Psalm 91 - You are in Good Hands

What I began this morning by giving you a quiz. Now I know what you're thinking. All that teaching in that class went to your head, didn't it? No, seriously, I want to give you a quiz. I want to give you a quiz on insurance companies. Now you're thinking the heat in Trinidad went to my head, right? No, really, insurance companies know the value of a symbol, a catchy slogan, a phrase or two that helps you understand what they're all about, and also identifies their name to you. Okay, first question, very easy. What insurance company uses a gecko to remind you of its name? Gecko, right? Okay, very easy, easy start. What insurance company uses a duck to help you remember their name? Half-lack, right, right. Okay, fill in the blank. Next couple of questions, fill in the blank. Nationwide is on your side, you got it. Like a good neighbor, state farm is there, and you're in good hands with all state. Now I'm not getting any commissions this morning from any of those companies, I promise you. But my point is this, you remember those names because those insurance companies have a catchy way of telling you what they're all about. You know what they're telling you with those statements? They are telling you that they will protect you. They're telling you that they will protect your future. Nationwide is on your side. You're in good hands with all state, like a good neighbor. You know, whenever you go through something bad, state farm will be there for you. It's like a good neighbor. They're telling you that they will protect your assets in case of some catastrophe that comes to you. You are being sold protection, and they want to remind you that they are all about protection. Well, I want to give you an insurance policy this morning. Actually, I'm not going to give it to him. I'm just going to call your attention to it. In the book of Psalms, it is God's protection policy in Psalm 91. The next Psalm that we come across in our favorite Psalms series, Psalm 91. Unvite your attention to that chapter where we find an insurance policy, a promise of protection that is greater than anyone you've ever received before. And that's the promise of God's protection. That's why I want to say this morning, you're in good hands with God. With His protection, you're in good hands with God. Now, Psalm 91, quite honestly, is not only triumphant, it's also troubling. Psalm 91 is one of those passages that is at the same time comforting and puzzling. Because this chapter guarantees God's protection from harm and evil, but much of it seems to contradict our experience. It promises no harm, no evil will come to you, no problems, and yet our experience doesn't seem to match up to that. After all, what about those who suffer? What about martyrs who've given their life for the cause of Christ? What about children with down syndrome? What about people who pray for healing and only get silence? What do these promises mean to them? Are they real? Do they work in the real world? Or are they just platitudes that are kind of nice to remember? I hope it works out that way, is that what this is about? Or are we forced into a theology that says, if you're not experiencing this, then you must not have enough faith. Well, I don't think those answers are correct. If you'll stick with me a little while, I think we'll see how all this all fits together. As we take a journey through Psalm 91 and find out that you really are in good hands with God. This insurance protection, this promise of His protection, is real and it does work in the real world. We just need to understand what it is. Psalm 91. Now, the Psalm has not attributed to anyone, there's no name at the beginning of the Psalm. Whoever the Psalmist was, though, begins by reminding us of what it means to trust in God's Providence. And so in the first two verses, he talks about our trust in God's Providence. These verses are very familiar. Look at them, if you will. Psalm 91 and 2. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. And these great verses, these wonderful beginning verses of this Psalm, where the Psalmist tells us we can trust in God's protection. He, first of all, calls our attention to the one we trust. Now, this is very important. We've said this before, our faith is only as good as the object of our faith. It's not the amount of faith, the quality of your faith, anything like that. It's nothing to do with you. It's the object of your faith that is important. And so what the Psalmist does is he talks about the God we can trust. The one we can trust. You'll notice in the first couple of verses he uses four different names for God. Four different expressions of who God is, this God we can trust. The first one in verse 1 is, he is the Most High. Now, that's an interesting name for God. It's really a name that indicates elevation. The Most High is the God who is exalted above all other gods. Nobody else comes close. No other assumed gods can match him. But not only that, it's not only he's above all gods, he's above all the circumstances and events of your life. All the threats, obstacles, whatever you're facing, God is above that. He's bigger than that. He cuts every threat down to size. That's the idea here. He is the Most High, God. Not only is he the Most High, verse 1 also