I will say of Yahweh, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”
Parallel Translations
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I will say of Yahweh, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”
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I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
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I will say of the LORD, who is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust,
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Psalms 91:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 18:2 Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
- Isaiah 26:3-4 You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you. Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock.
- Proverbs 18:10 Yahweh’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.
- Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.”
- Psalms 142:5 I cried to you, Yahweh. I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
- Psalms 62:5-8 My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my expectation is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor is with God. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us.
- Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- Psalms 71:3 Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may always go. Give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
- Psalms 14:6 You frustrate the plan of the poor, because Yahweh is his refuge.
- Psalms 91:9 Because you have made Yahweh your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
- Deuteronomy 33:27-29 The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’ Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his heavens drop down dew. You are happy, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, the shield of your help, the sword of your excellency? Your enemies will submit themselves to you. You will tread on their high places.”
- Genesis 17:7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.
- Psalms 48:14 For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death.
- Hebrews 11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
- Psalms 67:6-7 The earth has yielded its increase. God, even our own God, will bless us. God will bless us. All the ends of the earth shall fear him.
- Luke 20:38 Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”
- Deuteronomy 26:17-19 You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. Yahweh has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments. He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken.
- Psalms 43:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.
- Jeremiah 31:1 “At that time,” says Yahweh, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
- Deuteronomy 32:30-31 How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain In the second verse he repeats the truth which…
In the second verse he repeats the truth which he had already inculcated, showing at the same time that he speaks from his personal feeling and experience as a believer. This is very necessary in one who would be a teacher; for we cannot communicate true knowledge unless we deliver it not merely with the lips, but as something which God has revealed to our own hearts. The Psalmist accordingly gives evidence, that what he had taught in the preceding verse accorded with his own inward experience. Some read, I will say concerning the Lord, and the Hebrew prefix, ל, lamed, may be so rendered; but the other translation which I have given conveys the more forcible meaning. The believer does more than simply resolve to make God his fortress; he draws near in the trust of the Divine promises, and familiarly addresses God. This confidence in prayer affords an additional proof how securely the people of God can dwell under his shadow. This holy species of boasting constitutes the very highest triumph of faith, when we betake ourselves to God without fear under our worst trials, and are fully persuaded that he answers all our prayers, nay, that we have in him a sufficiency and a superabundance of help.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Being assured of this protection, he prayeth unto the…
Being assured of this protection, he prayeth unto the Lord.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 91:2 I will say of the LORD, [He…
Psa 91:2 I will say of the LORD, [He is] my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Ver. 2. I will say of the Lord] I dare say it is so as I have said, said the psalmist (whom the Jews make to be Moses), and I will presently make proof of it in myself; Non verbis solum praedicans, sed exemplis. Some conceive that the believer having heard the former proposition, Psa 91:1, is here brought in professing his faith; and saying to the psalmist, Behold, I dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and shall I abide under the shadow of the Almighty? The answer follows.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Upon that ground I will confidently commit myself and…
Upon that ground I will confidently commit myself and all my affairs to God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I will say of the Lord,.... Or to the…
I will say of the Lord,.... Or to the Lord (p): these are the words of the psalmist, expressing his faith in the Lord in the following words, taking encouragement from the safety of the godly man above described: the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, he shall say to the Lord; that is, the man that dwells in the secret place, and under the shadow of the Lord: the Targum is,
"David said, I will say to the Lord,''
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as follows:
he is my refuge: a refuge in every time of trouble, outward or toward; a refuge when all others fail; and is himself a never failing one, a strong refuge, which none can break through and into, and in which all that have fled thither and dwell are safe:
and my fortress; what fortifications, natural or artificial, are to a city and its inhabitants, that is God to his people, and much more; he is round about them, as the mountains were about Jerusalem; his salvation are walls and bulwarks to them; yea, he is a wall of fire about them, Psa 125:2, they are kept by his power, as in a garrison, Pe1 1:5,
my God, in him will I trust; his covenant God, his God in Christ, and who would ever continue so; and was a proper object of his trust and confidence, both as the God of nature, and the God of grace; who is to be trusted in, both for temporal and spiritual blessings, and at all times; to which his lovingkindness, power, and faithfulness, greatly encourage and engage: the Targum is,
"in his Word will I trust.''
