In Psalm 79, as it was versified, we have just sung, Near to ruin we are brought. And it's in response to that sense of ruin, of loss, of tragedy, that Psalm 91 takes on a particular clarity of importance and blessing and promise to the people of God. And so in that context, let us listen to this reading of Psalm 91. Let us hear God's own word. 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 pinions and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flows by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand 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. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague shall come near your tent. For 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. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. 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 honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. So far the reading of God's Word. Well, we return to these wonderful promises of Psalm 91. Promises of the Lord's care, of the Lord's presence, of the Lord's protection. Promises that the Lord knows his people and is with his people and will deliver his people. Promises that are so rich and so abundant and so wonderful that, as I said last week, maybe sometimes we're tempted to ask, are these promises too good to be true? Isn't there real suffering in the Christian life? Isn't there real struggle in the history of God's people? What does this psalm really mean then? What does this psalm intend to teach us? Is it just general promises or does it have a very specific focus and character for us? How does it come to encourage us in the face of struggle? How did it come to the people of Israel of old in the face of their great loss and their great discouragement? It's a psalm that's wonderful, even if we don't see much how it fits in the revelation of God in the Old Testament. But I believe as we see how it fits in that revelation, it'll become even more precious, more profound, more wonderful. And so I gave you an assignment last week. I'm seeing a few faces that don't seem as if they're ready for the test. The assignment last week was to go back and look at Deuteronomy 32 and 33. I will not ask people to raise hands. This is not a Pentecostal meeting. So we won't raise hands as to how many have looked at those passages. But it's important because it's part of the revelation of God where he said to his people, I'm giving you my covenant and you will not be obedient. And when you are not obedient, my chastisement, my severe chastisement will fall upon you. But that will not be the last word. Because I have a covenant of grace with you, I will come to you and I will restore you. And there at the end of Deuteronomy, he's reflecting both on the suffering that would come to Israel, the kind of suffering we sang about in Psalm 79, but also the beautiful restoration, the beautiful preservation, the unfolding love of the Lord that would restore his people, which I believe is what we find here in Psalm 91. Those promises of restoration. When God comes to his people in judgment in history, it is not his last word. But he promises his last word will be a word of restoration, of grace, of mercy, of kindness, of protection, of goodness. And that's what this psalm celebrates. And last week we looked at the beginning and the ending of this psalm, which we could summarize in just two words. Maybe you wish I had last week. Just two words. God near. The people had felt God was far away. They had lost their king. They'd lost their temple. They'd lost their capital. They'd lost their land. But God was still near. God was still their dwelling place. God had been their dwelling place before they'd ever had a land. God was with them. God was near. God near. That's the great promise of the commitments we saw at the beginning and the ending of this psalm. The people of God, each one individually, is committed to God. My God in whom I trust. And God is committed to these people. Verse 14, because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. And so this mutual commitment is what begins and ends this psalm, and summarized, I think, in these great words, God, near. And then we can move on to the rest of the psalm, where we hear not only that God, near, but the result of that is, verse 5, no fear. God near, no fear. And the psalm in this more central section of the psalm reflects on the dangers that can beset the people of God. And when we meditate on these dangers, what we find is they are all of the most serious order. These are all dangers unto death. These are all destructive forces. We read verse 3, for he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler. But what does a trapper go out to do when he wants to trap an animal? I suppose we don't think about trapping too much anymore except maybe when there's a bear in somebody's backyard and we have to trap the bear and tranquilize it to take it out in the wilderness. It all seems kind of harmless. But that's not the way trapping was in the ancient world. Trapping was to get food or to get fur. Trapping was to kill. Traps were not benevolent. They were destructive to the one trapped. And the same is true of pestilence, isn't it? Deadly pestilence. Here we're looking at a world of dangers, not little dangers, but dangers pursuing to death. And what is the promise? In the face of these dangers, God will cover you with his pinions. Here God is portrayed as a hovering bird protecting its young. And under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler. And so this picture is laid out for us that whatever the destruction is that appears likely to destroy the people of God, whether it's enemies who try to trap us or enemies who shoot arrows at us or plagues that beset us or deadly pestilence that comes upon us whatever those dangers are the promise is God will protect his people God will preserve his people he will not allow