A Prayer of Refuge
For Meditation (Ed Satterfield)
When a child is anxious or hurt, we as parents are quick to reassure them that “everything will be all right.” We do not minimize the fear or pain they are feeling at the moment, and we know we cannot control their future, but we have experience and confidence in a good future for them. We are committed to doing everything in our power to help them into that good future.
As Jesus does numerous times in his teaching, he compares our parenting to God’s. The logic of the lesser to the greater is employed to help us grasp how much greater God’s ability is to say, “everything will be all right.” Psalm 91 is one of the most dramatic message to us from God about His commitment to protect and provide good for us.
Read the Psalm through several times. Notice all the situations in which God is promising protection and deliverance. Notice that His care is in various kinds of trouble. Those things are fearsome. The promise is in trouble, God will protect. This brings lots of questions to our minds like, “if God really wanted to protect, why wouldn’t He keep all trouble from us.” The Psalm never attempts to address the questions we might have, but keeps drilling away – God will protect you, No evil will befall you.
The Psalmist is anchoring us in the deep truth that God is for us, with us, and will keep us from ultimate harm. He focuses there and artfully keeps repeating the message so that we will get it and trust Him, hang on to Him, cling to Him in trouble. The troubles are many and sure to hit us all. Our greatest need is to have certainty that we have a solid rock of refuge that will hold us in the storm and not let us fall.
It is helpful to see how Jesus knew and used this Psalm. Look at Luke :8-13 and Luke 22:39-46 and consider how Jesus did not and did interpret this Psalm as he dealt with trouble. We are becoming like Jesus as the Holy Spirit works new life in us each day. May we grow in our confidence in God’s goodness and His personal and intimate care for us in the midst of the difficulties we face each day. May we know more deeply that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
For further reading: Psalm 46, Psalm 62, James 1:2-4, Romans 5:1-6
Psalm 91
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
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 observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
1515 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”