(p) Domino, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Musculus; "ad Jehovam", de Dieu.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. I will say of the Lord] This…
Verse 2. I will say of the Lord] This is my experience: "He is my fortress, and in him will I continually trust."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 91:2-3. I will say of the Lord, He…
Psa 91:2-3. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge — Upon that ground I will confidently commit myself and all my affairs to God. Surely he shall deliver thee — O thou believing, pious soul, who after my example shalt make God thy refuge, thou shalt partake of the same privilege which I enjoy. From the snare of the fowler — Which is laid unseen, and catches the unwary prey on a sudden; and from the noisome pestilence — Which, like a fowler’s snare, seizeth men unexpectedly, and holdeth them fast, and commonly delivers them up to death. “This promise,” saith Henry, “protects, 1st, The natural life, and is often fulfilled in our preservation from those dangers which are very threatening, and very near, and yet we ourselves are not apprehensive of them, no more than the bird is of the snare of the fowler. 2d, The spiritual life, which is protected by divine grace from the temptations of Satan, which are as the snares of the fowler, from the contagion of sin, which is the noisome pestilence. He that has given grace to be the glory of the soul, will create a defence upon all that glory.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I will say of the Lord - I, the…
I will say of the Lord - I, the psalmist; I will take this to myself; I will endeavor to secure this blessedness; I will thus abide with God. In view of the blessedness of this condition, and with the hope of securing it to myself; I will adopt this resolution as the purpose of my life. It is what I need; it is what my soul desires.
My refuge and my fortress - “I will say of Jehovah, My refuge and my fortress!” I will address him as such; I will regard him as such. On the meaning of these terms, see the notes at Psa 18:2.
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My God - I will address him as my God; as the God whom alone I worship; as the only being to whom the name “God” can properly be applied; as being to me all that is implied in the word God.
In him will I trust - I will repose that confidence in him which is evinced by making my home with him, and seeking permanently to dwell with him.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. I will say of the Lord—The Septuagint has…
2. I will say of the Lord—The Septuagint has it: “He shall say to the Lord,” but the author must be considered as speaking in his own person, from his own experience, though from the heart of the people.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. I will say unto Jehovah, My refuge and…
2. I will say unto Jehovah, My refuge and my fortress;
My God in whom I will trust.
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I can and will address Him thus in the language of faith. Cp. Psa_18:2; Psa_31:3; Psa_71:3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I will say of the Lord. The general sentiment…
I will say of the Lord. The general sentiment is followed by a personal application. "I, at any rate," says the first speaker, "will place myself under this powerful protection." He is my Refuge and my Fortress. (comp. Psa_18:2 Psa_144:2) My God; in him will I trust. (comp. Psa_29:2 Psa_31:6 Psa_55:23 Psa_56:3 Psa_61:4, etc.)
A sacred resolve.
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"I will say of the Lord." Consider
I SUCH RESOLVES GENERALLY. It is good to make them; for:
1. They are really prayers. Underlying them there is the desire of the heart that God may give the help needed to fulfil such resolve.
2. They are a blessed stirring up of the grace of God that is in us. The will summons the soul to energy by means of such holy resolves.
3. They are well pleasing to God, for they are an actual endeavour to do his will.
II THIS RESOLVE.
1. See its nature. He would take the Lord as his "Refuge." It is a confession of need and of trust. And as his "Fortress." He would need help in his warfare; he would rely on the Lord for it. As his God, his soul"s Centre, Strength, and Joy.
2. He would do this now.
3. Openly.
4. Personally.
5. Habitually.
III WHAT LED TO THIS RESOLVE. The experience of God"s sheltering love of which he tells in the first verse. He was dwelling in the secret place, was abiding in Christ, and he found, as a fact of his experience, that he was sheltered from all evil.
IV HOW THIS RESOLVE WAS SUSTAINED. By going and telling others of what God had done for him, and would do for them. S.C.
"My God.
These words come as a climax to all that profession of faith which the former part of the verse contains. It is good to say of the Lord, "He is my Refuge to have gone to him, and found in him deliverance from all the guilt and condemnation due to our sin, which otherwise would have overwhelmed us. But it is better to have him as "our Fortress," so that, strong in his strength, we may fight successfully the great battle against all the might of the wicked one. But it is best of all, because a yet higher attainment, to be able to say of God, "He is my God," as the psalmist does here. All that is contained in the former declarations is included in this, and much besides. Blessed, indeed, is he who can say of the Lord, "He is my God." We all know what a charm belongs to that which we can call our own. Even a child delights in any gift far more if it can call what is given its very own. And it is the same with men. Possession enhances preciousness, and causes what is our own to be clung to with a tenacity that would be wanting were it not "our own." We know the poet"s challenge to our patriotic pride when speaking of "my own, my native land." And the man who will delight in God and cleave to him at all times is he who most of all is able to say of him, "He is my God.