identifies him as the Almighty. The Almighty is an interesting word that comes from the Hebrew word, which means mountain. In fact, it's some of you familiar with this term for God. El Shadai. El Shadai comes from the Hebrew word Shad, which means mountain. And the idea in this title is that God is literally God the Mountain One. He is the One who has immeasurable power and strength. We know what that's like here in West Virginia. We live in a mountain state, the mountain state. We're mountaineers. We know what mountains are like. Mountains are those immovable objects that keep us from getting to Oceana in good time, right? But mountains are those impenetrable forces of strength. They represent strength and power. God is the mountain God. He is a God of unlimited and measurable strength and power. That's the idea behind that term. Thirdly, he is called, verse 2, the Lord. And notice, it's all capital letters. There are two Hebrew words for the Lord in the Bible. This one is always written out in all capital letters. Is the word Yahweh or Jehovah. It's the word that is used in Exodus 3 when Moses is being commissioned by God to go to Egypt and deliver the people of Israel. And Moses says, now God, if I go down there and people say, who sent you? What am I going to say? And God says, you tell them, I am sent you. I am that I am. It's this word, Jehovah. I am that I am. This word emphasizes the fact that God is self-existent. In other words, he needs nothing. He needs no one to bring him into existence or to maintain his existence. We all need those things. I don't know if you ever realize this or not, but you are here today because you had parents. You realize that? You came into this world because you had parents. Somebody brought you into existence. God was never brought into existence by anyone. He always has been. He just is. He is, Jehovah. And we need certain things to maintain our existence. We need food, we need nourishment, we need shelter. There are certain things that we must have in order to maintain our existence. God doesn't need any of those things. God is self-existent. He exists solely in and of himself, within himself. He is who he is. I am. That's Jehovah. That's God. Which means he's a pretty big God. He can take care of things. And then notice the fourth word for God is just the simple everyday common word God in verse two. It's the Hebrew word Elohim, which is just the general name and the Old Testament for God. It means the Creator. It emphasizes that he's the Creator, the one who put everything into place. But notice it's not just the God. It is my God, which indicates that he is my Creator. He made me. He knows everything about me. He knows me inside and out. He knows every fear I have, every problem I have, every anxiety I have. He knows every joy and blessing and frustration I have. He's my God, my Creator. So you see, the one we trust is described in these four titles, these four names. And they all communicate something to us very special about the God we trust. They give us reason for trusting him, the awareness that he can be trusted because of who he is. One of the burning images that's been etched into most of our minds from 9-11 is when the two towers in New York City started to crumble and fall to the ground. We have etched in our mind those images of the horrified looks on people's faces as they fled from those towers, as they ran down the streets and just the look of absolute terror on their faces. I have some faces etched in my mind that I doubt will ever leave. I just remember those images of abject terror at what was happening. That's why it's so wonderful to know. Proverbs 1810 says, The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runs into it and is safe. I have images in my mind of people running away from the most expensive real estate in America. The two most powerful towers, symbols of strength in America. People running away from those and God says never fear, my name is a strong tower. You can run into it and always be safe. And why? Because his name is most high. His name is Almighty, the mountain god, the great powerful strong one. My name is Jehovah, the one who exists in and of himself. My name is Elohim, my name is God, my God, my creator. You can trust me. The one we trust. But then notice if you will not only does the psalmist describe the one we trust, he also describes the way we trust. And again, he uses word pictures to communicate how we trust in God, how we trust this most high, Almighty, Jehovah, Creator God. How do we trust in him? Verse 1 says, he who dwells in the shelter of the most high. Now there's very beautiful word pictures here. To dwell means to stay, to remain, to continue in. A shelter is a hiding place, a secret place. And I believe it's talking about that place of fellowship with God, of communion with Him. And we maintain that, we hide in that continually as we draw strength from His word and as we pray. You see the point is this, no matter what is going on in your life, you show your trust in God by whether or not you give up on Him. Or whether or not you continue to draw from Him, strength from His word, encouragement and prayer, you dwell in that secret place of communion and fellowship with God. You see, that's what this passage is telling us. Trust in