wrath upon Him, as He took our place on the cross. Jesus did not enjoy enduring this "evil." Nevertheless, our Lord voluntarily surrendered to the agony of dying as our substitute.
But still, how can we say that no evil befell Jesus (as promised in Ps. 91:10)? Let’s simply read from the Word of God…
Heb 1:1-13… God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4. Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 5. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6. And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 7. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 8. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 9. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 10. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: 11. They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; 12. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. 13. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

John 17:1,4-5… These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee… 4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Heb 12:1-2… Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Phil 2:5-11… Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

When we see the big picture, when we grasp the eternal perspective, then we begin to understand that what Satan meant for evil, God meant for good! No, I don’t totally understand this, but I do get a glimpse of it. While the cross may appear evil because of the agonies to which Jesus was subjected, how can we call evil the event that purchased our salvation? If Jesus had not died and rose, there would be no possibility of us entering into God’s presence. And even today, if you have not come to Jesus through repentance and faith, you cannot dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Though the cup Jesus drank was bitter beyond explanation, look at Him now. For a brief time He was under the wrath of God, but now He sits at the right hand of the Father, and there He will be forever and ever and ever, where He will receive the praise and glory that is due Him.

If no evil could befall Joseph in those dark years, if no evil could befall Jesus when He hung on the cross, then surely we can believe that God will do the same for us, as we dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Can you see it? When we are His presence, no evil can touch us. Though we die for the sake of the gospel, that is not evil. That is glory, for then we shall see Him face to face!

Conclusion

Let me give you a little assignment for this week, as we continue to think about Psalm 91. There are two Proverbs that go right along with Ps. 91:10. Here they are…

Prov 12:21… There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.
Prov 19:23… The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

At first, we might think that these statements cannot be true. But then go over them in light of what we have studied this morning.

May we never imagine that God has promised to shield us from the storms of life. While that in itself might constitute a miracle, how much greater is the miracle of removing all fear from us in the midst of the greatest storms, the miracle of opening our eyes to see that no evil can befall us! God uses the worst storms of life to invite us into His presence. Next time a crisis comes in your life, hear the Lord saying, "Won’t you come and dwell in my secret place, so that I can overshadow you with my wings." It is in the midst of those storms that we are motivated to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. And as a result, we are blessed to abide under the shadow of the Almighty. And when we get a taste of that blessing, it begins to dawn on us that there is no greater blessing!

Ps. 65:4, "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple."

Let's sing that little chorus...

In your presence, in your presence, there is joy;
In your presence, in your presence, there is peace.
Let me linger, let me stay, in your presence every day,
‘Til your likeness shall be seen in me.

You may ask, "So how can I dwell in the secret place? How can I come into His presence?" We could talk about many things…
… entering into the closet to shut the world out
… getting on our knees with an attitude of humility
… and many more.

However, there is only one thing I want to emphasize this morning – we have to want to enter into His presence. We can know many things and have various techniques, but if we don’t have a deep longing to enter into His presence, it will never happen. O that we might have that longing!

As you pray for the cultivation of that desire to enter His presence, dwell on the privilege that is ours. Think of it – entering into the presence of the God who made the universe and everything in it. How could we possibly reject that privilege?