The psalmist in chapter 91, starts out in verses one and two declaring that God is “my refuge and my fortress”. He continued talking to us about God and his provision for his people, but also prophetically about the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

1. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 

2. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 

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. 

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; 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.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91:1-16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

There are so many promises of protection within this chapter for His chosen people and now also for us who have been grafted in. I have been hearing many people quote verses from this chapter during this time of quarantine. It is good to remind the saints of the promises that are available to them. To obtain the fullness of these promises for our lives and our family, we need to do the very first thing the psalmist did. Dwell!

DWELL
(1) In the Old Testament “dwell” is a translation of 9 words, of which by far the most frequent is yashabh; “to sit down,” translated “dwell” over 400 times. 
(2) In the New Testament “dwell” most frequently stands for oikeo, or one of its compounds which, is always translated “abide”.

To dwell with him is more than just accepting Christ. You can purchase a house, move into that house, but never make it a home. Accepting Christ gives you the right to be in the house. It is through intimacy and an investment of time that makes it a home. It is not a house we build for Him, but it is entering into His presence (“sitting down”) investing time and being intimate with Him.

I don’t know anyone that sits down and spends time with someone without eventually getting to really know the other person. Remember the days when you were dating, you wanted to spend every minute with that person. Sitting for hours on the phone for sometime, not really having anything of importance to say, just to spend time.

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah‬ ‭29:12-13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The key is with your whole heart. You can either have a house or a home. It is not dependent on how long you sit with Him but that when you do, you are all in, with your whole heart.

A friend of mine had a boyfriend who would sit on the phone with her and read the newspaper to himself. He did not have his whole heart into that conversation. He is a good man and is also a friend of mine, but never made the house into a home.

Take the time to enter His presence intentionally to spend time with Him. For me I begin by putting on worship videos and worship along with them. Participation is the key, singing with the video will create an atmosphere in which I am able to “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name!” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100:4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Now that I have entered into His presence, I will come in and sit down. There are times when God begins to share with me and I will begin to write. Other times I may share with God something on my heart; not a laundry list, but one or two things, and allow Him to speak over those items. Once I hear His response I may bring up another issue or concerns I have. Like any good relationship, it is a dialogue sharing with one another. We all desire to be heard when we speak. I believe it is the same with our God.

When I was dating my wife, I never looked at the clock and wondered how much longer we were going to talk. You will get to the point when your time with God will be: “where did the time go?”. Especially during the “quarantine” where time really has not mattered as much, I have spent at times up to three hours.

Before the quarantine, I had to be a little more concerned about the time I spent in the morning. I still desired to dwell with God, but had to get to my fulltime job. When God would speak to me, I would write down bits and pieces, then the next day we would continue our conversation until His thought became clearer to me.

Dwelling is so important the psalmist emphasizes it again in verse nine. By creating a time to dwell, to sit down with Him, every promise in Psalms 91 is for you and your household.

You can see a transition from talking about how God will keep the ones that dwell (sit down with Him) to God Himself responding back. In other versions you will see it says “Because he loves me, says the Lord”.

“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.”

Psalms 91:14-16 ESV

From verse fourteen to the end of the chapter you can insert your name in the “he” and “him”. “Because Kyle holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver Kyle; I will protect Kyle, because Kyle knows my name. When Kyle calls to me, I will answer Kyle; I will be with Kyle in trouble; I will rescue Kyle and honor Kyle. With long life, I will satisfy Kyle and show Kyle my salvation.”

“Because he knows my name.” You will only know this name by spending time with Him. I have shared before that not everyone knows my middle name. That comes with spending time with me. Think of all the middle names you know, and typically they are people that close to you.

APPLICATION

• Do you have a house or a home? Are you dwelling?
• Carve out time to get into God’s presence. Just sit down with Him.
• Get to know His name.