A Sermon on Psalm 91

This has been a difficult few weeks in the life of our community. The disasters in Japan touched home here because of our community’s close relationship with the people of northern Japan. The budget crisis in our state has pitted neighbors against one another, and caused great anxiety. Fuel prices are rising and unemployment is up, causing greater tensions in our community and our families as many of us struggle to make ends meet. Many in our church are ill, overworked, or lonely. And in the past week we lost one of our dearly beloved congregants, Ruth, to death.

How do we keep going on when the world is in turmoil and death has come to our doorstep? Where is the Good News of the Gospel for us today, when life is so messy and uncertain?

In times like these I am grateful for the messiness of the Psalms. They admit that life isn’t perfect. They show us pictures of grief, of anger, of frustration, and of exhaustion. They give us words to pray when we don’t know what to say. And they also show us hope.

In the children’s sermon I mentioned God’s 911 in Psalm 91. Throughout the history of the church, people have turned to this Psalm in times of trouble. For what do we need in times of trouble? We need God. No one else can bring us peace. God and God alone can begin to restore our wounded hearts. God and God alone can handle the depth of our anguish.

Psalm 91 is often known as the “Psalm of Habitation.” In it we read of God’s invitation to his children to live with him. It begins: You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
 will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress;
 my God, in whom I trust.’

We don’t use the word “abide” much in our daily conversation anymore. This is a shame, for it’s a word that really captures what it means to live with God. The word used in Psalm 91 for “abide” is the same word that’s used elsewhere in Scripture to mean “live,” “sit,” or “dwell.” There’s a sense that “to abide” is to really settle in somewhere, to put down some roots and make it a home, a place that is your place.

I was attending college near Chicago when September 11^th happened. I remember sitting with my classmates and professors, watching the towers fall. I was young and in shock, and there were rumors flying around that our city would be next. Chicago's tallest buildings were evacuated and chaos reigned. The city lived in fear. The very next morning I loaded up my car with some fellow students and drove to the only place I knew I’d feel safe: my parents’ house in northern Wisconsin. After such a tragedy, something that shook our country to its core, I went home, to a place where I knew I’d be welcomed and safe, removed from the terror of those plane crashes. And when the five of us knocked on my parents’ door, bedraggled and shaken, they welcomed us in with open arms. This was my shelter, my home. This was where we could abide.

This is the invitation God makes to us. “The world is crazy,” this Psalm admits. There is deadly pestilence. Despair. War. Famine. Danger. The terror of the night. So God says to us all, “Come in! Abide in my shelter. Live in my tent. Make your home with me.” To abide is to live in safety and peace. To stay in the everlasting arms of our Savior, Jesus Christ, no matter what storms may rage outside. Just like at my parents’ home, if we knock, the door will open to us. God desires our presence. He invites us in.

The Psalm continues with imagery of comfort, picturing God as a mother bird caring for her chicks. We are told we can find refuge under God’s wings, where we will be covered with God’s “pinions,” or feathers. We are then reminded to make the Lord our refuge, for, as the Psalmist rightly says, only the Lord remains steadfast. Only God will never be shaken. Only God will always be there.

This Psalm is also known as the “Psalm of Protection.” Stories abound of people who have prayed over this Psalm during times of hardship and persecution, finding comfort in its words and in the knowledge that our God is a God of providence who holds the world in his hands.

Actor Jimmy Stewart, famous for his role as George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” was not only an actor; he was a soldier. He fought in World War II, flying planes over Germany. When he left for the war, his father, Alex, met with him to say goodbye. Alex was so tearful that he could not properly convey his wishes to his Jimmy, but simply pressed a letter into his hands.

The letter said: “My dear Jim boy. Soon after you read this letter, you will be on your way to the worst sort of danger. Jim, I'm banking on the enclosed copy of the 91st Psalm. The thing that takes the place of fear and worry is the promise of these words. I am staking my faith in these words. I feel sure that God will lead you through this mad experience. I can say no more. I only continue to pray. Goodbye, my dear. God bless you and keep you. I love you more than I can tell you. Dad.”

As a veteran of the Spanish-American War, Alex knew the comforting power of Psalm 91 for those in battle. "Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare ... You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day."

Jimmy Stewart returned home a decorated war hero. He said he learned to lean on the words of his tattered copy of Psalm 91, especially verses 1 and 2, which speak of God as a refuge and fortress.

This Psalm has also brought comfort to people in times of disease. The great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon lived in England during a tremendous cholera epidemic. It got so bad that he was conducting a funeral every single day. He found himself utterly discouraged, convinced that he was doing no good in trying to help these grieving families.

As he walked down the street, head down, he passed bya store window. In this window was a piece of paper with parts of Psalm 91 written on it. "You will not fear the terror of night ... nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you" (Ps. 91:5-7).

Suddenly Spurgeon felt his soul become lighter. He was not alone. God provided him with courage and strength. He made it through the rest of the epidemic and found new energy to care for his church’s grieving families.

This Psalm is a Psalm of great comfort, but it also leaves us with some questions. God protects us, certainly, and invites us to abide with him. But what about those who have died? What about those who met death in an earthquake or a tsunami in Japan? Where was God then? What about our own families who are grieving even today? Where is God now?

Psalm 91’s message does not end when we die. It is a Psalm that speaks of our lives here on earth, but also God’s continuing care for us after the end of life. The Psalm ends with words of life everlasting. Says the Lord: “Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. 
When they call to me, I will answer them;
 I will be with them in trouble,
 I will rescue them and honor them.
 With long life I will satisfy them,
 and show them my salvation.”

Our God is stronger even than death. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, conquered the powers of sin and death on the cross and rose to new life that we, also, may be resurrected with him. When we lose those we love, we grieve, and we should grieve, for death is terrible. Death is THE problem. We mourn, but in a way we can also celebrate, for God promises to “show them my salvation.” This world is not the end.

Catholic priest Michael Joncas used this Psalm as the model for his song, “On Eagles’ Wings.” It quotes large portions of Psalm 91 and is often sung at funerals. The song helps us see the connection between God’s protections on earth and God’s eternal protections and provisions for us in heaven, through Jesus Christ. 

Verse one goes: "Those who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in his shadow for life, say to the Lord, 'my refuge, my Rock in whom I trust!' For he will raise you up on eagle’s wings. Bear you on the breath of dawn. Make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.”

Those of us who trust in the Lord can trust him up until the moment of our death and beyond. For Christ has conquered death and lives and reigns in heaven for us. He has prepared a place for us.

We serve a God of faithfulness. He watches over us by day and by night. We can trust in his protection, his provision, his care, and his love, knowing that today, tomorrow, and on the day of our death we can say to him, “My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.”

Amen.

*Sermon preached March 27, 2011.