“Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because he has known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him, I will be with Him in trouble. I will deliver him and honour him.”
What beautiful words from the shepherd who now leads you forward. He is letting you know He is with you! No matter what snakes and scorpions and rushing waters the desert holds, He is with you. Never will He leave you, never will he forsake you!
I had fantastic news today. My brother Ken, who I interviewed a few podcasts back, said his daughters inexplicable condition has dissapeared. Just a short month ago they were considering invasive and life chnging surgery. Last night, as they had dinner, my brother randomly asked his 6 yo daughter what changed, that she feels well and the symptoms have dissapeared. “Jesus Healed me!” She said. “He said Do Not Fear.”
I know for a time he was overwhelmed by her medical problems. Yet somehow, sometime, God roared out of Zion and delivered her.
Join me today as we complete our journey through Psalm 91.
I can hardly believe it, but here we are in the last verse of Psalm 91!
As the quarantine sort of swept us of our feet! I began looking for a way to encourage others in the Lord. As I prepared these podcasts, I have been the most encouraged of all!
Today the news is saying governors are falling over one another to be the first to re-open their economies. So this time of separation is going to end. Just as Psalm 91 comes to an end in verse 16.
“With Long life will satisfy him and show Him my salvation.”
The children of Israel were slaves for 400 years. I think there is a good chance you and I have shackles from slavery to something in our life. Maybe it’s a hidden sin? A chemical or emotional addiction? More likely it is the simple chains of obligations, business, or needing to please others. Through Psalm 91 God has called you away to the Secret Place to deal with the things that have tied you up. He is setting you free. He completes all of this by blessing you with a long life and salvation from all that once bound you!”
I have mentioned that I had a rough patch in my life many years ago. During that long, dark, season, I lost all I held dear. I always remember a Friday night when I was missing my kids, my friends, and the deep koinania (or fellowship) that I once had at my church. I was completely alone, just walking empty streets in an unfamiliar city. The loss and loneliness was a very real pit in my gut. I felt empty inside. I believed God had forsaken me, and I was not even considering calling on Him.
“My life is over,” I was thinking. “I am 45 and I have nothing to live for, or to hope in, or believe in.” I was looking into my future and seeing only a dark and empty tunnel. I was no longer young enough to begin again. The hopelessness was tangible.
As I crossed a deserted street, I heard God. He spoke a word of light into the shadows of my mind. “You have only lived half your life,” He gently told me, “You have another half to go, and it will be a full life.”
That pinprick of light sustained me through the next few years as I needed to scratch and claw my way back to the surface and breathe again. Today, at times, I find myself thinking “MY life is so FULL!” My kids surround me, I have granbabes, ministries, a great husband, and more adventures with friends than I can keep up with. And if I had only lived half my life at 45… well, lets just say I still have a long way to go!
My Mom is a wonderful example of a well lived, full life. I am the middle of five offspring. She raised us in a tiny Detroit home, on a pitiful allotment for groceries. She is kind and unassuming. She hasnever been a TV star or had excess wealth. She also dealt with a husband who often did not appreciate her saintly life. Yet we kids always felt loved, rich and blessed.
I still remember her singing hymns as she hung sheets out to dry or stirred dinner in a steaming pan. She made sure we all attended church, and prayed for us all her days. She’s a tiny sprite of a woman, weighing in at only 85lbs soaking wet, but at 89, she can still run circles around me, and punch Satan in the gut! She still only needs vitamins to maintain her health.
My mom can tell some wonderful stories of how God answered prayers and took care of her through the years.
And there she is, still going strong. This little fireball for Jesus was honored with a long life, and all us children rise up and call her blessed.”Many women have done excellently, but you excel (and outlive!) them all.”
When I interviewed my brother a few episodes ago, he pointed out that all the Psalms are speaking first about Jesus. We read PSalm 91 and see that it’s truths are lived out through our Savior.
Except… Here it says “With a long life.”
Yes, that’s a bit sketchy I thought. Even the Holy One of God could not count on a long life.
Until I read Isaiah 53 for our Passover feast. Follow me here. This chapter is a prophetic picture of Jesus life and destiny as a man on the earth. Verse 8 says “He was cut off from the land of the living” Ok. Yes. That is sad but true. We know Jesus was crucified and did not die a natural death , old and full of years. But now look at verse 10 which says “He shall prolong his days…”
Wow. He was both cut off, AND Had His days prolonged! How does that work?
I have to think it was about the resurrection. Yes, he will be cut off, and die young. But actually, He would rise again and His days would be miraculously prolonged! Then Jesus rose and joined His father in heaven where he will live eternally. So if He never died… THAT is a very long life, don’t you think? Jesus ensured us through His resurrection that He is Lord over death. He told Martha “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die!”
My husband and I recently rented the movie “I still believe” about Jeremy Camp. Spoiler alert coming if you have not seen it yet!! Go watch it and come back!
Camp’s beautiful fiancé was miraculously healed of cancer. How fantastic is that? She was a godly and devoted young woman who was worthy of such a miracle. Yet directly after the couple was married, the cancer returned with a vengeance and she passed on within months. Not a long life, God… but Melissa does live on. In those who loved her and knew her. through many who came to theLord because of hearing her story.
Jesus explained it this way: “as to whether the dead will be raised, haven’t you read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham Isaac and Jacob had died, God said to Moses “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living!”
Think about it! God still knows and is with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is with Melissa Camp, He is with those we love who left this earth who knew Him. He is with my dad, and my daughters best friend who expected to be healed of cancer, but was cut off far too young in our thinking. They are not dead at all. In fact, They are living their best life now!
The promises of God are Yes and Amen. I see that clearly in my life and so many lives around me. We lay hold of them in the secret place as God speaks to our hearts and shares His secrets with us. Wgen you hide there, He will tell you what He is doing, and when we should hang on, and when we should let go for a greater purpose.
On Easter Sunday, a family of four was watching an online Easter service, when the husband began tracking a potential storm. He quickly moved His family into a special concrete room, and mere seconds later a tornado ripped apart the entire house. Nothing remained except that one room. The picture onlinr shows the house’s foundation, and a concrete closet. The entire family miraculously survived.
Psalm 91 tells us we have a concrete closet. When the winds blow and storms come, as they will, we have a place to hide. You will not be swept away.
I hope you enjoyed this podcast as much as I enjoyed creating it.
May the Lord Bless thee and keep thee the Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee, the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace.
