“You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Psalm 91: 13-16 (ESV).
Psalm 91 is a beautiful, tender, and intimate Psalm that describes the confidence we can have in the Lord despite our circumstances. This passage calls to mind all the painful obstacles we individually face, the traps set to ensnare us, disease, terror in the night, arrows that fly by day and destruction – that is the only future plan for us from our enemy.
As I read this beautiful and comforting Psalm, I know that the writer is referencing all the ways God has spared them horrible things, how He has protected and covered them, and how He has saved them from the destruction that came to the enemies.
Now, we read this Psalm to comfort us in our own stories, but the truth is that we are not spared from difficulty, nor are we promised such. We will have trouble in this world, but take heart: Jesus has overcome the world. A greater salvation and ultimate victory over sin, darkness, terror, diseases, traps, and opposition are promised to us. A victory that will ultimately be revealed in death because physical death is the beginning of the fullness of our salvation.
But the heart we must grab from this Psalm is that God is trustworthy, and we must put our trust and total reliance on Him; complete, whole trust in God as our hope, love, strength, shield, healer, deliverer, salvation and rescue. He soars high above the heights with a view far beyond what we can see or understand. He sores high and looks down, covering us under the shadow of His wings. The higher the eagle sores, the closer to the sun casting a shadow on the earth, and the larger the shadow of protection. If the shadow is the very protection, the higher the eagle is, the more shade it provides. It can seem in our story that God is far off, but what if He is making a shadow for you, protecting you from what you cannot see?
Psalm 91 reminds us that we will tread on the adder (Viper) and the lion; these are two references to our enemy, Luke 10:19 & 1 Peter 5:8. Not just the serpents and lions but young lions, the ones who will grow up to devour. You will CRUSH SNAKES under your foot, keeping your enemy where He belongs for one reason and one reason alone… because YOU HOLD FAST TO HIM IN LOVE. Because you hold fast to your God in love, He will then protect you from the lion and the adder, from the serpents and all the work of the enemy, because you hold fast to Him in love and because you know his name.
His name is who He is. You cannot know his name without knowing Him. You cannot call out to Him for what you need if you don’t understand what He is capable of and trustworthy of. Here is the promise of our God: He will answer you when you call out to Him, He will be with you in trouble, He will rescue you and honour you, He will satisfy you with long life and show you His salvation power and grace.
Prayer
Dear Lord, help me to keep my eyes on You. The great eagle, high above the heavens, soaring through the air, watching, caring for, loving, protecting and hiding us under the shadow of Your wings. I am like a soul wandering through the desert wilderness, parched and scorched under the rays of the sun, and You spread Your wings and give me shade, the shade that brings relief and fills me with rest and new life so I can go on. God, I don’t think I can fathom the magnitude of Your salvation, what You have done for me or what that means for me. I know You are leading my life to utter and complete reliance, so much so that it’s scary how much I need You that I literally cannot do anything apart from You, Lord. Sure, I can do things, but if they are not the things You ask me to do, I am just existing instead of really living. I know that I have so far to go, like there is so much more of me I need to let go of and surrender. Lord, I can see that when You lead me, the supernatural happens. You do things, accomplish things, tell me things and move things I cannot do alone. Things in Your presence and leading take little time and little effort. Lord, forgive me for every moment that I have picked up Your yoke in my own strength, that I have tried to stand up against the enemy on my own, that I have given into fear or stress or worry, that I have allowed the concerns of this world to overshadow me. Jesus, Jesus, You make the darkness tremble; you conquer fear. I hold fast to You in love today because I know Your name, and I know You will deliver and protect me under the shadow of Your wings.
