How Do We ‘Dwell in the Shelter of the Most High’?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | Well, God is our refuge and our fortress.
00:00:07.140 | And in that great refuge Psalm of Psalm 91,
00:00:10.500 | we're given this glorious promise that he who dwells
00:00:13.220 | in the shelter of the Most High will abide
00:00:16.020 | in the shadow of the Almighty.
00:00:18.380 | That's the first verse of Psalm 91.
00:00:20.580 | And such a high promise prompted APJ listener, Anna,
00:00:24.140 | to write in.
00:00:25.140 | Anna lives in Atlanta, and she writes this,
00:00:27.620 | "Pastor John, hello and thank you
00:00:28.860 | "for your faithful labors.
00:00:30.220 | "My question comes from Psalm 91.1.
00:00:32.520 | "What does it mean to dwell in the shelter
00:00:34.900 | "of the Most High and to abide
00:00:36.260 | "in the shadow of the Almighty?
00:00:38.080 | "Is there a New Testament equivalent to this
00:00:40.220 | "for believers in Christ?
00:00:41.520 | "And is the practice of daily scripture reading part of it?"
00:00:45.740 | Pastor John, what would you say to Anna?
00:00:47.460 | - Yes, there is a New Testament equivalent.
00:00:51.340 | And yes, scripture reading is certainly part
00:00:55.980 | of the way you keep dwelling in the shelter
00:00:59.100 | of the Most High.
00:01:00.380 | But to get at the actual meaning,
00:01:02.860 | let's quote the Psalm, Psalm 91,
00:01:05.900 | and then look at an event from the life
00:01:10.060 | of a martyred missionary, Jim Elliot,
00:01:13.540 | whose biography is titled by his wife,
00:01:17.580 | "Shadow of the Almighty."
00:01:19.980 | The phrase comes from Psalm 91 that begins like this.
00:01:23.100 | "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
00:01:27.140 | "will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
00:01:31.480 | "I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress,
00:01:36.480 | "'my God, in whom I trust.'"
00:01:39.860 | And then it continues in verse seven
00:01:43.140 | with these amazing words.
00:01:45.120 | "A thousand may fall at your side,
00:01:48.800 | "10,000 at your right hand,
00:01:51.940 | "but it will not come near you."
00:01:54.500 | Meaning the arrow,
00:01:55.900 | killing all these others won't come near you.
00:01:59.720 | "You will only look with your eyes
00:02:02.060 | "and see the recompense of the wicked
00:02:04.280 | "because you have made the Lord your dwelling place."
00:02:07.980 | So it sounds like to dwell in the shadow of the Almighty
00:02:12.980 | and in the shelter of the Most High means
00:02:17.380 | that if someone throws a spear at you,
00:02:19.980 | it will not hit you.
00:02:22.420 | So was Elizabeth Elliot naive, unbiblical,
00:02:27.420 | when she titled her husband's biography,
00:02:31.180 | "Shadow of the Almighty,"
00:02:33.560 | even though he and four others were speared to death
00:02:38.260 | by the Warrani Indians in January 8, 1956 in Ecuador
00:02:43.260 | while they were trying to evangelize them?
00:02:47.060 | She's been asked that question.
00:02:48.340 | She's with the Lord now,
00:02:49.460 | but she was asked that question
00:02:51.460 | and I personally spoke to her many times.
00:02:55.700 | Most people considered her confidence in God's sovereignty
00:02:58.780 | to be a little bit misplaced.
00:03:00.760 | Here was her answer at the end of the book.
00:03:02.900 | You can read it on the last pages of that biography.
00:03:05.900 | Quote, "The world did not recognize the truth
00:03:10.540 | "of the second clause of Jim Elliot's credo.
00:03:14.860 | "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep
00:03:19.940 | "to gain what he cannot lose."
00:03:23.620 | Now, what did he mean by that?
00:03:26.020 | What did she mean when she quoted it?