I Let us EXPLAIN THE MEANING Of such saying.
1. It does not mean that any man can have a monopoly of God so as to exclude all others. It is so with many of our earthly possessions, but not at all so in our possession of God. On the contrary, he who says of the Lord, "He is my God," is generally one who has learnt to say this by the blessed influence of some other who himself has been able to say it. And he is always one who desires that all others should be able to say it likewise.
2. But it means that he has such conscious possession of and delight in God that he could not have more were God his God only, and not the God of any one else. As with the eye, it could not enjoy more of the light of the sun even if no other eye rejoiced in its light. The joy of the light is not lessened, but greatly increased by, yea, is largely dependent on, others enjoying it also.
II OBSERVE SOME OF THOSE WHO HAVE SAID THIS.
1. Jacob. At Bethel he had been made to feel his deep need of God, and hence he vows that if God would bring him back in peace, "then God shall be my God," etc. And this is the deep longing of every convinced soul.
2. Miriam and Israel at the Red Sea. They sang, "He is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation," etc. They knew of his redemption, and in the joy of it claimed God as "my God." It is the spontaneous utterance of the redeemed soul.
3. Nehemiah, and many others, who thus continually speak of God. They show how God is the abiding Trust of the believer.
4. Our Lord on the cross cried, "My God, my God," etc.! And in him we learn how this precious truth is the solid rock on which, in times of extremest distress, the soul rests itself.
5. And it is the seal of salvation. In the Apocalypse we read amongst the promises "to him that overcometh," there shall be written on him "the name of my God," as if the fact that he had so regarded and rejoiced in God were, as it is, the sure token of his belonging to the city of God. Thus from the dawn of the Divine life in man to its consummation in glory, the people of God have ever said of the Lord, "He is my God.
III WHAT IS INVOLVED IN SUCH SAYING.
1. The man feels it; he has the witness of the Spirit to the fact that God is his God.
2. He asserts it openly confesses and professes this truth.
3. He delights in it. It is no mere abstract proposition, but a perennial spring to him of peace, purity, and power.
4. And others recognize it. When no one but ourselves believes that that which we call ours is so, our possession of it is doubtful and insecure; but when all acknowledge our possession, then it is ours. And so with him who rightly says of the Lord, "He is my God.
IV HOW MAY ANY MAN COME TO SAY THIS? The steps are:
1. Conviction of your need, leading to fervent desire.
2. Consecration. This includes the renunciation of all that would displease God, and the prompt obedience to all his will so far as you know it.
3. Confession of this to God first, and then to man, that God is your God.
4. Confidence. You are to keep believing that God accepts the surrender you have made. And then comes:
5. Consciousness that it is so. The Spirit testifies to you. May we all make this blessed ascent! S.C.
Many names for God.
Finding various names is a common device of love. The names seem to express the many sidedness of our relationship. It must be specially true of God that we stand in various relations to him, and are helped by a variety of terms and names, which express those relations. There are four names given to God in vers. 1, 2. God the Concealer is the "inaccessibly High One." God the Shadower is the "invincibly Almighty One." God the Covenant maker is "Jehovah, the Lord." And God personally appropriated is "my God." Or it has been put in this way:
1. We commune with him reverently, for he is the Most High.
2. We rest in him as the Almighty.
3. We rejoice in him as Jehovah, or Lord.
4. We trust in him as El, the mighty God.
Perowne"s suggestion is more directly in harmony with the psalm. "God is "Most High," far above all the rage and malice of enemies; "Almighty," so that none can stand before his power; "Jehovah," the God of covenant and grace, who has revealed himself to his people; and it is of such a God that the psalmist says, in holy confidence, "He is "my God," in whom I trust.
Trying to find the thoughts which one so circumstanced as Moses would attach to the terms, we may say
I THE "MOST HIGH" IS ABOVE ALL EARTHLY CHANGES. Unaffected by them in such sense as can weaken his relations to them. We cannot interfere in disputes and difficulties without prejudice. Often we cannot keep calm to form good judgment. God can.