God is that we stay connected to Him in His word and in prayer even when stuff's going bad and things are going wrong in our lives. We don't give up on God. We trust Him. The second word picture for how we trust Him. Verse 1, we rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Now again, remember that Almighty is talking about mountain strength, power and we in West Virginia know what it's like to be up against a mountain in the shadow of a mountain. In fact, there are some places in West Virginia that only see sunlight three hours a day, right? Because they're between two mountains and there's a little creek that runs through the middle and they don't see much sunlight. They're in the shadow all the time. What it means here is to get up next to that mountain of strength to where you are in His shadow and you are drawing the strength and power you need from Him. That's what it means to dwell in the shadow to rest in the shadow of the Almighty, to get right up next to that God, the mountain one, the strong one, the powerful one and draw your strength from Him. That's what it means to trust Him. Thirdly, what it means to trust Him, verse 2, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God and whom I trust. Refuge in fortress, a military picture here. We're out of the mountains now and we're in a fortress. The fortress is a place where we feel safe. It's a place where we are protected and secure from the attacks of the enemy. You remember the old Westerns when the village was attacked or the army was attacked and they went running to what? The fortress and inside they could live, they could do what they want because those walls protected them. That's the way our God is. He is around us, He protects us from the attacks of the enemy and our God is a fortress who makes us feel secure and restful in His presence. Now this is what trusting God means. Faith in God, trust in God is not some kind of foolish kind of self-confidence where we get way out on a limb and it's being cut off behind us and we're praying for God's protection. That's tempting God, that's not trusting God. Trusting God is to recognize that we dwell in the shelter of the most high, that we understand what it means to maintain fellowship with Him in His word and prayer even when everything's going wrong. We don't give up on God. That's what it means to trust Him. What it means to trust Him is that we get up close to that mountain of strength. We're in a shadow, the shadow we're resting in the shadow of that strong God. And it surely means that we take refuge in Him and we trust Him to protect us, He is around us protecting us from the enemy. That's what it means to trust God. It's not some kind of foolish tempting of God. The story is told of a man by the name of Bill who died and went to heaven. And as soon as he got to heaven, he met an angel and the angel was responsible to greet him, welcome him to heaven and show him his mansion. So they're on their way to the mansion. He's welcomed him to heaven. It's great to have you. Glad you're here. And as we're on our way to the mansion, tell me something important that happened in your life. And so without a moment's hesitation, Bill says, well, one time I came upon an elderly lady being attacked by a motorcycle gang. And so I went right up to a guy and I kicked over his motorcycle and I hit him in the stomach and I gave him an uppercut that made him fall back. And angel said, well, Bill, that's tremendous, man. That was quite an experience. When did that happen? Bill said about two minutes ago. That's foolishness. That's not faith. You know, you don't jump out of an airplane without a parachute and ask God for his protection on the way down. That's foolishness. That's tempting God. Trusting God is not that kind of foolishness. Trusting God means that we stay close to Him when things are going tough and we stick with His word and in prayer. It means that we get in the shadow of that mountain of strength and stay close to Him, draw strength from Him and that we understand He's built a fort around us and we are safe and secure in Him. That's what trust in God's protection is all about. But the psalmist doesn't stop there. Not only does he describe our trust in God's protection, he goes on to describe the evidence of God's protection. In verses three through eight, he describes several ways or evidences of God's protection. Several things he protects us from. Now, how he does that is he describes first of all the things we fear. There are lots of fears that we have and what the psalmist is going to do is he's going to describe some kind of category type fears. The things we fear, he describes five things. Now, this is not a comprehensive list of all of our fears. It is a representative list of fears. It kind of represents categories of things that we fear. But he's going to talk about there's no need to fear these things because of our trust in God, because we trust His protection. And by the way, this is a very personal section of this chapter. Quite often you'll notice in this section of the chapter the word you. You see it there in verse three, surely he will save you from the foulard snare. The word is singular. It's not plural, it's not a general you, all of you. It's you. It's you. It's you. It's you. It's me. It's personal. So this is very personal. God provides this protection from your fears. And so he says, okay, what is it you fear? It gives us five different kinds of fears. The things we fear number one are sudden traps. Sudden traps. Look at it in verse three, surely he will save you from the foulard snare. Now, foulard snare is basically a hunter's trap is the idea. It's a hunter going out to set a trap for an animal. The animal does not know it's there. In fact, the animal sometimes is lured into that area by some means so that he is quickly overtaken by the trap. Now, that's the idea here in these words sudden traps. It may be someone's plan against you, someone who's trying to destroy your life or harm you in some way. It may be something they do. It may be something they say, setting a trap for you, trying to bring some danger into your life, or it may just simply be some hidden danger that we suddenly encounter that we had no way of knowing was there. We fear those kind of things. We're afraid that maybe something's going to happen. You know, and some people have such fear of these things that they imagine them. You know, they think about, oh, if I go, you know, getting the car, go down this road, what could happen? All these things that could happen. All kinds of imagined fears of these kinds of sudden traps. There were two psychiatrists that were walking down the street one day. They were friends and they met for lunch. They were walking down the street in this town. And a lady is walking toward them. They, in either one of them, know her. But as she passed by them, she smiled and said, good morning. They walked a few steps and one of the psychiatrists looked at the other and said, wonder what she meant by that. You'll get it later. Psychiatrists, you know, they're into that kind of thing. But a lot of people live that way. A lot of people live in the sense that wonder what they mean by that. Wonder what they're up to. And you're always afraid of some sudden trap being sprung on you about what people are thinking of you, what they're going to say about you, what are people talking about behind your back. You know, all of these traps are being laid for you and you imagine all kinds of things that might happen. That's a lot of people's fears. That's one category of fear. Second category of fear is deadly disease. Look at it there in verse 3, deadly disease. He says, surely he will save you from the foulers snare and from the deadly pestilence. Now skip down to verse 6. Talking about things we don't need to fear. He says in verse 6, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys it midday. Now twice you mentioned pestilence, once you mentioned plague, all three of these things have to do with deadly diseases. In ancient times that was a tremendous fear of people. You know, people start getting sick in your village and it looks like maybe some plague is going around or some pestilence, some disease has struck and nobody has any cure. And people who are catching it or dying, that was a very fearful thing in that day. I would suggest it's no less fearful today. In spite of our medical advances, in spite of all of the medicines and technology we have, it's no less of a fear today when people know about deadly diseases. Sometimes like the pestilence that kind of sneaks up on you at night that he talks about, it comes suddenly and it's just on you, all of a sudden. And you go to the doctor and you find you have this deadly disease and it's advanced and you had no clue. That's a fearful thing. Sometimes it comes on you more slowly, it's more recognizable, it comes by day, he says, the plague that comes at day, or that wastes us or destroys us a day. Sometimes you know it's coming and it builds gradually and slowly but it's no less fearful. I would say there are a lot of folks in this room this morning that fear deadly disease. It's a category of fear. Third category is unseen danger, unseen danger in verse 5. Look at it. You will not fear the terror of night, unseen danger, terror at night. You know darkness makes fear worse because we can't see what it is. We can't readily distinguish what it is and how to defend ourselves. Probably all of us in this room have been in this situation. You're lying in bed at night, you're half awake, you're trying to get to sleep, can't really get to sleep and all of a sudden there's a strange noise in your house. Now you're wide awake and you're laying there thinking what was that? I don't think I've ever heard that before. What was that? You know you're kind of laying there waiting for someone to come through the door or waiting for something to happen or a roof to cave in or something. And there are all these fears going through your mind. What could that be? Darkness makes fear more terrifying because you can't readily identify what it is that you're afraid of. What's happening? And a lot of folks have those kind of fears, unseen danger, but we're talking really here about any kind of unseen danger. Anything that plays havoc with your mind. Any kind of thing that you think maybe out there just beyond this bend in the road or just beyond this experience in your life or just beyond that doctor's visit or just on the other side of this relationship or whatever. And there's unseen danger and you're not sure