Psalms 91-92: Real Optimism!

0:00And you know it is so encouraging for us to know that God takes special and tender care of those who trust in Him. Welcome to Mission 66, a ministry of TWR and Dr. Luis Seo. Today we're in the book of Psalms, a collection of praise and prophecies, many written by King David and originally set to music. You can follow along with your downloadable study guide. Pick it up at Mission66.org. Let's join teacher John Matthews and co-host Esther Sassulu for our discussion. As we continue our series in the Psalms today, our teacher John Matthews will be taking us through Psalm 91 and 92. Now the crazy of the world around us gets. The truth is the more we long for the protective hand of God upon our lives. So let's hear what our teacher John has to share as he leads us through these encouraging Psalms with the theme under his wings.

1:01Yeah, thank you so much Esther. Great to be with you and very warm welcome to Mission 66 today. Wherever you join us from, really good to have your company. And here we are. Yes, Esther said going through Psalms 91 and 92. So let's start this with, well, I guess a situation that many of us often find ourselves in. Maybe you've got somebody in your life who just needs to be encouraged. Maybe that person is you. Now look, sometimes we want to help somebody, perhaps sometimes more than they want to help themselves. You know, grief and sadness is a complex thing and it's not always easy to find the right words. In fact, it's rarely easy to find the right words. But here in Psalm 91 and 92, I think we see the Psalmist managing to find the right words. Now the right of Psalm 91, whoever this was, appears to be tranquil and unafraid of whatever

2:05life is going to throw at him, whatever circumstances he finds himself in. But it's more or less the circumstances, actually it's more the state of mind that he's in is certainly a positive one. Let's read it because he says, he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust, for he will deliver you from the snare of the Fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his opinions and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. In other words, the one who trusts in God is covered by God.

3:09Just see that in the first verse. He who lives under the shadow or the shelter of God will abide, goes about his life in the shadow of the Almighty or mighty God himself. His shadow follows that person around their everyday living. You know when you meet someone like that, it's pretty unmistakable isn't it? In the same way that a mother-eagle shelters her young and her powerful wings such is the situation of somebody who trusts and lives for an in God. Is that an encouragement and an incredible thing for the world around us? The writer as well is not afraid of any of the things that life may throw at us. Why would you be when the shadow of the Almighty God himself accompanies you everywhere you go, all those unforeseen things that would otherwise fill us with fear? But here, no, because God is there, He's shadow is there or things that the devil may

4:14try to throw your way to really upset you. No, because what does verse 5 say? You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor the destruction that wastes a noom day. You know John, as you're speaking, I'm just thinking about the number of things that have been thrown at us, I think as a collective. Just in these last few years, talking about a pestilence, you know, we see so much on the news with attacks in the streets, random shootings, and just what we deal with on the internet for instance, somebody trying to hack into our computers and stealing our information, there's a lot that we're faced with. And so knowing that we can trust in God even in those situations is an encouragement. It is. I mean, let's go back to the day of the sarmaced where there were very few justice systems

5:17where living was precarious, where food, drink, basic existence was precarious being, you know, attacked by bandits was if you're wandering in the wilderness or from from town to town was a very real possibility. You know, we live in in many ways as insecure as our day may feel. It's a lot more secure than the environment in which the sarmaced is living in, right? So you're right. And so we're faced with the same uncertainty as the guy writing this sarm is faced with. And there are, you're right, there are so many things, threats you could call them for us to be worried about as they were in the sarmaced day. If we are given to worry, we could spend our entire life being anxious and worried about all manner of things. But you know, sarm 91 is a relief in a way because it relieves us from always having to be looking around the corner for the next bad thing that's coming our way because

6:22the seven says a thousand may fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. What are those two verses saying there, indicating that God does judge the wicked sometimes by taking them out of this world for those who fear the Lord. They don't need to fear that judgment. They're not living under that kind of judgment, which is called here the recompense of the wicked. It means it's a very different way to live life when we live that life in the shadow of his wings. Sarmist lives his life and is dominated by this incredible sense of reality. His reality is he is secure within these divine, God-given blessings, and he has no fear of being struck by evil. Verse 9, Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the most high who is my refuge,

7:26no evil shall be allowed to befall you. No play come near your tent. Or he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. And then verse 13 says, You will tread on the lion and the adorn at the snake, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot. Protection here promised against a lion against a serpent. Why? Because we've responded, or the person here has responded to God's love for him, and is knowing the full weight of God's blessing and protection. Now, the Sarmism is not promising against tough times and circumstances, but there's a state of mind as those things come and a state of overcoming you will tread on the lion and the adorn.

8:26You know, to fear some opponents, they won't bother you, because God is with you. Verse 14, because He holds fast to me in love, I will deliver Him. I will protect Him because He knows my name. When He calls to me, I will answer Him. I will be with Him in trouble. I will rescue Him and honour Him with long life. I will satisfy Him and show Him my salvation. You know, God knows Your name, but His best blessings and divine protection, the reserved for those who love Him in return. What a place to be, there's no better place to be than that. We come into covenant with God, and we believe the gospel and receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior, and when we're in covenant with the God of creation, boy, do we have a reason to live and live fully.