00:03:29.800 | Well, they both meant this,
00:03:31.460 | that if God sees fit to let the arrow that flies by day
00:03:36.460 | or the spear of a Warrani Indian kill one of God's children,
00:03:44.740 | God has done it for the sake of gain.
00:03:49.740 | He said to gain what he cannot lose.
00:03:52.580 | God has done it for gain, not loss.
00:03:55.400 | And I think she's right.
00:03:57.380 | I think he was right.
00:03:58.980 | That's a right interpretation of Psalm 91
00:04:02.140 | because, here's why I think that,
00:04:04.540 | Satan tried to use Psalm 91 in Matthew 4, 6
00:04:09.540 | to tempt Jesus to jump off the temple
00:04:14.340 | because Psalm 91 promises the angels are gonna catch you.
00:04:18.780 | But Jesus won't use Psalm 91 that way.
00:04:21.700 | Neither did Stephen when he was stoned to death.
00:04:24.740 | Neither did James when he was beheaded.
00:04:27.660 | Neither did Paul when he was beaten repeatedly with rods.
00:04:32.420 | Neither did Jesus as he bent down over the cross.
00:04:36.620 | None of them understood Psalm 91
00:04:39.060 | to mean that God's children will never suffer
00:04:41.720 | at the hands of their enemies.
00:04:44.140 | So, what does it mean?
00:04:47.100 | I mean, Satan was trying to get them to think it meant that.
00:04:51.540 | What does it mean to abide in the shadow of the Almighty
00:04:56.020 | if you can be killed in the shadow of the Almighty?
00:04:59.560 | Well, let's go to the New Testament counterpart of this text.
00:05:02.740 | So she asked, is there a New Testament counterpart?
00:05:05.720 | There are several.
00:05:07.140 | For example, Jude 1, 21 says,
00:05:09.980 | "Keep yourselves in the love of God."
00:05:12.540 | I think that is virtually the same
00:05:14.500 | as keep yourselves in the shadow of the Almighty.
00:05:17.740 | Or Jesus says in John 15, 9, "Abide in my love,"
00:05:22.740 | which I think is the same as
00:05:24.420 | abide in the shelter of the Most High.
00:05:27.860 | In other words, dwelling in the shadow of the Almighty
00:05:31.440 | and abiding in the shelter of the Most High
00:05:34.460 | mean trusting implicitly in the love of God,
00:05:38.980 | the power of God to give you everything you need
00:05:43.460 | to do His will and glorify His name,
00:05:46.100 | whether you live or die.
00:05:47.920 | Or to say it another way,
00:05:49.460 | dwelling in the shadow of the Most High
00:05:53.140 | and keeping yourself in the love of God
00:05:56.900 | means trusting the love of God and the wisdom of God
00:06:00.980 | and the power of God to protect you
00:06:03.860 | from everything that could destroy you utterly.
00:06:08.300 | Now, why do I say that?
00:06:09.460 | One of the clearest reasons for saying that
00:06:13.420 | is found in Romans 8, 32 to the end of the chapter,
00:06:17.140 | maybe the greatest paragraph in the Bible.
00:06:19.900 | Paul argues that God's love for His elect,
00:06:23.380 | His adopted children,
00:06:24.920 | proven in the death of His son Jesus,
00:06:30.060 | Romans 8, 32, means that He will with absolute certainty,
00:06:37.060 | quote, graciously give us all things.
00:06:41.540 | He who did not spare His own son,
00:06:43.220 | but gave Him up for us all,
00:06:45.020 | how will He not with Him graciously give us all things?
00:06:50.020 | Answer, He will.
00:06:51.900 | But what does that mean, all things?
00:06:56.380 | And he goes on to explain,
00:06:58.100 | and he even uses the Psalms to explain it.
00:07:01.020 | He argues that if we are in the love of Christ,
00:07:05.460 | in the shadow of the Almighty,
00:07:07.380 | nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
00:07:10.940 | Then he throws out a few possibilities
00:07:13.220 | of what might separate us,
00:07:15.220 | and it shows he's really quite aware of Psalm 91.
