Safe in the Storm

[0:00] Heavenly Father, we just come to you this morning and we just pray, Lord, that this psalm would indeed be a healing balm for our soul. We pray your Holy Spirit, who inspired this scripture, would now illuminate our minds so that we would rightly grasp what you are saying to us through this beautiful poem and refresh our souls and anchor it to face the week ahead.

[0:25] All this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. There's a shop house in the Netherlands. On the bottom floor is a watch shop run by the family who lives there.

[0:40] They are a Christian family. In fact, the father is not just a watchmaker, but also a pastor. One of the daughters becomes the first female licensed watchmaker in Holland and all is well.

[0:55] But on May 10th, 1940, Germany invades Holland and the Nazis begin to make their presence felt. In 1941, two of the daughters begin to get involved in the underground resistance and eventually the whole family becomes active.

[1:12] And their little house becomes a safe place. A secret room, no larger than a wardrobe closet, is built into the bedroom of the daughter, Corrie, behind a false wall.

[1:28] If everyone stood up, quiet and still, it could fit up to six people. And so their house becomes a safe place for Jews, students and intellectuals.

[1:42] Now whenever Nazis would come to check on the neighbourhood, a buzzer would sound and they would have just over a minute to seek refuge in this hiding place. It was estimated that up to 800 persons were kept safe during this time.

[1:58] Their house was indeed a refuge in every way. Despite the pressures, the atmosphere in the house was generally happy with music composed and even a play written and rehearsed within its four walls.

[2:15] Some of you might have heard of this safe place, of course. The daughter, Corrie Ten Boom, has written a book about it called The Hiding Place, which has also been turned into a movie.

[2:28] And today, Hitler and his Nazis are all gone. But there's a new enemy in place. It's an invisible enemy. A hidden enemy.

[2:39] An unforeseen enemy. And its name is COVID-19. And all over the world, everyone is scrambling to find a hiding place.

[2:49] A safe place from which they can take refuge from this adversary. You know, it's quite telling, isn't it, that in the United States, some of the governors have not used the language of self-isolation, but they have used the language of shelter in space instead.

[3:07] You see, that's the order given. To seek shelter, to seek refuge, to seek safety within the place you currently occupy, rather than evacuate or isolate.

[3:21] That's what people are really looking for. Safety, protection, safe conditions. Not isolation. Not separation. Not separation. And the truth is, even before COVID-19 hit, we were all looking for that safe place.

[3:41] We want that shelter in space. The world has always been a turbulent place, has it not? Even before COVID-19, I'm sure there were all sorts of pressures on you.

[3:53] For some of you, there was that great pressure to perform well in SPM, or your uni exams, the biggest exams of your lives. Others of you were facing the pressures of having to look after unwell or needy family members.

[4:10] And that pressure continues even today. Still others of you already knew the pressures of having to survive on a tight budget. Even some of you, who look outwardly successful, with good exam results, a good job, a good family, you were feeling the pressure of having to keep up appearances, to be seen not to be in danger of falling apart.

[4:37] Maybe there's the pressure that comes even from Christian sources. You know, you hear people asking you to do this, don't do that, and you are struggling to keep up with your religious obligations.

[4:50] And of course, there's the pressure that comes from outside. We had yet another change of government. And then we had to try to keep up with the latest technological innovation.

[5:01] You know, there's all this pressure. And frankly, we're tired. And we're all looking for that safe place. But the question is, where do we find that safe place?

[5:16] Well, Psalm 91 will provide us with the answer. As I've been reading through this psalm this week, I'm struck again by how beautiful and refreshing it is. You know, it's no surprise that it's actually been a psalm that's been much quoted amongst the Christian community over the past two weeks.

[5:35] But it's also a psalm that can be easily misunderstood and misapplied. And that would be a real shame because not only will the real beauty and encouragement of this psalm be missed, but it might actually cause some lasting damage and harm to some people.

[5:54] And so that's one of my motivations for wanting to proclaim to you Psalm 91 this week. I want all of us to find that safe place of Psalm 91 and to correct some misinterpretations along the way so that we might find true rest where it can truly be found.