the heathen to destroy his people that's the promise here that's the comfort that's being offered us here God near, no fear. That's the promise. And so, late in Deuteronomy, we have some of those promises. First of all, about the nearness of God. Think of these words from Deuteronomy 32, verses 10 and 11. He encircled him, cared for him, kept him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions. You see how that language of the nearness of God and the protection of God from the end of Deuteronomy is picked up in this psalm to say, after the chastisement of God comes his blessing and his care. And then that amazing and marvelous verse about the nearness of God from Deuteronomy 33, 27. The eternal God is our dwelling place and underneath are the everlasting arms. What a wonderful promise from God. He is not only our dwelling place, but he is the one who shelters us in his arms so that that dwelling, that nearness of God can never be disturbed. These are not passing arms that will grow weak with age, but these are the everlasting arms of God's strength that will sustain us and preserve us and carry us forward. And so the promise is that God will bless. God will sustain. God will bring his people through and bring his people out. Now, specifically, here the promise is that we'll be protected from enemies. Look at verses 5, 6, and 13 of Psalm 91. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. Down at verse 13, you will tread on the lion and the adder. The young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. Here are all these enemies. Some of them not fully described. The terror, the terror of the night. We don't know exactly what terror of the night. Have you ever been frightened in the night? Well, you know, just a taste of the terror that's being talked about here. Or the destruction that wastes at noonday. These are the enemies of God's people, but God has promised that he will preserve his people. God had warned his people of judgment. Deuteronomy 32, 23, and I will heap disasters on them. I will spend my arrows on them. They shall be wasted with hunger and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence. I will send the teeth of beasts against them with the venom of things that crawl in the dust. Here was God's warning of enemies coming to his people. And now you see this is being reversed here. The people are being assured that what God had once allowed enemies to do to them, he will allow no longer. He will protect his people. He will bring them through. He will sustain them. He will bless them. And so there's no fear, no fear of enemies, but also no fear of God's judgment. No fear of God's judgment, that's part of what's going on here. Consider the interesting verse 7 of Psalm 91. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. Well, that too is language that has been borrowed from Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32, verse 30, God has said to Israel about his punishment of them, how could one have chased a thousand and two have put ten thousand to flight unless their rock had sold them and the Lord had given them up? And so the psalmist is saying, in effect, when the Lord was against you because of your sin, One person could defeat 1,000 of you. Two people could defeat 10,000 of you because the Lord was against you. But now the Lord has come in mercy. Now the Lord has come in deliverance. And so exactly the opposite is true. If 1,000 come against you or 10,000 come against you, they can't arm you because the Lord is with you to bless you and to sustain you. The Lord will preserve us from dangers. Verse 11, For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. That too resonates with Deuteronomy 33, where Israel had been reminded, The Lord came from Sinai. He came from the ten thousands of holy ones with flaming fire at his right hand. God is surrounded by his holy angels. Deuteronomy reminded Israel. But here the psalmist is reminding us those holy angels exist for the sake of God's people. Have you ever wondered why there are angels? I have. I don't see why God needs angels. Why can't God just directly do everything? And part of the answer to that, I think, is that God has shown in all of his creative work how he loves diversity, how he loves complexity, how he loves variety. How many flowers do we need? How many kinds of flowers do we need? Some people would say, once you have a poinsettia, that's all you really need. But God loves diversity, doesn't he? He's made all sorts of flowers. We look at the heavens and see the stars and all their variety. Stars that for centuries no eye could see but God's. Why did he make them all? Because he loves that diversity. And so it appears to be with the holy angels. He doesn't need them, but he's created them to fill his throne room and to use them to bless his people. In Hebrews 1, verse 14, we read, Are they, the angels, are they not all worshiping spirits for ministering, sent out for those who are to inherit salvation? That's why God made angels. At least one of the reasons he made angels. To minister to those who will inherit salvation. And so we read, For 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. What would happen if the psalmist had struck his foot against a stone? He'd have fallen down amongst the lions and the adders, the young lions and the serpents. It would have been destructive. but the angels will bear him up so that not only will he not fall down but he'll tread upon these dangerous beasts and not be overcome what a wonderful promise it's not a promise that God gave to his people that they might be presumptuous or frivolous or self-centered in the way they live their life that's what the devil tried to do with this promise when the devil came to our Lord in the wilderness and took him to the pinnacle of the temple and said cast yourself down for Psalm 91 has promised that he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways lest you dash your foot against a rock you see what the devil was trying to do with this verse He was trying to trivialize it. He was trying to get our Lord to do something ridiculous and self-centered and frivolous. Not to test, not to trust the Lord, but to test the Lord. That's how Jesus responded, isn't it? Quoting from Deuteronomy. