Read Psalm 91

 

            As we celebrate Father’s Day, we are aware that fathers are concerned with different security issues with their families.  The house and home, physical safety wherever our families are, health provisions, financial security both for present, for future plans, and for those unknowns that occur in our temporal world. 

 

Alternate introductory paragraph

 

            What types of security systems do you have in place?  Some have home security systems with motion detectors, police and fire notification systems, and video surveillance.  In your automobile are seat belts and air bags, fuel shut-offs, back-up braking systems, and the list goes on.  For some, security is life insurance and retirement investment plans. Where do you feel most secure and why? 

 

            Psalm 91 tells us about your heavenly father’s security system for you.  It is a Psalm that I have read numerous times with those who are ill or troubled.  As I read this Psalm I ask the hearers to think of how a bird protects its young and the question, “How many angels are guarding over you?” 

 

            The first verse describes where our security lies.  “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”  Where you dwell is where you live or reside.  Your dwelling is usually the most permanent and secure place you have.  Shelter is a hiding place.  You seek shelter from things that will cause you harm from the basic elements of weather to all other concerns we have.  Those who are homeless look for places of shelter.  We pray to God for our shelter and for him to shelter us from all harm and danger.  The harm and danger we seek shelter from is Satan and all of his forces. 

 

            We’re pretty vulnerable people and have found that we do not stand up well under temptations and trials.  We need help.  We need shelter from the forces that attack us.  We need a security system.

 

            There are two words in this first verse that describe God.  We are not to take these words lightly either.  God is the “Most High.”  He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords.”  He is above all rulers and authorities on this earth and in the heavenly realms alike.  There is no one before or after him.  He is the Almighty.  There are no other almighty beings.  God alone is the most powerful in all realms, both visible and the invisible.  All things are possible with God.  This Psalm leads us at the very onset where true security is, with the one and only true God who is before and above all other beings in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.  He is our refuge where we can go for protection.  He is our fortress who protects us and leads us into the daily battles with the forces of evil.

 

            To seek this shelter, to seek this sanctuary, to seek this security, there has to be an enemy out there.  Peter tells us of that enemy who is the devil who “... prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  [1 Peter 5:8]  Satan is always trying to snare, to trap you.  He doesn’t wait for you to come looking for him.  He sits and waits patiently for you every step of your way, day in and day out.  He sets the loop where he knows you are going to step and pulls the rope tightly when you least expect him.  A good hunter knows how to camouflage himself.  A good hunter knows how to disguise the trap or the decoys.  Satan is even more expert how he disguises himself to look good or to pull our eyes from the truth God gives us in his word.  On our own we cannot escape him whether day or night, whether the things we can see and predict or those things that come veiled in the cover of darkness. 

 

            How comforting a picture the Psalmist gives us as God covers us with his feathers.  The parent bird spreads its wings so gracefully and gently brings its young close to it.  It does not flinch as it gathers them in and gives them not just safety, but comfort and the warmth of its presence.  You are shielded from the terrors and fears outside those protective feathers.

 

            We just celebrated the anniversary of D-Day.  From that setting and so many other battlefield experiences, soldiers who survived are overwhelmed when they relate how others fell at either side of them, yet they were spared.  An expression we use is, “But for the grace of God, there go I,” as we see what others experience and count the blessings we so often take for granted.  A greater promise is in verse 7.  Believers will see God’s wrath as countless who have rejected him will be cast away from his presence.  As fearful as that at first appears, God gives you that reassurance that this will not come near your tent.  The angel of death passed over the faithful in Egypt.  The Israelites were delivered from Pharaoh’s overwhelming armies.  Jesus quieted threatening winds and waves on the stormy lake.  God put these experiences in place to assure you that in the spiritual realms, no harm will ever befall those who reside in him.

 

            We wonder how God achieves all of this as Satan and his forces are so many that they are uncountable.  Verses 11-12 answer that as he has given his angels concerning you a charge.  Note that you do not have just one angel, but more than one.  Those angels do fight the spiritual battles around you at all times.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  [Ephesians 6:12]  Luther calls this “…the most distinguished promise and consolation:  you will not only be secure but you will go forth and conquer all evils…”  (WA 31,1: 562, 12f) 

 

            Satan used these verses to tempt Jesus away from God’s will and commands.  Satan twisted this verse to rely on what we might want verses what God wants.  To that Jesus replied to not tempt God.  Jesus showed us perfect understanding and following God’s commands in his word.  We are reminded whose will as Jesus prays that not his will, but our Heavenly Father’s will be done.

 

            And at the time of the temptations in the wilderness, and again in the Garden of Gethsemane, angels attended to Jesus as they do to you and me today.  They do lift you up so you do not stumble.  They do fight off Satan and all of his invisible forces.  They will at the last day carry you safely to your Saviors side.  Jesus words in today’s Gospel tell us we do not need to fear Satan who can only cause earthly turmoil.  God alone holds your body and your soul in his hands.  As you acknowledge Jesus, trust and confess he is true God and true man, he will acknowledge you to the Father.  It is when you not just stumble into, but follow Satan’s trap line and deny Jesus, the son of God, will he disown you eternally.

 

            The Psalm concludes with God’s great promise.  “Because he loves me, I will rescue him; I will protect him for he acknowledges my name.  He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble.  I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.”

 

            God does answer the calling and pleading of those who trust in him.  He commands us in Psalm 50:15 to “…call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor me.”  When you are upset, God feels your anxiety and distress.  He does not want you to be at unrest.  Isaiah writes of his love to the Israelites as it is also his love to you.  “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.  In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” 

 

            God our Heavenly Father lifts you up and carries you every day on this earth.  He lifts you up and carries you into his eternal arms at this life’s end.  He has sealed you in your faith in baptism that now saves you.  He strengthens you in that faith each time you hear his word and receive our Savior’s body and blood that has purchased and won you from all sins, death and the power of the devil. 

 

            Our Heavenly Father has put this security system in place for you so you can live in peace in this troubled world as you live at peace with him.  He loves you.  He wants you with him.  He does not want Hell or Satan to hold you in guilt or in denial.  He created his angels to carry you over even the smallest of stones so that on your heaven-ward journey, you are guarded in all your ways.

 

Amen.