[6:16] And so let me begin by summarizing this psalm for you in one sentence. And then I'm going to break that sentence up into three parts to help us navigate the psalm. Now here is God's word today in summary.

[6:30] Dwell in God alone for He will keep you safe as He keeps His promises. Dwell in God alone for He will keep you safe as He keeps His promises.

[6:44] So let's look at the psalm in three parts. Let's start with part one. Dwell in God alone. But let me begin by asking you a question.

[6:56] For many of you I wonder where do you find your safe space? Where is your safe space? I wouldn't be surprised if many of you said home.

[7:08] The NGO Habitat for Home once ran an essay competition for kids. And one of the prize winners a nine-year-old wrote about his home and he called it his safe place.

[7:22] Why? Because he wrote my home protects me from the rain. In fact it's starting to pour out right now. The lightning, the thunder and the cold. Home is where I can play or be near my friends.

[7:37] Home is where my family is. Where we show respect to one another. We share about what is on our minds and we care for one another. Home is where I can be alone home to play with my guitar or build my Lego set.

[7:52] Home is where I love to dwell because home is where I'm happy. And even when we are long past nine years old, well, home remains a safe place for many of us, doesn't it?

[8:05] Home is where I don't work. Home is rest. There was a survey done recently. I can't remember where I saw it now. But basically, the participants in that survey had been allowed to work for home for a year already like some of you are doing right now.

[8:25] And after one year had passed, more than half of them asked to go back to the workplace. For them, mixing home and work was just too much.

[8:36] They needed their homes to be distinct from their workplace. It was their safe place. And they didn't want it contaminated with constant emails from the bosses or constant things from the phones.

[8:51] And if you have young kids coming home to the little ones running to you, say, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. Well, that's one of the best feelings in the world, isn't it? Home is an anchor, a bedrock, a habitation that you love to dwell in.

[9:10] But for some, sadly, home is not a safe place. In fact, according to recent research done by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the most dangerous place to be for some women is home.

[9:26] Why is that? Because nearly six in ten women who are intentionally killed in this world are murdered by an intimate partner or a family member.

[9:40] It's because of who they are with. You know, right now, with many countries on lockdown, there are people, especially women, who are at risk because they are living with individuals who lash out, especially when they are frustrated.

[9:55] and that's why we committed them to prayer this past Wednesday at our Wednesday Zoom prayer meeting as well as we did a moment ago in our service. Who they are with makes a huge difference wherever they are.

[10:12] And so for the psalmist, his safe place is not so much a habitation, rather, his safe place is wherever God is because of who God is.

[10:26] Look at verses 1 and 2 with me. Whoever 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.

[10:45] You see, this is the safe place for the psalmist wherever God is. for wherever God is, there is shelter, there is shadow.

[10:56] You see, it could get very, very hot in those days. And what we do normally when that happens to us in this time is that we normally just pop into the nearest shopping mall for the air conditioning.

[11:09] But they didn't have that option in those days. Being out in the sun for an extended time could literally be a matter of life or death.

[11:20] my wife and I spent three years in Australia. And in the first week there, our temperatures in Sydney hit a record high, past 46 degrees Celsius.

[11:33] It was no joke. Heat stroke was a very real possibility. But the psalmist says, God is like a shelter in the heat of the day.

[11:45] Even his shadow provides relief. We catch a glimpse of this idea again later on in Psalm 121 verse 5 where the psalmist says, The Lord watches over you.

[11:58] The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night. And God is the shelter whose shadow provides rest because of who God is.

[12:14] Notice in these two verses, the psalmist constantly zooms in on the names of God. He is the most high, a title used to emphasize God's sovereignty over everything.

[12:27] He is the almighty. The Hebrew is El Shaddai, a title used most often of God in Genesis and whose meaning is hard to pin down precisely, but it seems to mean something like God being all powerful and yet all nourishing or sufficient or at the same time.

[12:48] In verse 2, he is the Lord, capital letters, signifying that this is the personal name of God given to his people via Moses back in Exodus chapter 3.

[13:02] And the giving of his personal name reflects God's desire to want to know his people. And that's something the psalmist remembers and recognizes.