II THE "ALMIGHTY" IS ABLE TO DEAL WITH ALL EARTHLY CONDITIONS. They can never be so complicated that he cannot unravel them; never so desperate that he cannot master them. "With God all things are possible." If God does not interfere in a case, the reason must be that he will not, because he can if he please.
III THE "LORD, JEHOVAH" IS UNDER PLEDGE TO INTERFERE FOR HIS PEOPLE"S GOOD. The name "Jehovah" was taken as the sign and seal of the covenant, as the rainbow was taken as the sign of the nature covenant. God, as Jehovah, may be thought of as the "Faithful Promiser.
IV THE TERM "MY GOD" IMPLIES THAT GOD HAS BEEN, IN ACTUAL EXPERIENCE, WHAT THE PSALMIST FELT CONFIDENT THAT HE WAS. It is an important advance to be able to say, "I know not only what God is, I know also what he has been to me. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 2. I will say of the Lord, He…
Ver. 2. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. To take up a general truth and make it our own by personal faith is the highest wisdom. It is but poor comfort to say `the Lord is a refuge, 'but to say he is my refuge, is the essence of consolation. Those who believe should also speak"I will say", for such bold avowals honour God and lead others to seek the same confidence. Men are apt enough to proclaim their doubts, and even to boast of them, indeed there is a party nowadays of the most audacious pretenders to culture and thought, who glory in casting suspicion upon every thing: hence it becomes the duty of all true believers to speak out and testify with calm courage to their own well grounded reliance upon their God. Let others say what they will, be it ours to say of the Lord, "he is our refuge." But what we say we must prove by our actions, we must fly to the Lord for shelter, and not to an arm of flesh. The bird flies away to the thicket, and the fox hastens to its hole, every creature uses its refuge in the hour of danger, and even so in all peril or fear of peril let us flee unto Jehovah, the Eternal Protector of his own. Let us, when we are secure in the Lord, rejoice that our position is unassailable, for he is our fortress as well as our refuge. No moat, portcullis, drawbridge, wall, battlement and donjon, could make us so secure as we are when the attributes of the Lord of Hosts environ us around. Behold this day the Lord is to us instead of walls and bulwarks! Our ramparts defy the leagured hosts of hell. Foes in flesh, and foes in ghostly guise are alike balked of their prey when the Lord of Hosts stands between us and their fury, and all other evil forces are turned aside. Walls cannot keep out the pestilence, but the Lord can.
As if it were not enough to call the Lord his refuge and fortress, he adds,
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My God! in him will I trust. Now he can say no more; "my God" means all, and more than all, that heart can conceive by way of security. It was most meet that he should say "in him will I trust", since to deny faith to such a one were wilful wickedness and wanton insult. He who dwells in an impregnable fortress, naturally trusts in it; and shall not he who dwells in God feel himself well at ease, and repose his soul in safety? O that we more fully carried out the psalmist's resolve! We have trusted in God, let us trust him still. He has never failed us, why then should we suspect him? To trust in man is natural to fallen nature, to trust in God should be as natural to regenerated nature. Where there is every reason and warrant for faith, we ought to place our confidence without hesitancy or wavering. Dear reader, pray for grace to say, "In him will I trust."
Ver. 2. My refuge, my fortress, my God. "My refuge." God is our "refuge." He who avails himself of a refuge is one who is forced to fly. It is a quiet retreat from a pursuing enemy. And there are trials, and temptations, and enemies, from which the Christian does best to fly. He cannot resist them. They are too strong for him. His wisdom is to fly into the refuge of the secret place of his God to rest in the shadow of the Almighty. His "strength is to sit still" there. Isa 30:7. "My fortress." The Psalmist says, moreover, that God is his "fortress." Here the idea is changed no longer a peaceful, quiet hiding place, but a tower of defence strong, manifest, ready to meet the attacks of all enemies, ready and able to resist them all. God is a Friend who meets every want in our nature, who can supply every need. So when we are weak and fainting, and unable to meet the brunt of battle, and striving against sin and sorrow and the wrath of man He is our safe, quiet resting placeour fortress also where no harm can reach us, no attack injure us. "My God." Now the Psalmist, as a summing up of all his praises, says "I will say of Him, He is... my God!" Is there any thing omitted in the former part of his declaration? Everything is hereall possible ascription of honour, and glory, and power to Him "as God" "God over all, blessed for ever, "and of love, reverence, trust, obedience, and filial relation towards him on the part of the Psalmist, as MY God ...when reflecting on the refuge and strength which the Lord has always been to him, and recalling his blessed experiences of sweet communion with Godwords fail him. He can only say (but oh, with what expression!) MY GOD! Mary B.M. Duncan.