what's coming down the pike. That scares some people, spitless to have unseen danger. Just not sure what's happening. Our own Chuck Yeager West Virginia broke the sound barrier in 1947. Those in the erinotic field still see that as the greatest feat in flying between 1903 and the Wright brothers in 1969 landing the first man on the moon. The greatest event in those years was Chuck Yeager in 1947 breaking the sound barrier. And at that time scientists weren't sure what would happen if somebody went over 700 miles an hour. They weren't sure if you broke that mock one, that threshold, they weren't sure what would happen. In fact, they were doing trials to kind of lead up to it gradually. And every time somebody got close to it, like 0.95, 0.96, mocked, then what they were in, the aircraft or the rocket actually what they were using. That day the rocket would begin to shake violently. And there were many scientists who believed and those who flew the rockets back to that by experience that probably the whole thing would crumble in on you once you hit the speed of sound. So here's Chuck Yeager. Good ol' West Virginia boy. He goes up that particular day. It was his ninth flight to get near the sound barrier. And he had not intended it was not the plan for him to go beyond the sound barrier that day. He was supposed to go to 0.97 mock and see what happened. So he's in this rocket. They drop him out of the airplane. It took him a while to get control of the thing. It was out of control. He free fell. You free fall. Is it free fell? He free fell. 500 feet. And finally got control of the thing and leveled it off. Hit the booster rockets and it began to coast 42,000 feet. And he gradually worked his speed up. He got to 0.97 mock and sure enough the whole thing was vibrating violent and shaking. And he just decided I'm going to push it just a little further see what happens. It was unseen danger on the other side of that sound barrier. Nobody knew what would happen. Everybody felt like what would happen was the whole thing would just crumble in on him and he'd be killed. But he decided I'm going to find out I'm going to see and he pushed it. And he said it was like he broke through a barrier and was sliding on glass. He said grandma could have liminated up there and it not spill. It was great. He said it was just a smooth ride once you get past that you know shaking in that barrier. So you see unseen danger. A lot of times scares us to death. And we don't understand what's on the other side. It may not be anything to fear at all. But we're scared to death of unseen danger. What's on the other side? Fourth kind of fear that often hurts people is enemy attacks. Look again verse 5 you will not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day. This is deadly force even in the daytime. This is an enemy attacking you letting you know where you can see it that he's coming after you. A lot of people are afraid of that. Every time bin Laden makes a tape. People get afraid. Right. Every time bin Laden comes out like you did a few days ago. I'm going to attack America again. And people begin to fear. It's going to be the plane I'm on. It's going to be the building I'm in. It's going to be a bank or school. What's it going to be? I'm going to be there. People start to fear. It may not be a national attack. It may be a personal attack. It may be an enemy that comes after you. Someone who attacks you personally attacks your character seeks to destroy you. You can't ruin your reputation. Whatever. It can be personal attacks. But a lot of people are scared afraid. They fear enemy attacks. Notice the fifth kind of fear. Extreme catastrophe. Extreme catastrophe. Verse 7, 1000 may fall at your side. 10,000 at your right hand but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. This is extreme catastrophe. This is where a thousand people are falling around, maybe 10,000 around you, but it is not coming near you, he says. It may affect others that will not come near you. And already some of our eyes are wondering, some of our eyebrows are being raised and our questions are being asked. You mean it's never going to hurt me? You mean I'm never going to have anything go wrong? Hang on to that thought, that objection for a moment. We'll come back to it. And what the psalmist is doing here is he's telling us the kinds of things we fear. These are the areas that God is at work in because of the God who cares. There are things we fear, yes, but there is also a God who cares. In verse 4, the verse we skipped tells us in the middle of all these fears, all these things we're afraid of tells us about the God who cares. Look how he's described. He's described again with two beautiful word pictures. The first one, verse 4, he will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge. It's a beautiful picture. It's a picture of a warm, protective mother bird, a hen, a bird who gathers her chicks under her wings and protects them. You remember a few years ago when Yellowstone burned so badly, there were so many fires out in Yellowstone and ecologists and park rangers and all thought it might have really destroyed the whole park. Remember that? After that happened, after the fire swept through that great national park rangers were combing the mountains to assess the