9:27So with this sense of optimism, Psalm 92, then, which is another written by an anonymous author, continues with a similar expression of praise when it says, it is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High, to declare Your steadfast love in the morning and Your faithfulness by night. Remember God's love is a perfect, loyal love, and it's exactly that love that preserves His promises which are sure and can never be undone. You know, John, I think it is quite important for us, and perhaps even intentional for us to dedicate time during the day in which we can spend time reading the Word of God, sitting with the Lord praying. You know, I can attest to how that has changed my walk with Jesus, and I love how the

10:28Psalm even encourages us to do so morning and evening. It's so important. Yeah, it changes us. It transforms us. It protects our hearts from growing cold, and it protects us in turn from wandering from God, which we're so prone to doing. Being in the Bible and spending time with Him, it transforms us, and we need to be there you're right Esther every single day. And then it moves on to talk about music here. This is verse three, to the music of the loot and the harp, to the melody of the lyre for you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work. At the works of your hands, I sing for joy. How great are your works, O Lord? Your thoughts are very deep. But then it contains this almost sad reality for those who don't honor God, and what they think they know, but actually what they really don't know.

11:29Verse six says, The stupid man cannot know. The fool cannot understand this. That though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evil do as flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever. But you, O Lord, are on high forever. You know, sometimes because of spiritual blindness, it becomes impossible for what is described in this Psalm as the fool to understand that the wicked, those who do wrong, they are doomed to eternal destruction, and it will close upon them like a trap and tragically. By that time it's too late to do anything about it. They go to an eternity without God and verse 10 says, But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. You have poured over me fresh oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies. My ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

12:33The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a seeder in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock. And there is no unrighteousness, no wrong whatsoever in Him. He listens, it's so important that we make sure that we believe the right things. Once we are then right in God, we are right forever. And He is perfect. He is love. And there is no wrong, no unrighteousness in Him at all. We are listening to Mission 66 and we are here with our teacher John Matthews.

13:34And today's chapters, Psalm 91 and 92 are so powerful. And we are really just soaking in the atmosphere of optimism, hearing the goodness of God and His protection over our lives. Not John, I'd like for us to get into some questions. And I actually want you to thought on this because this is something that I've observed with a few of my friends. I've actually seen that some people, including people I know, may have, say, their Bible on their coffee table opened up to Psalm 91. And they think that this will protect them. It will protect their homes. Is this a right approach to it? Or in fact, what do you think? Hiding God's words in our hearts is the place where He wants His Word to be. And so when He sees us honoring Him by making or putting Him on the throne of our hearts,

14:35and that means His Word and the Word and the truth from Him that is in the Bible, that's the place where His Word needs to be in that includes Psalm 91. And it's, look, it's great to read a study and learn from Psalm 91. And it's, there's nothing at all with keeping the Bible open as a symbol of God's approach, His protection, His power on the table at all. There's nothing wrong with that. But the Bible is not to be used as some, let's say, magic trinket that keeps away evil. You know, we know that Satan himself quoted verse 11 and 12 of this very Psalm, didn't he? Satan himself uses the words here, misinterpreting them in order to tempt Jesus and Jesus then rejects His misuse of the Bible of Scripture. It's a well-known saying that when God's words are used in a way that God does not mean them for to be used, giving them a different meaning or a new meaning, they become the

15:40words of the devil himself. Isn't that what happened in the Garden of Eden? So the Holy Spirit reveals the truth and it's the Holy Spirit that connects with us when we open the pages of the Bible and it needs to go into our souls to change us. You see what I mean? And so when we perhaps have a tradition that we'll keep it there and we'll hope for the best, that's not the way of God. No, no, the Bible needs to be imprinted on our hearts. I love that. Thank you so much for that. So important for us to soak in, take in the Word of God. Now let's look at what Psalm 91 says in terms of promising protection against certain things. In fact, it mentions things like deadly pestilences, plagues, the terror of the night. These are things mentioned in this chapter. What are these things, John? Could there be some sort of mysticism, something that perhaps might be beyond what we should

16:41learn, that we should look out for here? And these are as real to us, potentially in our world today as they were then pestilence, plague, terror of the night, bad dreams of the reality is that these things are common to human existence in this world and have been through history. We don't know very often where they come from. We don't know the reasons why they come, whether it's demonic, whether it's just a aging process. We don't know. We just don't know where these things come from very often. But there's one truth that resonates when we are all confronted with these kinds of illnesses and concerns and worries and global uncertain events is that God is still Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He's still the beginning and the end. And He will see us through. Absolutely. And you know, in the Psalm as well, John, there's talk of angels, right?

