Dwelling Place

Psalm 91

STOP!!!!! Before you read this devotional, read Psalm 91 and ask in prayer for The Lord to reveal Himself to you in the chapter. Ask The Lord in prayer to give you wisdom and understanding of the chapter. The Lord may want to show you something you would not have received if you had not read the chapter yourself first.

The Psalm 91 title listed above is a hyperlink. The link will take you directly to the chapter on YouVersion. The chapter is in the NKJV translation, but you may change it to any translation you prefer. I will be referencing the NKJV throughout the devotional.

Now that you have read the chapter, let me tell you my history with Psalm 91. I have hung out in this chapter many times. It is the chapter I have read the most in The Bible. At one point in my life, I read it every day. I read it when the religious voice in me said, “I must read something in The Bible to say I have read The Bible today.” I have read it in times of anxiety. I have read it in times of depression. I have read it in times of trouble. I have read it during times of joy.

Particularly, I am drawn to the first verse. It says, “‘He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty’” (Psalms 91:1 NKJV). It has always been mysterious and soothing to me. It leads me to ask a few questions. What is the secret place that we should dwell in? What does dwell mean? What does abide mean? What does the shadow of The Almighty mean? Definitions of some of the words from the verse and looking at the verse in various translations answer the questions.

According to the Logos Bible App, secret place is defined as a hiding place. The CSB version of The Bible puts protection in verse one instead of secret place, so it also means a place of protection. According to Google, dwell is defined as living or residing in a particular place. Abide is a synonym for dwell. According to the Logos Bible App, The word shadow used in the verse is defined as protection. However, in our culture, we know shadow as in we see our shadow when the sun is out. So you could think of the word shadow used here as meaning God’s shadow. The Hebrew word for Almighty is Shadday, translated in English as Shaddai. You may have heard of El Shaddai, which means God Almighty.

The definitions bring clarity to the verse. If we think of shadow in terms of when we see our shadow when the sun is out then the meaning of the verse could be to be so close to God that you are by His shadow. To be by His shadow would mean that you are in the presence of God which is the safest place to be. It is a secret place because few go into His presence. Scripture tells us that narrow is the gate and that many are called but few are chosen (See Matthew 7:14 and Matthew 22:14), so we know few enter into His presence. If we think of shadow in terms of protection, meaning God’s protection, still, it is the safest place to be, and a hidden place that few ever go. The verse can be interrupted like this: The one who lives in safety will live in the presence of El Shaddai.

When I think of the secret place or this place of God’s protection, I think of the Garden of Eden mentioned in Genesis. In Genesis, we see that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, a secret place in God’s presence. They were hidden there. They walked with God in the cool of the day. Because of sin, we cannot go to this place physically. However, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, we can enter into God’s presence now (see Ephesians 3:12 and Hebrews 10:19-22). And we can become hidden in that we can come out of the secular world and enter right before Him.

How can we enter into the secret place (God’s protection or presence)? We enter by devoting ourselves to spending time with Him through, The Word, prayer, and worship. We need time set aside to devote to Him, and we also need to invite God into our daily activities. When we begin to seek God, we will enter into His presence.

I have been there. I have entered so deep into God’s presence that it felt as though I was in heaven right before the throne. I experienced His presence like this by seeking Him. I made God my refuge and fortress like the writer of Psalm 91 said in verse 2. He became The One I ran to in the good times and bad times. I clung to Him with everything in me. I made God my dwelling place.

There are benefits to making God our dwelling place. Verses three through thirteen tell us the promise of safety for dwelling with God. How can we interpret this safety that is promised in Psalms 91 when we see Christians die left and right from disasters, persecution, and/or suffer immense pain and hardships? It must be interpreted through a heavenly lens. We must fix our eyes on the things above, not the things on the earth (see Colossians 3:2), knowing that what God spoke will surely come to pass. We can rest assured that the promises may not come to pass in this life but they will in the next one. And even when we suffer difficulties or die, we can be confident of this: that nothing can separate us from God. Particularly, God will keep us to Him (see Jude 1:1). We will always be in God’s love, because nothing will separate us from God’s love (see Romans 8:38-39). We have a living hope.

The ending of the chapter, Verses fourteen through sixteen describes God’s response to us living with Him. There are even more promises. These promises too could be in this life or the next one. The key takeaways from verses fourteen through sixteen are that God will respond and bless us when we seek Him, make Him our dwelling place, and make Him our refuge.

I hope that you have a better understanding of Psalms 91. Even if you do have a better understanding of it, still study the entire chapter this week. Seek God through it. If you have not made God your dwelling place or you have let go of God being your dwelling place, let time in the chapter be your beginning or your restart of devoting yourself to making God your dwelling place.

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