Notes from this message:
Psalms 91:1-16 NKJV
(1) He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
(2) I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
(3) Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.
(4) He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
(5) You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
(6) Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
(7) A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.
(8) Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.
(9) Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
(10) No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
(11) For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
(12) In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
(13) You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
(14) “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
(15) He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
(16) With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
A little background about Psalm 91:
Moses authored this Psalm about 3500 years ago and at the time that the Israelites are at the edge of the promised land. Moses then sends in the 12 spies in Numbers 13.
Numbers 13:1-3 NKJV
(1) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
(2) “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”
(3) So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.
Numbers 13:26-27 NKJV
(26) Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
(27) Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
If you are going to follow God’s plan for your life, you must always say “yes” to the idea before you know exactly how the idea will be accomplished.
- Once you begin the journey and take steps is when God shows you the “how”. You will never get the “how” in the beginning.
Numbers 13:31 NKJV
(31) But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”
- The spies were not sent in to determine if they could take the land. They were sent in to gather intelligence to help determine their next steps.
- These people completely disregarded what God had already done to deliver them.
- They were looking at this situation as though all of it depended on them.
You may face something that you have never experienced before but that does not mean that God has abandoned you. He is still with you!
- God did not lead you to this point to dump you where you are.
Numbers 14:1-4 NKJV
(1) So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
(2) And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!
(3) Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”
(4) So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
Anything of value that is worth having is only going to come by a struggle and require a fight.
- The natural tendency is to want to avoid the fight and go back to the wilderness where it is easy. You must remember the “cause” so you will stay in the fight.
Numbers 13:28-29 NKJV
(28) Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.
(29) The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
- The Children of Israel did not overcome all seven of those people groups that were their enemies at one time.
- We will not overcome our enemies one at a time, we will overtake them one by one. They are not connected to one another and they can be taken one by one.
Everything you do for God is going to be done in steps and stages.
When praying for direction, don’t look for the whole thing; look for the next step.
Psalms 37:23 NKJV
(23) The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.
Proverbs 16:9 NKJV
(9) A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.
- Example: You are never going to get out of debt without steps and stages.
- When you don’t know what the next step is, you stay there and be faithful there.
Numbers 13:32-33 NKJV
(32) And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.
(33) There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Numbers 13:22 NKJV
(22) And they went up through the South and came to Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
Your greatest obstacles will turn out to be your greatest opportunities.
Numbers 13:31 NKJV
(31) But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”
Everything in the world does not have to get better in order for God to protect you, provide for you, and bless you!
This is the whole purpose of Psalm 91. Even in the midst of bad circumstances all around you, God will take care of you!