Ver. 2. My God. Specially art Thou my God, first, on thy part, because of the special goodness and favour which Thou dost bestow upon me. Secondly, on my part, because of the special love and reverence with which I cling to Thee. J. Paulus Palanterius.
Ver. 2-4. If the severity and justice of God terrify, the Lord offereth himself as a bird with stretched out wings to receive the supplicant, Ps 91:4. If enemies who are too strong do pursue, the Lord openeth his bosom as a refuge, Ps 91:2. If the child be assaulted, he becometh a fortress, Ps 91:2. If he be hotly pursued and enquired after, the Lord becometh a secret place to hide his child; if persecution be hot, God giveth himself for a shadow; if potentates and mighty rulers turn enemies, the Lord interposes as the Most High and Almighty Saviour, Ps 91:1. If his adversaries be crafty like fowlers or hunters, the Lord promises to prevent and break the snares, Ps 91:3. Whether evils do come upon the believer night or day, secretly or openly, to destroy him, the Lord preserveth his child from destruction;and if stumbling blocks be laid in his child's way, he hath his instruments, his servants, his angels, prepared to keep the believer that he stumble not: He shall give his angels charge over thee; not one angel only, but all of them, or a number of them. David Dickson.
Ver. 2.
1. Observe the nouns applied to Godrefuge from trouble, fortress in trouble, God at all times.
2. Observe the pronouns applied by man"I" will say, "my refuge, my fortress, "etc. G. R.
Ver. 2. The power, excellence, fruit, reasonableness, and open avowal of personal faith.
Psalms 91:3*
Ver 3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. Assuredly no subtle plot shall succeed against one who has the eyes of God watching for his defence, We are foolish and weak as poor little birds, and are very apt to be lured to our destruction by cunning foes, but if we dwell near to God, he will see to it that the most skilful deceiver shall not entrap us.
"Satan the fowler who betrays
Unguarded souls a thousand ways",
shall be foiled in the case of the man whose high and honourable condition consists in residence within the holy place of the Most High.
And from the noisome pestilence. He who is a Spirit can protect us from evil spirits, he who is mysterious can rescue us from mysterious dangers, he who is immortal can redeem its from mortal sickness. There is a deadly pestilence of error, we are safe from that if we dwell in communion with the God of truth; there is a fatal pestilence of sin, we shall not be infected by it if we abide with the thrice Holy One; there is also a pestilence of disease, and even from that calamity our faith shall win immunity if it be of that high order which abides in God, walks on in calm serenity, and ventures all things for duty's sake. Faith by cheering the heart keeps it free from the fear which, in times of pestilence, kills more than the plague itself. It will not in all cases ward off disease and death, but where the man is such as the first verse describes, it will assuredly render him immortal where others die; if all the saints are not so sheltered it is because they have not all such a close abiding with God, and consequently not such confidence in the promise. Such special faith is not given to all, for there are diversities in the measure of faith. It is not of all believers that the psalmist sings, but only of those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Too many among us are weak in faith, and in fact place more reliance in a phial or a globule than in the Lord and giver of life, and if we die of pestilence as others die it is because we acted like others, and did not in patience possess our souls. The great mercy is that in such a case our deaths are blessed, and it is well with us, for we are for ever with the Lord. Pestilence to the saints shall not be noisome but the messenger of heaven.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I will say of the Lord, He is my…
Psa_91:2
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust.
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The souls experience of God
I. A souls experience of God. The humblest child of God has as great a weapon forged for his defence of spiritual truths as has the most learned: they each have an experience of God, and that is a weapon which can never be blunted by any intellectual parrying.
II. The wealth of such a soul-experience of God.
1. He is my refuge--from trouble, sorrow, despair.
2. He is my fortress. The forces arrayed against the soul are not merely powers which need to be coerced if they are to yield their best, but some of the forces are in antagonistic opposition to the soul. At such times as these, what a fortress was to the people of ancient days--a place of secure defence--so God was to the psalmist.