[13:13] as he refers to God in the last line of verse 2 as my God. And so this God is his shelter. Or to change metaphors to military ones for a moment, this God is his refuge, his fortress.

[13:32] Now notice where the psalmist doesn't locate his safe place. He doesn't locate his safe place in a change of circumstances. He doesn't locate his safe place in the accumulation of more knowledge or more power.

[13:47] He doesn't locate his safe place even in the strength of his own faith. And he certainly doesn't locate his safe place in statistics or probabilities.

[14:00] He's not measuring how old he is or how closely he is sticking to spatial distancing policies to chart his risk profile. God. He locates his safe place in the Most High, the Almighty, the Lord, his God.

[14:19] The psalmist's safe place is wherever God is because of who God is. Sit with that for a minute. Let that soak through your soul.

[14:33] We don't live by probabilities. We live by our Father's loving and wise hand, the one who is all-powerful and all-nourishing. And whoever dwells in him will find him to be their refuge.

[14:48] Whoever makes God their home will find him to be their faultless. Now, what does it mean to dwell here?

[14:59] You know, it's a nice Christian jargon sounding word. You know, we like to say let's dwell in his presence. For what does it actually mean? I think the last line of verse 2 gives us the clue.

[15:12] To dwell is to trust. And I think that will become important later on. But what does it mean to trust? It means to have confidence.

[15:24] If you trust someone, you believe that you can rely or depend on them. Think right now of our frontliners. What is one of their greatest needs at this moment?

[15:37] It's PPEs, another acronym that we've become familiar with during this time. Personal Protective Equipment. They want face shoes, gowns, hair covers, head covers.

[15:50] Why? Because they trust that the PPEs can offer them protection from the virus. They have confidence. They are relying, they are depending on those PPEs to help them battle the disease.

[16:06] If they had no trust in those PPEs, would they be appealing for them? The answer is no. And so, trust God.

[16:19] Dwell in Him alone. Why? Because He will keep you safe.

[16:31] That's the second part of our sentence, remember? And so, now we move on to the second part of our psalm, the main body in verses 3 to 13. Dwell in God alone, for He will keep you safe.

[16:44] In verses 3 to 13, the psalmist is showcasing all aspects of God's PPE to highlight just how sturdy, how robust, how indestructible He is.

[16:56] And in true poetic fashion, He calls on a variety of images to make His point. And so, first of all, let's look at the threats.

[17:08] Verse 3, Surely He will save you from the foulest snare, and from the deadly pestilence. Now, what we have here is a picture of a hunter on the loose, setting his trap so as to catch you unaware.

[17:24] It's a picture of being caught by surprise. That's the foulest snare. And then there's the picture of deadly pestilence. Again, something that is swift and unexpected as COVID-19 has already proved to us.

[17:41] And then verse 5, there's the terror of night. For as every child knows, the night is filled with strange and mysterious things, does it not?

[17:52] night is the time when thieves operate, when dodgy people conduct their business, when you often can no longer rely on the safety of numbers as you're often alone.

[18:05] Night is when we can no longer rely on our sense of sight. And so every sound, every disturbance becomes amplified. You know, if the threat was physical earlier, now the threat is psychological.

[18:20] And then verse 5 again, there's the arrow that flies by day. Implied here is the threat of violence. And certainly not too long ago, one of our number one fears was the fear of terrorism, was it not?

[18:36] We feared that someone would escape the notice of special brunch and successfully detonate a bomb in a public place. Indeed, the arrow might even suggest that the threat can travel at a longer distance, and so it is difficult to escape.

[18:55] And in verse 6, the pestilence and the plague make an appearance again. The threat of disease has always been ever present since ancient times.

[19:08] And in all of this, the psalmist is painting a picture of a world filled with threats that can emerge from anywhere, anytime. You know, verse 5 talks about night and day, and then verse 6 heightens that by referring to darkness, the darkest point of the night, as well as midday, the brightest point of the daytime, which is just a poetic way of saying all the time, where the night or day, the threat can come anytime.

