“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” We read that as the opening verse of Psalm
91 today. That is a very comforting yet powerful statement. Let’s look at what it really means. To dwell means “to live in or stay as a permanent resident; to reside.” When we live somewhere, we are not there just for a passing visit as a guest; we are there to stay as a permanent resident. There’s comfort in being a permanent resident, especially if we are living with loved ones. How much more wonderful is it to live in the Lord’s dwelling - the Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the
Almighty, all-powerful God who loves us unconditionally.
Some translations use the words “secret place” instead of “shelter.”
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High…” The Psalmist was most likely referring to the Holy of Holies - the sacred, innermost part of the temple in Old Testament days where God dwelt and which in the early days of the Hebrew people contained the Ark of the
Covenant. The Ark sat on the “mercy seat” and was guarded by
Cherubim. Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies- and only once a year on the Day of Atonement, when he burned incense and sprinkled sacrificial animal blood in order to atone for his sins and the sins of the people. The Holy of Holies was separated from
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the rest of the temple by a veil, or thick curtain made of the finest material. This was the curtain that was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross - signifying that we now have access to this Holy of Holies through His Blood. As the veil was torn, the Holy of Holies was exposed. God’s presence was now accessible to all. Christ offered the ultimate sacrifice for all time. In Hebrews 6:19-20, we are told that we can now boldly enter into God’s presence, “the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.”
So what are the benefits of dwelling in this Holy of Holies? Psalm 91 says that he who dwells there “will abide in the shadow of the
Almighty.” Being in the shadow of the Almighty, Omnipotent God implies that one is under His protection, just a person is under the protection of the Lord of a manor - protection from rain, wind, sun, enemies, predators. But God’s protection is so much greater than anything that man can offer. Let’s read Psalm 91 again to see how God will protect us.
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
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5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
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I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
That is incredible protection. It is constant, and it is all we need.
But protection is not the only gift God offers us when we dwell in His shelter. He offers us rest, peace, a “hiding place”. Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28) Living in this world can be exhausting, and nowhere else can we find rest like the rest our Lord gives us. Just imagine what it might feel like to climb a VERY steep mountain. Every muscle in your body is crying out for you to stop and rest. Yet you keep going on… and on. And then you finally reach the top - and the view is breathtaking.
There is a soft meadow to sit and rest and a cool stream from which to quench your thirst. We might even say it is “heavenly”, yet heaven and
God’s rest is much, much more wonderful than that - beyond what we can imagine. Philippians 4:6-7 talks about a peace that is beyond all human understanding. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
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Christ Jesus.” And we don’t have to earn it. All we need to receive it is to dwell in the shelter of the Lord.
Another benefit of abiding in the Most High is the ability to resist temptation. It is not our own ability that allows us to do that but that of Jesus. He gives us the strength, the power and the wisdom to resist the enemy. Even when we abide in the Lord, we are still living in this world that is full of sin. Although we are under God’s protection in His shelter, the enemy tries to lure us out with temptations that appeal to our love of money, power, security, prestige. He tries to lure us out with worry, fear, resentment and anger. No matter how much we love
God, we will always be faced with temptations. After all, Jesus, who is
God, faced temptations in the wilderness. He had been praying and fasting for 40 days, and was thus well equipped to resist all of the temptations that Satan laid before Him. And how did Jesus answer?
With Scripture.
Luke 4:1-13
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son
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of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” (Deut 8:3) 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’” (Deut 6:13)
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’ 11 and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” (Psalm 91:11-12)
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
He quoted the Scriptures from memory, without having to spend time pondering an answer. Would that we know Scripture so well. Yet we can if we are dwelling in the shelter of the Most High.
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If we don’t ask God to help us resist temptation, we give in to these other gods of ours and leave the shelter of the Most High. Yes, I said our other gods. One of the speakers at Winter Conference - a Christian psychiatrist - said he was a polytheist, a believer in multiple gods. My initial reaction to his statement was one of shock, and I wondered why someone like that was a speaker at Winter Conference, but then he explained. He said that he had many things that he doesn’t want in charge of his life but are - many things that distract him from the Holy
Spirit - “gods” like Starbucks and his temper. We need to have only one
God - our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
So since abiding in the shelter of the Lord is so fantastic and has such incredible benefits and doesn’t need to be earned, why isn’t everyone lining up to get in, saying “Sign me up. It’s free; you don’t have to earn it, so why not?” Yes, it is free, but we still have to do our part. So, what do we have to do to dwell in the shelter of the Lord?
First of all, we have to believe. We heard in Romans 10 today, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” But if we don’t go beyond believing in Christ and remain in communion with Him, we may only be visitors in the Holy of Holies and not residents - visitors
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who pop in from time to time or once a week to say “hi” but then leave to live their lives the way they want to.
To dwell there, we have to study God’s Word daily - not just on Sundays
- and keep it in our hearts. We don’t have to memorize the whole
Bible, but if we have Scripture written in our hearts, we can pull it up when we need it most. So I encourage you to memorize verses that are especially meaningful to you.
And we have to pray without ceasing. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul tells us we have to pray without ceasing or continually. What does that mean? You might say, “I can’t do that because I have to work or do housework or interact with my children or communicate with my spouse.” Yet we CAN pray without ceasing. Our lives should be a prayer. Everything we do, we should commit to the Lord, and thank
Him for ALL the things - large and small - He does for us. Something that I find that helps me to learn to pray without ceasing are breath prayers - simple prayers that we repeat as we breathe in and out. A breath prayer is a way to engage your body in meditating on God. It can be as simple as “Thank you, Jesus. Praise you, Jesus.” or “Lord
Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” or “Fill me up. Clean me out.” After a while our subconscious takes over and prays those words even while we do other things.
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We also need to give the “first fruits” to God, as is written in the Old
Testament reading we heard this morning from Deuteronomy 26. The first fruits are the first produce of the harvest. In other words, we have to give God the first and the best of our time, our talents, our money - not what’s left over after we spend all of these on what we want.
When we give Him the first and the best, He will bless us richly and grant us residence in His shelter. Fasting is another way that we can give God something of ourselves in order to draw nearer to Him.
Fasting is doing without something that is hard to do without. We usually thing of fasting as abstaining from food, but it can also be abstaining from something that we have made a god of. Fasting helps us surrender it to God. And when we fast, we must remain constant in our prayers.
The Eucharist is another means by which we dwell in the shelter of the
Lord. Though the Eucharist, we can partake in the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ - for the forgiveness of our sins. We enter into the
Holy of Holies at the Eucharist, as the Old Testament high priest did, but unlike the high priest, we do not need to bring the blood of a sacrificial animal because Christ offered His own blood as the sacrifice for all eternity. We offer God our sacrifice of praise and partake of His eternal sacrifice. Through the Eucharist, we are admitted into the
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closest intimacy and communion with God - the secret place of the
Most High.
So this Lent, I hope each & every one of you - and me - make it our fervent desire, our fervent goal, our fervent prayer to not just visit the
Holy of Holies from time to time but to dwell in the shelter of the Lord each and every day. Whether it is making a personal sacrifice for God, or intentionally setting aside more time to spend alone with Him and
His Word each day or learning how to pray without ceasing. If you do, you will discover blessings beyond what you could have ever dreamed of. Let us all go beyond visiting and instead dwell in the shelter of the
Most High. Your life will never be the same again!
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