3. He is my God. This is an advance upon the other two utterances. It is a grand thing to be able to say of any one, He is my refuge. It is a better thing to be able to say, He is my fortress, my protector. But it is the acme of happy experience to say, He is my friend, my companion, my confidant.
III. The result of his soul-experience of God. In Him will I trust! Trust, or faith in God, is the experiment of the soul in spiritual things, and the only way to a fuller knowledge and a more blessed experience. No longer need the scientist sneer at the faith, the experiment of the Christian, for the man who trusts God in all the circumstances of life is as rational, and proceeds from as rational a basis, as the scientist who, starting from the known, goes on by experiment to discover the unknown. Let your experience of God, of the Christ, of the Holy Spirit, never alter, except to be enlarged, purified, and intensified. This is the will of God concerning you. What are you to do in order to obtain that better experience? Why, this: you must experiment with God--In Him will I trust--along the lines He shall reveal. (W. A. Todd.)
My God.--
My God
To try and preach from this text is like trying to carry honey in your hands. Ere you can reach your friends to whom you would give it, you will find that a large part of it has oozed out between your fingers: or that you failed to convey to others what was so delicious to yourself. My text has been to my own heart sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Have you been in the Alps, or in some other region where the scenery is peculiarly impressive, and where you have witnessed some transcendently beautiful and sublime view, have you tried to tell your friends what you have seen? How utterly you have failed, your words are all inadequate to give them any satisfactory idea of the glorious spectacle you have seen. Now, the unspeakable beauty of these two words is such that I feel I cannot fully convey it to you. I have seen in these two words such a wonderful display of the Lords condescension, of His favour to His chosen, and of the intense delight which springs therefrom, that I feel all incompetent to set it forth to you. However, may God the Holy Spirit give His help, and our meditation shall be sweet. Think--
I. Of these two words together. Now, to get at them, let us think of some of the special occasions in which Gods children have used them and have said, My God.
1. This is the young converts early confession. See Ruths word to Naomi--thy God, my God.
2. The statement of the Christian belief. There is one creed and confession of faith. See Thomas--My Lord and my God.
3. They have often been used to declare the determination of the believer when he has been surrounded by opponents and persecutors. See old Micaiah when the false priests were around him. As the Lord my God liveth.
4. They express the secret vow of the believer as he consecrates himself to the Most High. See Jacob at Bethel--then shall the Lord be my God.
5. They have been the deepest possible comfort to children of God in times of terrible trouble. See our Lord upon the cross, when all the waves and billows of judgment were going over His soul--My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
6. And in times of great deliverance. Hear Miriams song--He is my God and I will exalt Him. Daniel to Darius--My God hath sent His angel, etc. May these words be the frequent language of our lips.
II. The first word, my. My God. How can I call God mine? How can I call that mine which I cannot even conceive? If my thoughts cannot compass it, my heart shall possess it. Love possesses what reason cannot even look upon. But this daring appropriation means--
1. That I own God to be my God.
2. That I do personally recognize him. He is not a god in cloudland to us; He is intensely real and true.
3. That we have come into personal relations with Him, and--
4. That we have appropriated Him to ourselves.
III. The last word, God--what does it mean? But that is more than I can answer. There is no defining the Incomprehensible One. Yet we can call Him My God. But reflect upon His being near as to--
1. His nature, His person, His essence.
2. His attributes.
3. In what He has done I do not know, but I seem to myself to have talked away and to have missed my aim and object altogether, compared with what I have felt in meditating in private upon these dear and blessed words, My God. It is a deep well, but the water is cool and sweet if you can draw it up. My God--there is more than satisfaction in the words. If you have no money, never mind; you are rich if you can say, My God If the husband is buried, if the children have Bone home to heaven, do not despair, thy Maker is thy husband, if you can cry, My God. If your friends have forsaken you, if the unkindnesses of men drive you to say, My God, you will be a gainer by them. Anything which weans from earth and leads to heaven is good. I saw yesterday a park in which they were felling all the trees, and yet there were the poor crows building on elms that were marked to be cut down. I thought to myself, You foolish birds to be building your nests there, for the woodmans axe is ringing all around, and the tall elms are tumbling to the ground. We are all apt to build our nests in trees that will be cut down. We get to love the creature, and to say, My this, and My that, and from this weakness our sharpest sorrows arise. If you build nowhere but on the tree of life, which can never be felled, your happiness will be eternal. For this you must be able to say, My God. (C. H Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
trust
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.