By Rony Kozman, Ph.D.
Assistant professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
THE PROTECTION OF GOD’S NAME
Psalm 91:1–6, 9–16
We can trust God’s power to protect us. (1–6)
The main theme of this psalm is that God rescues those who trust in Him. Those who love God and who are righteous will be delivered by God from their distress. God will vindicate the righteous.
As we pray this psalm, we repeatedly address the “you.” On one hand, we may address ourselves as the “you.” On the other hand, if we pray this together in community, we can address each other.
You can be sure of God’s deliverance since God is faithful to those who trust in Him. As we recite this psalm, not only do we address the “you” of ourselves and each other, but the psalm also has us speak in the first person as the “I” who trusts in God and confesses that the Lord is “my refuge and my fortress.”
We can rest in God’s power to keep us secure. (9–13)
We will not fear when disaster strikes because we have “made the Lord [our] refuge.” The psalm continues to emphasize that God will protect us.
Not only will He send His angels to protect us, but we will even defeat threats as menacing and life-threatening as lions, cobras and serpents.
“Serpent” can refer even to gigantic serpentine creatures (e.g., Gen. 1:21; Ex. 7:9, 12; Isa. 27:1; Ps. 74:13; Ps. 148:7), and the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures may use the term “dragon.” The serpents of verse 13 are chaos-causing creatures.
We need to beware how we understand God’s deliverance and be careful not to misuse this psalm. The devil used this very psalm to test Jesus in the wilderness. Matthew invites us to see that Jesus did not take the dragon’s bait but demonstrated that He was the Son of God by His patient endurance and obedience through suffering.
As we read Psalm 91 in light of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, we see it does not promise that those who trust in God will not suffer, nor does Jesus’ life show us that we will not die.
The psalm promises that in the end, those who trust God are children of God who will be vindicated and rescued in the future resurrection from the dead, even if we suffer disaster and death now.
We can experience satisfaction because God works on our behalf. (14–16)
The Son of God loved the Father and called to the Father to rescue Him from suffering when He was in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:39–42) and while He was being crucified (27:46). And as Psalm 91 tells us, the Father did not abandon the Son but was with Him and rescued Him.
The Father showed His salvation when He raised the Son from the dead and gave Him a long life. So we who are in Christ can also trust that God is always with us, even when we suffer, and we can trust that God will one day make all things right and rescue us from all trouble and calamity.
Christ defeated the dragon by His suffering, and we also share in Christ’s reign and vindication and God’s deliverance if we share in Christ’s suffering and patient endurance.
Share with others: