Dwelling in God's Secret Place

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

I will say of Jehovah, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust. For he will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover thee with his pinions, and under his wings shalt thou take refuge: His truth is a shield and a buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day; for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the wicked. For thou, O Jehovah, art my refuge! Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent. For he will give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the serpent shalt thou trample under foot. Psalm 91:2-13

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble: I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, And show him my salvation. Psalm 91:14-16

Probably more than any other passage, Psalm 91 is the Scripture patients and family members read out loud in worship services at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa when asked if they have a favorite Scripture or if God is speaking to them through a passage in the Bible.

It's a powerful psalm and one that people have quoted, written on cards or held close to their hearts over the centuries, whether in times of war, pestilence or difficult circumstances. Why? Because it speaks to them of deliverance, victory and life, and we all desperately want that to apply to us in life-threatening circumstances we face. So, I thought we might take a closer look at what this psalm really says.

It begins by stating a conditional promise in verse 1: the person who lives in God's secret place will abide under the Almightys shadow. What does that mean? Where is God's secret place? Who lives there? We'll explore that in just a minute.

Verses 2-13 are declarations made by the person who has fulfilled the condition in verse 1 -- who lives in God's secret place -- and knows he or she is abiding under God's shadow.

Verses 14-16 are God's reply to those declarations & His promises.

Who lives in God's secret place?
Let's go back to verse 1. Who lives in God's secret place?

God Himself gives us some insight in verses 14-16. In those verses, God makes some promises in reply to the person who has made all the bold declarations in the first 13 verses. And He says He makes those promises for two reasons: because the person has set his love on God and because he has known Gods name. These are two attributes or qualities of the person who dwells in God's secret place. These qualities fulfill the condition of verse 1 and help us understand who can hide in God's shadow.

So what does setting your love on God entail?

The person who loves God comes into His presence
Setting our love on God means that we don't hide ourselves or our sin from Him. And because we have nothing to hide and we know He loves us unconditionally, we come into His presence often. When we come before God, laying ourselves bare, not trying to cover over or justify our sin, repenting and turning from it and asking God to have His way in our lives, we're showing Him in attitude and action that our love for Him is greater than for anything else. And Psalm 27:5 and Psalm 31:20 both talk about God then hiding us in His pavilion, in the covert of His tabernacle, in the covert of His presence.

God says that in His presence, even the darkness becomes light. In His presence is total wisdom, light, life, truth, freedom, salvation, redemption, restoration and sanctification or being made holy and like He is. And in God's presence, we get to know God more intimately, even as He knows us; hence, the second thing God says He rewards in Psalm 91  the person who knows His Name.

When we come into God's presence often, we learn who He is, what He has to say, His perspective. How do we come into His presence? In John 14:6, Jesus said no man comes to the Father except through Him & through acknowledging that we're in need of a Savior and receiving what His death on the cross did as payment for our sins. When we do this and ask Jesus to come into our lives, He does. God adopts us into His family and puts His abiding Holy Spirit in us as evidence of that and to transform our lives, giving us power over sin. We also come into His presence through prayer, praise, reading and meditating on His Word and through worship, a word which signifies a lifestyle of joyful and continual surrender to God in every circumstance and situation.

The person who loves God is obedient
In John 14:15, Jesus told us that if we love Him, we'll keep His commandments. We'll obey Him. We'll do all that God tells us & we won't love other people, things or ourselves and our own will or way more than God. In other words, we'll put nothing in our lives above loving and serving God, including our own desires. We'll seek after the things that are at the top of God's list, including loving Him with all our heart, soul and strength and loving others as ourselves, seeking after righteousness, justice, walking in integrity with God and man, putting the needs of others before our own, using our bodies and lives for Gods purposes and not for fulfilling our own lusts or appetites.

The person who loves God trusts Him
Setting our love on God means putting our lives in His hands with total trust. Throughout Scripture, God tells us over and over not to be afraid, to trust Him. Trust means relying on the character, the name, the reputation, the integrity, the proven ability, the words and promises of someone or something. God says, further, that trust involves faith & the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Just a few of the Scriptures dealing with trust tell us:
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in Jehovah. Psalm 4:5
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; For thou, Jehovah, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. Psalm 9:10
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will make mention of the name of Jehovah our God. Psalm 20:7
Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope; nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him. Job 13:15
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Daniel 3:17-18
Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart, And lean not upon thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

The person who loves God knows His Name
How much love could you possibly have for someone you knew nothing about? Not much, I'd venture. Knowing God's Name is tantamount to knowing who He is, who He says He is, who He's proven Himself to be and who you've come to know Him as -- that means more than just knowledge about God, that means experiencing Him for yourself. That all happens as you put your life in His hands and spend time with Him and in His Word.

God's promises are for eternity, not just for the here and now
The declarations the psalmist makes in Psalm 91 are based on the knowledge he has of God's character and promises, His sovereignty in all circumstances, His authority over all other powers, including Satan and all evil, and His relationship with His children for eternity.

The promises God makes to the person who dwells in His secret place, who sets his love on God and knows His Name, are also based on the same things. But timing, method and way, as to the fulfillment of those promises, are left in God's hands. Sometimes, God does deliver here and now from death, destruction, disease and all evil. Other times, His answers are delivered in eternity. We aren't always allowed to know; only God knows the things written in the book He penned on each of us before we were even born. Following God is risky for that reason ... we don't know everything -- can't predict everything ... things aren't in our control, they're in His. But regardless, we're told to walk by faith, not just by what we can see, and, we're told that this pleases God. Pleasing God is what happens when we dwell in His secret place. And that's the safest place to dwell -- all the time.

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