[19:42] We know this, especially during this time, don't we? COVID-19 came out of nowhere to overwhelm us, turning the world upside down. But even before COVID-19, these threats were present.

[19:59] We get an unexpected cancer diagnosis, or we become the victims of an armed robbery, out of the blue, like I was when I was a kid. We are suddenly called into a meeting and made redundant.

[20:13] The psalmist is nothing if not realistic about our world. This world is not a safe place.

[20:24] Indeed, he assumes that you will meet one of these threats one day. The foulest snare, the deadly pestilence of plague, the terror of night, the arrow that flies.

[20:37] Even before COVID-19 appeared on the scene, some of you were all too aware of this already. But here is the psalmist's big encouragement.

[20:51] God will keep you safe. Verse 3, he will save you. Verse 4, he will cover you. Verse 4, again, you will find refuge.

[21:03] His faithfulness will be your shield and your rampart. Or verse 7, it will not come near you. You know, notice how often God says you in this section.

[21:15] He's addressing the psalmist directly. And to go back to the image of verse 4, here's what he's telling the psalmist. God is like a mother bird, tenderly covering the little ones under her wing.

[21:31] But don't let that tenderness fool you, for he too is like a rampart, which I learned is simply a defensive wall. He is like a 24-hour bodyguard, or those antihistamines that say will keep you covered for a 24-hour period.

[21:49] He's always on call. He's always ready to act. But then, in verses 7-13, the images begin to get grander and grander.

[22:03] now, I'm a bit of a clumsy person. So it's my wife Chin Yin. We've probably passed down our genes unfortunately to our oldest son.

[22:16] And so in our home, every once in a while, one of us will be knocking things like the edges of tables or pressing our toes against chairs by accident, that kind of thing.

[22:26] And yet, verse 12 says that angels will guard me so that I would not so much strike my foot against a stone, or at least against chairs and other such things.

[22:40] And what about verses 9 and 10? If you say, the Lord is my refuge, and you make the most high your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.

[22:56] Wow! But wait a minute. What about one of my Bible college classmates from China, who was boxed so hard by the authorities that he lost his hearing completely in one ear?

[23:11] What about those pastors killed by terrorists in Burkina Faso earlier this year, that might have escaped your daily news reading? It's the psalmist beginning to over-promise.

[23:26] Now, one popular answer, of course, has been to say, no, the problem lies not with the word of God, but with the listener. Here is God's promises.

[23:38] The listener, but the listener has not had enough faith. He failed to claim what was his. You know, if he really trusted God, no harm will be for him. But if harm falls on him, then the reverse must also be true.

[23:52] He didn't really trust God. Now, that answer has gotten one thing right. The problem lies not with the word of God.

[24:05] And in a sense, the problem is with the listener or the reader. But the problem isn't a lack of adequate faith. The problem is a failure to interpret this psalm properly.

[24:21] You see, it's all too easy to misread this psalm. And let me just give you three related ways this psalm can be misread. Firstly, we can misread this psalm as if it is a transaction.

[24:37] Now, what is a transaction? At this heart, a transaction is an exchange. You provide this, I provide that. If you do this, I will do that.

[24:48] And so in this case, if you have enough faith, I will provide the necessary protection. Or to put it in slightly different words, You know, if you just claim the one million check that has already been written and bring it to the bank to cash it in, then the transaction is complete.

[25:10] You just have to complete it. And so you just need to claim and cash in this psalm like you do a check and the transaction is complete.

[25:20] You get total instant protection. That's one misreading. Secondly, we can misread it as if this psalm functions like superstition.

[25:34] Just like in the movies, when a person takes out garlic to ward off the vampires, and so the believer just needs to take verses from this psalm and keep declaring it to ward off the coronavirus.

[25:47] You know, in this kind of understanding, there is no relationship with God really. It's just using the psalm like a good luck charm. And then thirdly, we can misread this psalm by utilizing this psalm as manipulation.

[26:04] In other words, it's possible for Christians to use this psalm in effect to force God or to push God to do something to their liking just to prove a point.

[26:17] And I'll come back in a moment to show one particular example of this from the Bible itself. So why do I call all these misreadings?