damage. One park ranger was walking up a mountain one day and he looked down at the base of a tree and he saw something kind of eerie looking, kind of grotesque looking. It was a bird that was literally petrified in the ashes and it was sitting like a statue and it was so eerie looking that he took a stick and knocked it over. When he did, three little chicks ran out from under her wings. He quickly surmised what must have happened. Here his mother bird sensing the danger, recognizing toxic fumes from the smoke will rise so one by one she gets her chicks out of the nest, takes them to the base of the tree, to the ground, gathers them under her wings and lets the fire come. And as the fire gets hotter and gets closer, she stays right there. She could fly away. She could be at ease, be at peace. She's got three chicks to take care of. And so she stays right there and the fire comes closer and closer and she stays right there resolutely as it sweeps over her and kills her but her chicks will be safe. Now that's what God's promising you. You say, well it doesn't feel like it right now in my life. I'm being scorched pretty bad by the flames. Now wait a second friend. God's already done this for you in one sense. When Jesus Christ took the fiery hot punishment of God for your sin on the cross. When he took the wrath of God, the fiery punishment of God that you would suffer for an eternity in hell, when Jesus bore that punishment, that wrath of God for you, he didn't bail out. He didn't fly away. He stayed right there as the wrath of God swept over him and he was protecting you when he did that. He's flying in your place for you. So regardless of what you're going through now, he's already done that for you. And he promises to be the warm, protecting mother bird if you will, who will protect you from the fires of life. But notice the second word picture. Another great one, it's an exact opposite kind but in verse four, he says, not only will he cover you with his feathers and under his wings you'll find refuge but his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. This is a military figure. This is the kind of hard, unyielding strength of armor. There's one side of God that's the warm, protective, sheltering mother bird. There's another side of God that is the hard, unyielding, protective armor. Two kinds of shields mentioned in that verse. One was a large body shield that would protect the whole body. The second one, the rampart, was the only time this word's used in the Old Testament but it's a word which means a small handheld shield that gives you mobility, the ability to maneuver against the enemy. God promises he will be protecting us fully and that he will give us the opportunity to maneuver, to move. And within his will, when the enemy comes, God promises that these are the evidences of his protection. But what? How? How does God actually do these things? What are the means of God's protection? The next few verses, tell us. Actually verses 9 through 16. Tell us the means of God's protection. The means he uses to protect us. We've seen, we can trust his protection. We've seen evidence of it that he will protect us in the midst of all of our fears. How does he do it? What are the means? The first means is his presence versus 9 and 10. His very own presence. If you make the most high, you're dwelling, verse 9. If you make the most higher dwelling, even the Lord who is my refuge, then no harm will befall you. No disaster will come near your tent. It just sounds like verses 1 and 2 all over again. He uses the same names for God, at least a couple of them. Most high, Lord talks about him being a dwelling, a refuge. Same ideas he did in verse 1 and 2. So what he's saying is if you trust him, if you get into that dwelling, if you're close to that refuge like we talked about in verses 1 and 2, then the promise is no harm will befall you. No disaster will come near your tent. And since this is the most direct promise of the kind in the psalm, this is the place we need to address our questions. No harm? No disaster? Near my tent? Is that real? Does that mean if I am trusting God? If I'm a Christian, I won't have any disaster, no harm, no problems, no evil, no danger? Sure doesn't seem to square with my experience. What about other people in the Bible? What about Job? Job had all kinds of trials and difficulties and bad things happened to him. What about him? And it was God's own testimony, and that he's the most righteous man on earth. It's not that he didn't have enough faith. So what gives? What's going on there? What about Paul? I mean, Paul's in prison. He's beaten three times. He got 39 stripes beaten within an inch of his life. One time they beat him left him outside the city for dead. He was shipwrecked a couple times. I mean, Paul was in prison. He suffered a lot. What about Jesus? Certainly, no one was ever closer to his father than Jesus was. He suffered, went through great difficulty. Some of you are sitting here this morning saying, what about me? This sounds nice, sounds great, no harm to me. Okay, okay, but what about me? I'm suffering, I'm hurting bad. Going through an awful time in my life. What about me? Well, are these promises real? Or are they just nice little platitudes? Well, I think you know where I stand on that. I believe