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And what is it to put God to the test? It's to doubt that he's really there. That's the essence of testing God, to doubt that he's really there. And the devil, in effect, is saying to Jesus, all right, here you are in the pinnacle of the temple. If you're really the Son of God, he'll take care of you. But you know that matters in doubt. So cast yourself down and let's see if he keeps his promise. Jesus said, this matter is not in doubt that God is with me. This matter is not in doubt that I can trust my Father. this matter is not in doubt that he will preserve his people and keep his promise so Jesus trusted God and refused to allow the devil to corrupt his word Jesus knew that God had given the angels to help him in his work and it's interesting to go back and look at the gospels and see the presence of the angels there The angels were there when he was born to celebrate his birth. The angels were there when he finished his temptation in the wilderness to minister to him. The angels were there in the Garden of Gethsemane, invisibly, but there. And when there was a question of him fighting to resist the Roman soldiers, what did Jesus say? That if he had wanted to fight, there were 12 legions of angels there at his call. Depending exactly on what the ancient historians say about the size of a legion, it comes out to somewhere around 100,000 angels. The angels were there ministering to Jesus throughout his ministry. They were there at his resurrection, weren't they, to give testimony. He is not here, he is risen. Why seek ye the living among the dead? And Jesus promises that they'll be with him when he returns in glory to separate the wheat from the chaff. So there is no doubt in Jesus' mind or in the revelation of the scriptures that the angels were always with Jesus as he did the Father's work, as he trusted the Father's purpose. The angels are given not to help us avoid God's will, but to do God's will. That's what Jesus teaches us in his faith and in his life. And that's why we should have the assurance that there are angels that attend us as well as his people, that go with us, to strengthen us, to encourage us. Hebrews 2, we read, Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, Jesus, likewise, partook of these same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. The fear of death is a lifelong slavery. And Jesus came to deliver us from that. And this psalm is a celebration of that deliverance. We are those who can say, God near, no fear. No fear of enemies, no fear of judgment, no fear of loss. Because Jesus, in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, promises us eternal life, where no enemy can touch us, where no loss can consume us. God near, no fear. And then there's verse 8 of Psalm 91. It seems almost out of place, except that it stands at the very center, the very heart of the psalm. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. This is a world that seems often out of joint, where it doesn't seem clear at all that God is sovereign, where it doesn't seem clear at all that we are safe. But verse 8 says, one day all will be clear. And those enemies, the wicked who seem so strong, who seem so in charge, they'll get their reward. God near, no fear, all clear. Boys and girls, write that down, because I worked really hard on that. God near, no fear, all clear. Only you will look and see the recompense of the wicked. And you notice how that's all God's work. We don't take up the sword. We don't bring the judgment. We stand and we watch the victory of the Lord when he comes to make all things right. That's the promise. That's the hope. That's the mercy that surrounds us. That although we live in a world where there is so much loss, where there's so much pain, where there's so much death and destruction, God has promised us in Jesus Christ that he has overcome it. And that the victory of Jesus Christ is something we can know now. The promise of safety in Jesus Christ is something we can know now. When Jesus hung on the cross and appeared to be abandoned, the angels were with him then to accomplish the purpose of God. And the angels are with us now as we are called to live our lives in the service of God and to be assured, God near, no fear. Deuteronomy 33 says, Happy are you, O Israel, who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of your help and the sword of your triumph. You know, we're used to hearing the scripture say, who is a God like our God? And how intriguing to realize that God inspired Moses to say, who is a people like you? Yes, we have a great and glorious God, but the promise of scripture is that great and glorious God brings great and glorious blessing to us as his people. Happy are you, O Israel, who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of your help and the sword of your triumph. As we live this new year, may we live it in that faith and in that happiness. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord our God, how thankful we are for your great mercies to us, for your great faithfulness to us, that you have laid upon our Lord Jesus in his suffering all of our sin, all of our faithlessness, and you have promised that in him, as we believe in him, as we love him, As we hold to him, we will find the triumph over every enemy, over all judgment, over every destructive power, so that we may know that we will live forever in the salvation that he provides. Grant that we all may know that, O Lord, for we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.