[26:29] And what then should be the proper way to read this psalm? Well, the week end before the movement of control order came into place, I was teaching a class on how to interpret the Bible.

[26:41] Some of you listening in were at that class. And you might remember, what were some of the things that we needed to consider to read any passage rightly? Well, one of the things we need to consider is genre.

[26:56] In other words, what kind of writing is it? What kind of writing is a psalm? And the first thing to remember is that a psalm is fundamentally poetry.

[27:10] That means it's full of poetic, not literal language. And let me just give you an example from another psalm. Could you just turn with me for a moment to Psalm 69, verses 1 and 2.

[27:23] Psalm 69, verses 1 and 2. And let me just read it. It's a psalm of David. And David writes, Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

[27:39] I sing in the miry depths where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep water. The floods engulf me. Now, do you think David was literally in the Jordan River, letting the water come up to his neck while he wrote down these words on a scroll?

[28:00] Of course not. He's using poetic language, evocative images, word pictures, to say, I am drowning in sorrow right now.

[28:14] The language is graphic and it's deliberately exaggerated. That's how poetic language works. And when we read poetry, we are not so much looking for logical connections as emotional connections.

[28:30] And so all those images being used of the foulest snare, the arrow, and so on, and of God as a shield and a rampart is meant to convey one big point.

[28:42] There are many, many, many threats out there. But God can keep you safe. We're not meant to think God is a literal Ford Margarita.

[28:55] Rather, we're meant to see that God and not anything else should be our safe place. And so that's the first thing to remember. But that's just the starting point.

[29:09] Besides genre, what else do we need to consider when reading passages? The answer context. Both the immediate context as well as the whole Bible context.

[29:23] Now notice, so far in Psalm 91, we've seen that God can be our safe place from all sorts of things that we fear. But why is He a safe place?

[29:36] You know, there is a key image in this psalm that we have not yet considered, which is found in verses 7 to 8. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

[29:52] You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. Now notice in verse 8 what the psalmist observes. He observes God's judgment, the punishment of the wicked.

[30:06] You know, in the Old Testament, that's often expressed in military terms. Think for instance of Joshua conquering Canaan or Assyria conquering Israel.

[30:18] Both were pictures of God's judgment. And so is the picture in verse 7 of people falling in battle. But here is the psalmist's comfort.

[30:33] Thousands may fall, but God gives him a refuge from his judgment. God provides him a safe place from punishment. And when we realise that, that also begins to make more sense of the rest of the imagery in Psalm 91.

[30:50] You see, in Deuteronomy 28, pestilence or disease is explicitly named as a covenant curse. It's usually a sign of God's judgment on disobedient people.

[31:04] And plagues, well, that immediately recalls the exodus, doesn't it? When God judged Egypt. And so, when we take into account verse 8 and let that begin to guide our interpretation of the psalm, we begin to realise that this psalm is not so much promising total protection from every situation of danger.

[31:30] Rather, it reminds us when we trust God, we find refuge from his judgment. And that will begin to help some of the other verses in the psalm make much more sense.

[31:46] Did you notice in verse 11, he will guard you in all your ways so that you will be like the psalmist of Psalm 1 who walks in the way of the righteous rather than the way of the wicked.

[31:59] Verse 15 gives us another clue. The Lord promises to be with us in trouble, not to take us out of trouble or harm's way.

[32:11] You see, that's why we can be safe from fear, because God is with us and God is for us. And so letting the psalm speak for itself and allowing the verses within it to guide our interpretation helps us to see that God is not protecting protection from all harm and evil on earth.

[32:35] He is not promising Christians that you cannot get COVID-19. But he is promising protection from God's judgment against the wicked. He is saying that whatever happens in this life, he is still the safest place to be.

[32:51] You are dwelling in him, the Most High, the Almighty. Well, that's the immediate context. And that helps us to see why this psalm shouldn't be a transaction or superstition.

[33:06] But what about manipulation? Well, let's look at the whole Bible context. You see, in the Bible, we discover that there is one person who is keen on you misreading Psalm 91.

