Psalm 91 Practical Conclusions

Practical Applications of the Psalm

Text. Psalm 91:14ff
We come to the final section of the psalm, and the pronoun changes again.  Here the psalmist is speaking as God, in the first person, directly addressing his people, and we conclude our examination of Psalm 91 with this summary of the Lord’s care for for them.

1 Self-Examination.  v14
The psalmist gives us a list of attributes of one who is trusting the Lord, a spiritual description, a check-list, against which we can measure our own lives, to make an assessment of our own spiritual condition.    They are:-  

• Do I LOVE the Lord?  Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him.  The psalmist here is telling us that we are to love the Lord.  This is elementary, is it not?  It is part of God’s requirement for every man and woman, delivered in the commandments, the Law of God, that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart.  Now, OF COURSE we fall short of that, for our love for God is diluted by our own sinfulness, our natural rebellion against God, our natural tendency to give our love to idols.  Let us fix our love upon the Lord.  Simply ask ‘Do I Love the Lord?’  and examine ourselves honestly.
• Do I Know Him?  I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
  • We are strictly limited in our knowledge of God’s purposes.  We cannot see the divine purpose behind God’s mysterious workings.
  • We are limited in our knowledge of his nature.  We know what has been revealed to us the Bible, but our knowledge of God, is strictly limited to what has been revealed to us.  BUT
  • We CAN know His Name!  Again, we think back to Moses at the burning bush…  by his name he has made himself known. The Heidelberg Catechism: Why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is, Saviour? Because he saves us from all our sins, and because salvation is not to be sought or found in anyone else.  Matthew 1:21;
• Do I Speak to Him in Prayer?   15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;  How’s my prayer life?  I will only know the assurance of God’s care and protection to me I will only be dwelling in the secret place of the most High God, if I am communing with Him in prayer.   Do I come to cast my burden upon the Lord on a regular basis?

Let’s just look at our own lives, and do a little bit of self examination, and see if there is anything in my life that is preventing me from full relying and trusting in the Lord, and thus knowing his loving care and protection.

2 The Proclamation of His Deliverance.  Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
Think of just what that includes, as the psalmist reminds us…

• He sets them on high.  I will set him on high, because he has known My name.  Because we know that God is our salvation, we are seated in heavenly places with him.  Ephesians :5-6   In Christ, we are already granted a place in heaven.
• He answers their prayers.  He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
• He remains continually with them,  I will be with him in trouble;.  The palmist also talks about trouble in Psalm 46, where he reminds that God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.
• He honours them.  I will deliver him and honour him.  We certainly must honour the Lord, but there is a very precious promise given, 1 Samuel 2:30 cf John 12:26    This is a wonderful promise.

3 The Abundant Life He Grants Them.
There’s two important aspects to the Christian life that the Psalmist reminds us of here.  The relationship that we have with God through Christ is both:

• A life of satisfaction. 16 With long life I will satisfy him,  I used to wonder about this,  Again, we see God making us a promise that doesn’t seem, at first glance to be kept, for how many genuine Christians die in their early years.  Let’s think about it… Jesus was only on this earth 33 years, yet in that short life he fully accomplished God’s perfect will. He did what he was sent to do, and when his task was finished, God took him home to glory. Is it not so also with us? When we have fulfilled God’s will and purpose for our lives, does the Lord not just take us home to our heavenly reward?
  Yet here the promise is for long life, or is it?  How long is long?   The key here is that whatever length our long life is, it is a life of SATISFACTION.  However long we remain on this earth, when we live close to the Lord we find satisfaction.
• A Life of Salvation.  And show him My salvation.”  Salvation begins in this life, but eternal life, the result of salvation, is not only something you look forward too, it is something which has already begun within us, and will go on forever.   Some commentators have suggested that the words ‘my salvation’ here is referring to Jesus, for he IS God’s salvation – there is no other name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved. Our satisfaction, the pinnacle of our lives, will come when we stand in the presence of Christ!

So we have reached the end of our psalm. And as we have read it and studied it together, we take courage, and great comfort from the abiding promises of God.

To listen to this sermon as a podcast, please click this link.

LISTEN TO PODCAST