00:07:19.060 | He says, "Shall tribulation or distress or persecution
00:07:24.060 | "or famine or nakedness or danger or sword,"
00:07:29.300 | or he might've added, "or Wahrani, Indian spear."
00:07:33.940 | And then he quotes Psalm 44,
00:07:36.220 | as it is written, "For your sake," not sin's sake,
00:07:39.380 | "your sake, we are being killed all day long.
00:07:43.600 | "We are counted as sheep to be slaughtered."
00:07:46.580 | So even the Psalms knew God's people die while doing good.
00:07:51.580 | Then he shouts the answer, "No, in all these things,
00:07:57.100 | "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."
00:08:01.540 | That's Romans 8, 32 to 37.
00:08:03.940 | So Paul is saying,
00:08:05.500 | Christians can keep themselves in the love of God
00:08:08.420 | and in the shadow of the Almighty
00:08:10.100 | and still be slaughtered like sheep,
00:08:12.380 | and yet be more than conquerors.
00:08:15.100 | So if the arrow that flies by day
00:08:18.780 | goes straight into your chest
00:08:21.060 | and you drop dead in the cause of Christ,
00:08:25.040 | it does not defeat you.
00:08:26.580 | You are more than a conqueror.
00:08:30.280 | How more than a conqueror?
00:08:32.500 | Because the very arrow that seemed to get the victory
00:08:36.620 | becomes your servant
00:08:38.700 | and accomplishes God's sovereign purpose in the world
00:08:42.640 | and God's saving purpose for your life,
00:08:45.220 | His everlasting presence.
00:08:47.700 | Here's how the book of Revelation says it.
00:08:50.220 | "And they conquered Satan by the blood of the Lamb
00:08:54.620 | "and by the word of their testimony,
00:08:56.460 | "for they loved not their lives even unto death.
00:09:00.780 | "So they die in persecution, but they conquer Satan."
00:09:05.780 | How?
00:09:08.020 | This is the answer to Anna's question.
00:09:10.200 | How do you dwell in the shelter of the Most High?
00:09:13.400 | They trusted implicitly in the blood of the Lamb,
00:09:18.200 | that it had absolutely secured for them
00:09:20.960 | their future happiness forever.
00:09:23.560 | And they opened their mouth and gave testimony
00:09:27.140 | and the fear of death did not stop them.
00:09:30.640 | And in that moment,
00:09:33.280 | they were safe in the shadow of the Almighty
00:09:36.260 | and they conquered the devil and they entered paradise.
00:09:42.140 | I think that's the kind of triumphant safety
00:09:46.480 | that God is calling us to in Psalm 91.
00:09:50.380 | - Glorious, thank you, Pastor John.
00:09:51.900 | And thank you for the question, Anna.
00:09:53.440 | If you have a question like Anna did, you can ask it
00:09:56.100 | or you can search our growing archive
00:09:57.660 | or you can subscribe to the podcast,
00:09:59.940 | all@desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:10:04.940 | Well, next time we have a really, really hard question.
00:10:07.900 | It's from a dad whose 14-year-old daughter is struggling
00:10:10.700 | after studying the book of Job for the first time.
00:10:13.940 | She has heard all of her life that God is loving and just
00:10:16.780 | and she cannot understand why God would allow Job
00:10:19.980 | and his children, wife, and servants
00:10:23.000 | to suffer so much devastation.
00:10:25.440 | And all for what purpose?
00:10:26.760 | Merely to prove to Satan
00:10:28.120 | that Job's reverence for God was unshakable.
00:10:31.200 | So what more can be said about Job?
00:10:33.540 | Don't miss this episode.
00:10:34.840 | It's up next time.
00:10:35.680 | I'm your host Tony Rehnke.
00:10:36.500 | We'll see you back here on Monday.
00:10:38.600 | Thanks for listening.
00:10:39.640 | (upbeat music)
00:10:42.220 | (upbeat music)
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