◄ What Does Psalm 91:2 Mean? ►

I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!"

Psalm 91:2(NASB)

Verse of the Day

The truths that are intertwined within this beautiful Psalm, are precious promises that every one of God's blood-bought children are able to claim as their own. However, the majority of theologians correctly identify this section as a Messianic psalm, for the Lord Jesus is the only One Who truly dwells in the shelter of the Most High. He is the Man of men Who abides in the shadow of the Almighty.

When the eternal Son of God was born into His own creation as the perfect Son of Man, He lived His life dwelling in the shelter of the Most High. He abode in the shadow of the Almighty. He depended entirely on the Father as His refuge and fortress, and demonstrated to us all how a man should live; by trusting God in all things. In many respects, the Lord Jesus is the only Man Who can legitimately claim God as His refuge and fortress; His God in Whom He trusted implicitly. But praise God that even when we fail: "GOD IS still our refuge and our strength," because of our position IN Christ.

The Lord Jesus is the one and the only Person Who could honestly claim God as His refuge and fortress, and He did this on our account because He went to the Cross for us, in obedience to His Father's will. We who are saved by grace through faith, find our everlasting refuge in Christ Who took the punishment for our sin and became our strong Fortress, our everlasting Refuge, and the Rock of our salvation.

Jesus is the only One who can legitimately confess that the Lord is My God, in Whom I place my trust, and Who will deliver me from the snare of the fowler and the deadly pestilence. Throughout His life, the Lord Jesus was hidden under the shadow of His Father's wings, in Whom He sought refuge. God was His hiding place Who preserved Him from trouble, and because we are IN Christ, we can also sing songs of deliverance for God's faithfulness and favour towards us. We can also claim God to be our mighty Shield and an eternal Bulwark.

Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus maintained ongoing and never-failing fellowship with His Father. He only did the things which He heard from His Father. He only did those things that He saw His Father doing. Throughout His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus was ready and willing to say, "Thy Will, not Mine be done." He was able to trust the Lord with every circumstance of His life, for His undivided hope was in God.

Jesus was free from every fear because His trust was in God. In the power of the Almighty, Jesus fulfilled all righteousness and became qualified to become the perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sake of mankind. And we are called to imitate the way He lived. We are to hide under the shadow of His wings every moment of the day and say to Him: "You are my Refuge and Fortress. You are my God, in Whom I trust."

Although the Lord Jesus was fully God, He lived His entire life as a Man. He lived His life and faced His death in utter and total dependence on His Heavenly Father for everything. Although the Lord Jesus was the eternal God, He lived His life as a perfect Man, setting an example to every member of the human race, showing every child of God how our Heavenly Father expects each one of us to live.

No doubt, the man who penned this Messianic psalm was himself convinced of the wonderful security that is found in the Lord his God, because his faith was credited to him as righteousness and he could legitimately confess that his trust was in the Most High God, the Almighty King of the universe Who is signified as the Sovereign Ruler of all and the Divine Protector of those that believe on His name.

But the psalmist was inspired to write words that would look forward to the God-Man Who was wounded for our transgressions and bore the sin of the world on His shoulders. He did this so that all who trust in Him can identify with His death, burial, and Resurrection to a new life, and state confidently: "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, 'You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!"

My Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, it is wonderful to see Your plan of salvation unfolding through Scripture and to identify passages like Psalm 91 that point us to Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world. I praise You that even though He was fully God, He lived His life in total dependence on You, demonstrating to all Your children that we are also to live a life of faith and trust. Father, there are many times I have failed to fly to Jesus when faced with the overwhelming circumstances of life, but I pray that from this day forward I would live as Christ lived - in total dependence on Him, just as He lived - in total dependence on You. In Jesus' name, AMEN.