this is real. This is real. God is not playing word games with us. So how do you get these two together? How does it fit together? The promises that no evil, no harm will befall me if I'm trusting Lord. But my experience says, I'm in a lot of trouble. I'm having all kinds of trials and problems. How do we fit these two together? I think we have to see them in terms of a bigger picture, a much bigger picture, the kind of big picture that Paul draws for us in Romans 8. Now you know this verse. Many of you do. Romans 8, 28. Look at it on the screen. And we know that in all things, in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose. Now please understand that verse does not promise that everything you will experience in your life is good, or easy or convenient, or blessing and joy. There are going to be some hardships. But God promises that He will work all things together for the good of those who love Him. And interestingly enough, a couple verses down. One, He gives us an example of this. In verses 35 to 37, He says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or soared and stop right there just a minute? That's a lot of bad stuff, isn't it? That's a lot of really negative things happening to somebody. Paul experienced all of them, all of those hardships. And His question is, in light of what I've just said in verse 28, that God works all these things around, works them in His providence to bring good out of them, then can any of these things separate us from His love? Can any of these things indicate that God really doesn't keep His promises or love us like He said He would? He goes on to say, as it is written, for your sake, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, He says, this is His answer, no. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. That's the answer. God is not saying that everything is going to be easy or good or nice in your life. He is not promising you either in Psalm 91 or anywhere else in the Word of God that you will never have any problems. What He's saying is that in the ultimate sense, it will not be evil for you. It will not overcome you. In fact, I will work it around to bring good out of it if you're dwelling in me and trusting me and you will be more than a conqueror. It's not just, I'll make it through this somehow. No, it's you who will be more than a conqueror in all of those situations through Christ. I loved the way the old London pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon said it as he was quoting, or as he was talking about these verses in Psalm 91. He said, it is impossible that any ill should happen to the man who is beloved of the Lord. He's talking about the verses in Psalm 91. Impossible that any ill befalled Him. How do you mean that? Ill to Him is no ill but only good in a mysterious form. He's talking about now Romans 28, 28. Losses enrich Him. Sickness is His medicine. Reproach is His honor. Death is His gain. No evil in the strict sense can happen to Him for everything is overruled for good. Here's the point. That is, when Satan seeks to throw all kinds of stuff at you or life just gives you all kinds of trial and difficulty, God will turn that around and bring good out of it so that you overcome whatever bad is happening with what good comes out of it. Satan's sitting there scratching his heads and how's God doing that? I meant to consume that person and destroy them. Look, they're stronger than they were before. They're doing better than they were before because they have been trusting God. Satan is thwarted and His evil purposes against us are nullified because God takes even the evil, the ill, the harm and turns it into good stuff that He brings out of our lives. Now the problem is we have such a limited perspective that sometimes we can't see it right now. But an eternity's focus. Maybe a few years down the road will understand how God worked it all out and how He brought good out of it. Certainly when we get in heaven we'll look back and see it all and understand it all. And we will agree with the Psalmist, no evil. No ill really befell me because God turned it into good. And so ultimately in the final aspect it was not evil. It was not harmful. It worked good in my life. I think that's how we must understand Psalm 91. But that comes through God's presence and then secondly sometimes it comes through His angels. The means of God's protection, how does He protect us with His own presence but also His angels, verse 11, for He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra. You will trample the great lion and the serpent. You know it's not just that you'll be able to run from these, you know, life-threatening animals and escape them. You will tread on them. This idea of being more than conquerors again is found right here. Sometimes God sends His angels as if God seemed remote, which He isn't. But if He ever seems remote to you, just take it from this chapter, God sometimes sends angels to minister to you. Now you may not see them, probably won't. You may not recognize their presence but they are there, God's angels. And by the way, it's not just one guardian angel. Again, the you is singular, the angels is plural. There's a bunch of them for each one of us. And you know, some of you need more than one anyway, don't you? Trouble you