17:46Now for those who might be wondering, can we definitively believe that angels exist and that they protect us and that they take charge over us? Yeah, well, this passage does say, doesn't it, that God commands His angels and they obey Him and they then protect us if that's what He has guided them to do. The Bible deals with angels as very much a reality, their spiritual beings that are commanded by God and they act in favor of those who are going to inherit salvation according to the New Testament. And the true Esther in answer to your question is that angels do and can protect us, but we can't then base ourselves in foolish beliefs by going around saying things, perhaps that look, I've got this guard in angel here where he is going to keep me safe. In fact, that is something again that Satan, Miscan, Struse and suggests to Jesus when he says, look, Jesus, when he tempts him before his ministry begins there in the New Testament,

18:48jump off this very high place and your angels will catch you. So we shouldn't believe in angels emphasizing them in, let's say, an exaggerated way. We don't have the authorization to look for them and try to talk to them and try to get in contact with angels. That's just not for us to do. Neither should we assume that we trust some angelic protection to deliver us from our own responsibility. That's for God to know and to gift or deliver whether we know it or not, but ultimately our hope is in Christ alone. That is the foundation, the basis, and we have no other hope other than him. Amen. Amen. Well, you know, in Psalm 92, we do find a very interesting expression here. It says, but you have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox. You have poured over me fresh oil.

19:50What does exalting the horn and pouring fresh oil mean for us? How can we understand that? In the Old Testament, in the original Hebrew language, Esther, when it was said that someone had great strength, someone had gained power, it was said that he raised his horn. And that sort of language comes from what we see in the animal kingdom. Strong males often fight with their horns. Oxen, we see that. They do that. Sometimes big stags fight in that same way. When we look at this though, if we leave it like this in the English language, very few people actually understand what it means. And that's why we sometimes look at footnotes or commentaries. And it just says that this is a reference to strength. And then the pouring of fresh oil means to be devoted to serving God because the priests themselves, they were anointed with fresh oil on their head, tuned their ordination ceremony. And it was their way of God anointing them and them saying, I will follow you, Lord.

20:53That's what it means. Well, thanks for clarifying that. Pain's a very interesting picture, but yeah, that was really clear. Thank you, John. Well, as we wrap up here, I do have just one last question and that's regarding versus 13, 14, 15 of Psalm 92 because it talks about the righteous flourishing and producing fruit even in their old age. And that they are full of sap and green. So a really interesting way of describing the righteous. How can we understand these verses, John? Well, it says that the righteous will flourish like a palm tree, that people who live a righteous life who just want to honor God and know and live for Jesus. Well, they will know a presence and a blessing from God in this life that is very special. Now I think it's worth noting that this does not mean the promise of a long life for everybody.

21:54That's not what it's saying. But what it does say is that those who honor God in this way, the righteous and this one who live for him, they will flourish whatever time they are given on earth. And there's no saying that, well, if you live a righteous life, you'll live longer, far from it. From the most anointed and incredible people who've given their lives for Jesus, have lived very short lives, but it means their lives that they actually live will flourish like a palm tree. You know, I really hope that will be encouraged by that to know that if we live our lives wholeheartedly for Christ, that our lives will be of service to him and bear fruit for him. John, again, thank you so much for your explanations. It's always so valuable to really get into what God's word is saying to us. And so let's go ahead and summarize these two chapters that we've looked at today. Thank you, too, for your great questions as well, Esther. Look, Psalm 91, there was a declaration of trusting God's protection and His care.

22:59And it begins by describing this lovely picture of safety and refuge found in dwelling in the shelter of the most high, like a baby eagle in the shelter of the mother's wings. Now it says you abide in that state. So it's not just hidden away. It means you go about life facing the circumstances, some which would be really tough, but you do so in the shadow of His wings, which means you have a presence that God is right there with you. Psalm says God is a shield and a fortress that He gives us this protection that we don't realize very often from dangers. And it mentions those dangers here as deadly pestilence terrors that might come in the dark of the night, attacked by enemies. And so those who trust in God are assured of His guidance, His deliverance, and even the support of His angels. Psalm 92, then, is a Psalm of praise and thanksgiving for God's steadfast love for His faithfulness.

24:00It points out the value of music singing and the joy of singing in worship to Him and the Psalm contrasts the fleeting success of the wicked with the flourishing of the righteous, who are compared to strong fruitful trees like the palm and the cedar who keep bearing fruit even in their old age. And yet even the most positive spirit and soul on earth will not get far without God. We see with God when all those things that bring us joy in life fail as they will, family, work careers, sports careers. They may give us such joy for a season, but all those things pass. And yet God is eternal. From age to age, He is the same. And if we're blessed with old age, He is our anchor there. He is the sure solid foundation. And there is none like Him.

25:07And that is it for today's episode of Mission 66 for Dear Friends. I'd love to encourage you to be a part of the Mission 66 community by following us on Facebook. Now there you can comment or ask questions on episodes that you've heard as well as learn about topics in upcoming episodes. And you can also engage with our growing community. Just go to Facebook and type in Mission 66 in the search line. And we look forward to connecting with you there. My name is Esther and for John and our entire team saying, we'll see you next time on Mission 66. Let me remind you to head on over to Mission66.org to download your study guide. It's free. Dive deeper into the Bible teaching of John Matthews and learn how it all relates to your Christian walk. Tag along with John and Esther on our Bible Road Trip episode by episode. Your study guides waiting for you at Mission66.org. That's where you can also post your questions or make a comment and even help out with the

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