Psalms 91:1 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, we first meet a great truth stated in general: all who live in close fellowship with God are always safe under his protection. Because of that, they can keep a calm and steady mind at all times (Psalm 91:1). The one who lives, or settles down, in the secret place of the Most High will rest under the shadow of the Almighty. The person who chooses God by faith as his protector will find in him everything he needs or could want.

This is the mark of a true believer: he lives in the secret place of the Most High. He feels at home with God, returns to God, and rests in him. He gives attention to inward religion, which means real heart-level worship, and he makes the service of God a matter of the heart. He worships, as it were, within the veil, and loves being alone with God so he can speak with him in quietness.

This is also their privilege and comfort: they rest under the shadow of the Almighty. He shields them and comes between them and anything that would harm them, whether in storm or in sunshine. They do not only gain access to God’s protection, they make their home there. He will be their rest and refuge forever.

The psalmist then applies this to himself in a personal way (Psalm 91:2). He says, “I will say of the Lord,” whatever others may say about him, “He is my refuge.” He chooses God as his shelter and trusts him. Others make idols their refuge, but he says that the Lord, the true and living God, is his refuge. Any other refuge is only a false one. The Lord is also his fortress and stronghold.

Idolaters called their idols their strongholds (Daniel 11:39), but they were fooling themselves. Only those are truly safe who make the Lord their God and their fortress. Since there is no reason to doubt his power or sufficiency, the psalmist rightly adds, “In him will I trust.” If the Lord is our God, our refuge, and our fortress, then what else could we need that we may not find in him? He is not changeable or false, and he is not weak or mortal. He is God, not man, so we need not fear disappointment in him. We know whom we have trusted.

From there, the psalmist encourages others to do the same, not only from his own experience of its comfort, for experience can sometimes be mistaken, but from the truth of God’s promise, where there is no deception (Psalm 91:3, Psalm 91:4, and following). “Surely he shall deliver you.” Those who have found comfort in making God their refuge naturally want others to do the same.

The promise is that believers will be kept from the dangers that threaten them and could destroy them. They will be kept from the snare of the fowler, which is hidden and catches the bird suddenly, and from the deadly pestilence, which strikes without warning and against which there is no natural defense. This promise protects both natural life and spiritual life. In natural life, God often preserves us from dangers that are very close and very serious, while we do not even notice them, just as a bird does not see the snare before it is caught. We owe much more than we realize to God’s providence for keeping us from infectious disease and from the hands of wicked and unreasonable people. In spiritual life, divine grace guards believers from Satan’s temptations, which are like hidden traps, and from the spread of sin, which is like a deadly disease. He who gives grace to beautify the soul will also set a defense around that glory.

The promise also says that God himself will be their protector. Those must be safe who have him as their keeper, and those must succeed for whom he takes charge (Psalm 91:4). “He shall cover you.” He will hide and keep you safe (Psalm 31:20; Psalm 27:5). God protects believers with great tenderness and affection, shown in the words, “He shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings.” This points to the hen gathering her chicks under her wings (Matthew 23:37). By natural instinct she not only guards them, but also calls them to safety, keeps them warm, and cares for them. God is pleased to compare his care for his people to that kind of protection. His people are helpless like chicks and easily harmed, but they are invited to trust under the shadow of the wings of his promise and providence. That is a fitting way to describe a person who has turned to the true faith, someone who has come to trust under the wings of the God of Israel (Ruth 2:12).

God protects with great power as well as tenderness. Wings and feathers, though offered with love, are still weak and can be broken through. So the verse adds, “His truth shall be your shield and buckler,” meaning a strong defense. God is willing to guard his people as a hen guards her chicks, and he is able to guard them like a warrior in armor.

He will also keep them not only from evil, but from the fear of evil too (Psalm 91:5, Psalm 91:6). The danger here is real enough to frighten us. We are exposed both day and night, and fearful people may feel unsafe at either time. When we are in our rooms and beds, and have done all we can to make things secure, there is still terror by night, from thieves, storms, and even from imagined fears, which often frighten us the most. Scripture speaks of “fear in the night” (Song of Solomon 3:8). There is also a pestilence that walks in darkness, like the plague that killed the firstborn in Egypt and the army of the Assyrians. No locks or bars can keep out disease, since we carry its seeds in our own bodies.

Yet even in daylight there is danger too. There is an arrow that flies by day, and it flies unseen. There is destruction that wastes at noon, when we are awake and surrounded by friends. We cannot fully protect ourselves, and neither can others fully protect us. Some think this psalm was written after the plague sent to punish David for numbering the people, and that pestilence came in the daytime.

Still, believers are promised safety in the middle of such danger: “You shall not be afraid.” God, by his grace, will keep you from the kind of anxious, distrustful fear that brings torment even in great danger. Wisdom keeps us from fearing without cause, and faith keeps us from fearing too much. You will not need to fear the arrow, because even if it strikes you, it cannot truly harm you. If it takes away natural life, it cannot damage spiritual life. In fact, for the believer, death becomes the completion of life. A believer does not need to fear any arrow, because its point is removed and its poison is gone. O death, where is your sting? The arrow is also under God’s direction, and it will strike only where he appoints. Every bullet has its commission.

Whatever happens is within our heavenly Father’s will, and that gives us no reason to be afraid. God’s people may be kept safe in a special way even in widespread disasters (Psalm 91:7). When death seems to ride in triumph and disease spreads, so that thousands and ten thousands fall, whether by sickness or by war, it may happen all around us, at our side and on our right hand. The sight alone can shake us, and if people fall by a plague, their fall so near us may even seem likely to infect us. Yet it will not come near us, meaning death will not, and even the fear of death should not rule us.

Those who stay pure when corruption is common can trust God for safety when ruin is widespread. When large numbers die around us, we should let that wake us up to prepare for our own death. Still, we should not be terrified, and we should not live in slavery to fear, as many do all their lives through fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). The blood on the doorposts protected Israel’s firstborn when thousands were struck down.

More than that, God promises his people the comfort of seeing his promises fulfilled for them and his warnings carried out on those who hate them (Psalm 91:8). “Only with your eyes will you look and see the punishment of the wicked.” This may point to the destruction of Egypt’s firstborn by plague, which was both the judgment of the oppressors and the rescue of the oppressed. Israel saw this when they saw themselves safe and untouched.

Just as it will add to sinners’ punishment that they will see the reward of the righteous with their own eyes (Luke 13:28), so it will greatly increase the joy of the saints that they will see the destruction of the wicked with their own eyes (Isaiah 66:24; Psalm 58:10).