get yourself into. Angels, God sends angels. He tells us that in the New Testament and Hebrews 1.14, are not angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? God sometimes sends His angels to serve, to minister, to work on our behalf. That's one of the ways He protects us. Now it's interesting to me that Satan used this very verse against Jesus in the temptation. Remember when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness? And one of the temptations that Satan pulls on Jesus is, He takes him up to the pinnacle of the temple, the highest point on the top of the highest structure in the temple. And He says, cast yourself down from here because the scriptures say, and He quotes verses 11 and 12. You know, the angels will bury you up, you'll not dash your foot against the stone, whatever. And that's a perfect example of the misuse of Scripture. And it's a perfect example of how a lot of people misuse these promises in Psalm 91. You see, God never meant them to be used in some kind of artificial test just to see if God will protect me. That Jesus said was tempting God, testing God. That's not faith in God's protection. That's jumping out of the airplane without a parachute, you know? That's hitting the motorcycle and getting guy in a stomach. That's what that is. That's not faith. You see, trying to set up artificial tests to see if God will really do what He says, that's tempting God, that's testing God. That's what Satan was trying to get Jesus to do. But in the normal routine of life, when you come up against difficulty, you can trust God to protect you with His angels. So sometimes it will be His presence, sometimes it will be His angels, sometimes thirdly with His promises. With His promises, verses 14 to 16 He tells us of these promises. Now notice, there are three requirements for claiming these promises. Again, this is not just a blank check. There are three requirements for claiming these promises. Look at them, verse 14, because He loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue Him. That's first one. Second requirement. I will protect Him for He acknowledges my name. Third one, in verse 15. He will call upon me and I will answer Him. Three requirements for putting into effect these promises of God are first of all that you love Him. You have a personal relationship with Him and you love Him. Secondly, that you acknowledge His name. That doesn't mean you're just okay. Yeah, God, know you're there. It's good to know you're there. I acknowledge you. No, it means you acknowledge who He is by His names as we saw in the first two verses and that you trust Him in that way. You give difference to Him in your life in that way. You trust Him as your strength and your most high God and your Creator and all the rest. So acknowledge Him and then thirdly, that you call on Him in prayer. Now to the one who does those three things, God makes eight promises. Eight promises He makes to you in these three verses. Let's just notice Him. Just glance at them. Because He loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue Him. Number two, I will protect Him. Number three, I will answer Him. Number four, I will be with Him in trouble. Number five, I will honor Him or deliver Him. Number six, I will honor Him. Number seven, with a long life, I will satisfy Him. Number eight, show Him my salvation. That's a whole sermon series in itself and we're not going to start that this morning. But those eight promises, wonderful promises of what God gives you and how He protects you through His promises. So God promises to protect those who love Him, acknowledge Him in their lives and pray and trust their lives to Him. Now for everybody in this room who is experiencing or has experienced or will experience difficulty and trouble, guess what? We're all included. For everybody in this room, Psalm 91 gives you hope. It gives you hope. What God is saying to you through this spiritual insurance policy is I will protect you. I will protect you. Trust my protection. Understand who I am and find your refuge and your strength in me. Trust me and I will protect you. Because I care for you, I will protect you from all your fears. There's really nothing you need to fear ultimately because even if something bad happens to you, I will take it and turn it around for good. And ultimately, you will be more than a conqueror. So there's no need to fear. Trust my protection. Because I care for you, I will cover you. I will protect you. And I'll do it by my presence. I'll do it by my angels. I'll do it by my promises. But trust me, I will protect you. That's a pretty good insurance policy. We can trust Him. Would you bow with me in prayer? Father, thank you that you've given us in your word reason to trust you. You've told us who you are. You've told us what you will do. You've given us your promises. You've told us we can trust you. Thank you, Father. For that. Now, Lord, I pray for those who are going through great difficulty and hardship right now. I pray that you would speak to their heart. I ask you that, Lord, you would buy your Holy Spirit show up at each person's seat in each pew, that you will confront them with your own promises, your own person in presence. You will help them to see that you are enough. They trust you this day in Jesus' name.