[33:22] And that's Satan. You know, turn with me to Matthew 4 5-7 for a moment. It should also be on your sermon outline. But please do turn with me there, Matthew 4 5-7.

[33:37] And what we have here is the well-known account of Satan tempting Jesus. And as the devil shows him the city from the highest point of the temple, Satan whispers to him, why not prove to everyone once and for all that you are the son of God?

[33:56] Throw yourself down and God will protect you. And then, what does Satan quote? You've got it. He quotes Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12.

[34:08] 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 a stone, he tells Jesus.

[34:21] Hey Jesus, doesn't God promise you total protection? Don't you want to claim these promises? But Jesus tells Satan, no, he will not test God.

[34:33] That's sin. He will trust God instead. You see, what does it mean for Jesus to trust God here? It means that he trusts God that the way of suffering he will undertake is the best.

[34:49] The path to the cross that he will undertake is the best. He will show that he is the son of God not by the angels exalting him up high, but by enduring the shame of the cross.

[35:04] There is no shortcut to glory. Satan deliberately misapply scripture to tempt Jesus away from taking the harder path, from going to the cross for us, to get him not so much to trust God, but to manipulate him.

[35:23] And if we use scripture the same way, we are in effect doing what is satanic. Think about it. What happens if people believe Psalm 91 is all about keeping them completely safe from COVID-19, but they catch it anyway.

[35:43] Their faith is shaken and even destroyed. And that's exactly what Satan wants. I heard that some Christians were shaken by the death of Pastor David Chang precisely because they read Psalm 91 in this way.

[35:59] Well, don't be fooled by his lies. Don't be fooled by his twisting of scripture. That's exactly what Satan wants. You see, what does it mean to have faith in the end?

[36:15] It means to trust God's promises as he has stated them, not trust the promises that I want God to make. And this brings us to the third and final part of this Psalm.

[36:30] The promises God will keep in verses 14 to 16. You know, all throughout the Psalm, it has been the Psalmist who has been speaking. But in the final part, God himself speaks.

[36:44] And he paints a picture of a person who trusts in him. What does it mean to trust God? Verses 14 to 16 tells us. It's to love him.

[36:55] It's to acknowledge God's name. That he is indeed the most high, the almighty, the God who rescued Israel out of Egypt. And it is to call upon him.

[37:08] It's all about turning to God in relationship. You see, for many who think of Psalm 91 in purely transactional terms, faith has a different meaning.

[37:19] For them, faith means confessing something into reality. You know, making verbal affirmations that release God's power to create a desired outcome. You know, it's about claiming, you know, that's the word they often use, isn't it?

[37:32] God's unseen promises. Now, that's what they think faith is. But as I've been trying to show you so far, the biblical definition of faith is something very different.

[37:44] It's about trusting a person and depending on his character. The way you trust your parents, the way you trust your spouse, the way you trust your best friend, the way you trust Noah Hisham Abdullah, we trust God as our shelter and take refuge in him, not because he's a genie, but because he's trustworthy.

[38:13] And as we do so, notice what God promises. I will rescue him. I will protect him. I will answer his prayer. I will be with him in trouble.

[38:25] I will deliver him and honour him. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. And this is what I want you to see. Remember, the Psalms are the songbook of every Israelite.

[38:40] That means the words of Psalm 91 would have been on Jesus' lips. And who loves Jesus and who loves God like Jesus does?

[38:51] Who acknowledges his name like Jesus does? So much that he can say that both his father and him are one. Who calls upon God even in the garden of Gethsemane and submits to his will to go to the cross?

[39:09] You see, we know that very well that on our own, we don't trust God the way the Psalmist says we should. We don't always love God, we don't always acknowledge him or we don't always call on his name.

[39:24] You know, on our own, even if we wanted to, we can't claim these promises. We failed the test. But Jesus trusted God like no one else.

[39:36] And because he did, he walked to the cross. In Matthew chapter 23 verses 37 to 39, Jesus laments the state of Jerusalem.

[39:48] He recounts her sins. And then he says, How often I have long to gather your children together as a hand or bird gathers her chicks under her wings.

