Dwelling place
Because you have made the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. Psalm 91:9-10
WARNING: Do not use Scripture as a good luck charm, magic potion, or spell to “manifest” your secret wants. Scripture is God’s personal letter to His people for us to use in developing our relationship with Him in the vast spectrum of life’s matters. Psalm 91 is likely the clearest portion of His Word regarding His protective nature toward people; it reveals His rock-solid determination to stand with you, guard you, guide you, protect you, heal you, and help you through the ups and downs of your life. And, seeing as Psalm 91 is, like most of Scripture, a relational guide for us humans in our interactions with the Most High, it also discloses what our part of the deal is.
Because you have made the Lord, my refuge…
You have a choice in this matter. You can MAKE the Lord your refuge—your place of shelter, protection, or safety. You don’t have to. It is entirely up to you, and He will 100% allow you your choice. In fact, you can use Him as a “sometimes” refuge, the One you go to from time to time, and He will honor that. However, as with most relationships, this “on and off” mentality can wear thin, and true intimacy and connection will never fully materialize. You see, there is Someone else in this interplay besides you…
…even the Most High, your dwelling place…
The time came in my life when using the Lord as my “sometimes” refuge wasn’t cutting it. I clearly saw my need to give all of myself to Him—for all time. And something very amazing happened…He became my dwelling place. Jesus said, “I am now standing at the door and am knocking. If anyone listens to My voice and opens the door, I will go in to be with him and will feast with him, and he shall feast with Me” (Revelation 3:20, Weymouth NT). What a blessing to know that you are never alone, that Someone greater than you loves you, cares for you, and has promised to never leave you or forsake you! (See Hebrews 13:5b.)
Just one more verse about this concept of making the Lord your dwelling place—or in other words, your home. Jesus was talking to one of His disciples along this line and said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). The fact that you are loved is clear. That the Creator of all things wants to live with you in an ever-deepening, give and take fellowship is mind-boggling!
No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.
BECAUSE you’ve made the LORD, even the Most High, your dwelling place, these things are yours to BELIEVE and EMBRACE by faith:
No evil will befall you… Truth be told, I’ve had some scary things happen since I’ve made Jesus my Lord. I’ve also experienced broken relationships and friendships, have lost loved ones and dear friends to death, and have had to have various surgeries (including open heart). I’ve been sick more than once and have broken a few bones. I’ve suffered rejection, humiliation, and excruciating loneliness at times. I’ve cried more than a few times out of genuine hurt and then again, at times, from self-pity or rage. Nevertheless, through all of these difficulties, the Living God kept right on being my God, holding me, steadying me, and bringing me through to the end of each dark tunnel. Therefore, I can boldly say, No evil has befallen me.
Because of His amazing care, I am still alive. Once, probably in 2010, I heard the Lord say one Monday, “Don’t mow your lawn on Thursday.” (Thursday was my go-to day for mowing.) Wednesday came, and I had a hundred excuses why I didn’t want to mow that day, but I could sense His powerful nudge, “MOW! NOW!” I did and then came back inside, took a shower and made dinner. Thursday morning around 10:30, I was in the kitchen looking out the window into my backyard. My cats sat at the screen door, also looking out. Suddenly, a deafening CRACK! sounded. A large silver maple had just given up the ghost! TIMBER! It fell across the width of my backyard and clipped a large branch off of another tree on the opposite side. WHOOOOMFFF! Down it went! The cats looked at me, I looked at them; all of us looked back out at the splintered mass of trunk and branches in the yard under which I would’ve been squashed like a bug…and I started DANCING! I whooped and hollered and danced and praised God throughout the house, thankful for His simple instruction on Monday, “Don’t mow your lawn on Thursday,” and super thankful that I didn’t ignore His nagging, pushy prompting on Wednesday to “MOW! NOW!”
…nor will any plague come near your tent. We lived through a couple of years of plague-related panic not even five years ago. Although I didn’t lose any friends or loved ones to the virus we faced, I know many who did, and the fear and grief of that time is indelibly etched in our national and global consciousness. I remember in those early days of the shutdown how the lack of knowledge about this thing, its transmission, and how to treat it brought fear to many. And there I was, in early spring as trees and other plant life started pollinating, that I experienced serious shortness of breath. I was alarmed. Today, I realize I was suffering then from an allergy-induced asthmatic reaction, but back then, everything was suspect. I prayed and paced my house several hours a day, and slowly calm and peace regained control of my mind. I knew that the Greek word for “Spirit” (pneuma) was the same as the word for each of these: “breath,” “lungs,” and “air”. So, knowing that my Father would make a way for my health, I prayed, “Holy Pneuma, I ask You to breathe Your pneuma into my pneumas and bring forth fullness of life to my airways! In Jesus’ name, Amen!” Over time, my lungs started opening back up, and what a blessing it was to breathe WITH the Holy Spirit!
We all know that we live in an imperfect, messy, germy, dangerous world. But the Lord has chosen to take a special interest in each one of us…and to go the distance with YOU if you are willing to go the distance with HIM.
…I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20, NKJV
Dorothy
© 2024, Dorothy Frick