[40:03] And that's exactly what he goes on to do. As he goes on to the cross, he is gathering his people under the shadow of his wings.

[40:16] For Jesus, Psalm 91 did not mean that he avoided death. Instead, Psalm 91 meant that death did not have the last word. God did indeed answer his prayer and delivered him and honoured him by raising him from the dead.

[40:33] He showed God kept his promises. You know, verse 13 says, You will tread on the lion and the cobra. You will trample the great lion and the serpent.

[40:45] And that's exactly what Jesus did as he died on the cross and tramples Satan, who is often described in the Bible as the serpent and the lion.

[40:58] And in Christ, Psalm 91 now belongs to us. In Christ and with Christ, we are in the safest place of all. There is no foulest snare, no pestilence, no plague, no arrow that can ultimately bring harm to us.

[41:15] Because the worst that they can bring to us is death. And Jesus has beaten death. You know, many scholars think that Psalm 90 to 92 form one unit.

[41:29] And if you were to look at Psalm 90, you will find a gloomy meditation on what fleeting lives we lead. Psalm 90 verse 3 will say that we turn back to dust.

[41:41] Verse 6 says that in the morning we spring up, but by the evening we are dry and withered. And verses 7 to 8 talks about the terror of facing judgment in our sinful condition.

[41:54] But Psalm 91 answers Psalm 90. In fact, back in Psalm 90 verse 1, the psalmist had already expressed his hope. Lord, you have been our dwelling place through all generations.

[42:09] And now, in Psalm 91, he shows how that is not mere wishful thinking, but actually true. Indeed, in verse 16, God says he will satisfy those who trust in with long life.

[42:24] And we now know that's an understatement. Because God's salvation turns out to be far, far bigger. In Christ, he gives us eternal life. Psalm 91 proclaims the gospel loud and clear.

[42:39] And so, my brothers and sisters, do you see the beauty of Psalm 91? Do you see the many encouragements there? It is far, far better than a shallow and empty promise that we will never get COVID-19.

[42:55] It is the promise of an eternal relationship of trust with Jesus who is our shelter, our shadow, our refuge, our fortress, who will satisfy us no matter what sort of post- COVID-19 world we face, who answers us and who will never forsake us in times of trouble.

[43:16] We are safe in the storm. And that means, like Jesus and with Jesus, we can walk the path of suffering today.

[43:30] We can walk the path of suffering in this life. if today you are listening in and you are not a Christian, well, this is what Christianity is all about.

[43:40] It is not about just claiming health and wealth. It is about Jesus taking our place so that we won't be punished along with the wicked. Why not put your trust in him today?

[43:54] Why not explore Christianity further? Why don't you check out the Christianity Explored website www. Christianity Explored for more details.

[44:06] But otherwise, my brothers and sisters, take the words of Psalm 91 verses 1 and 2 with you.

[44:17] As you go to the frontlines this week, as you go into the virtual world this week, even as you do dog rumah with your family this week, whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

[44:36] I would say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Let me just give you a few seconds now to meditate on those words.

[44:52] Go to God, praise him, thank him, and then I will pray. Lord, sing for they can to walk forward to him, to he will and come forth.

[45:25] Lord to know that in you there is shelter, that we can rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Thank you that in Christ we find true rest and indeed we find freedom from fear.

[45:46] We know that there are so many threats out there, threats of disease, threats of violence, threats of the unknown, there are all sorts of things. And yet thank you Lord that you have given us the safest refuge of all, refuge from your judgment. And indeed not only just refuge from your judgment but the knowledge that you have given us a home in you, that you are for us not against us.

[46:16] And because of that Lord, we know that we can find in you shelter, that we can say the Lord is my refuge, that we can make you our dwelling.

[46:35] So Father, even in this time, will you help Psalm 91 be words of comfort and assurance to us in the coming weeks? Will you help us to continue to acknowledge your name and call on you wherever we are, knowing that you will answer us, that you Lord Jesus satisfy us. And Father, we look forward to that day where there is really no disease, no pestilence, no error, no suffering, no more tears, where indeed we will find true and eternal satisfaction. All this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.