After the humbling aspects of the previous Psalm – spending our years as a tale that is told – there now comes this “Lifting up for the Downcast.” The two psalms (the 90th and 91st) are well expressed in the hymn-writer’s couplet: -
‘Tis also strong to save.”
David Dickson darts about the present psalm pointing out many of the saving features of our God in it.
(1). "If the severity and justice of God terrify, the Lord offereth himself as a bird with outstretched wings to receive the supplicant, verse 4.
(2). If enemies that are too strong for us pursue us, the Lord opens his bosom as a refuge, verse 2.
(3). If his child is assaulted, he becomes a fortress, verse 2.
(4). If sought out, he becomes a secret place to hide him, verse 1. If persecution is hot, God gives himself as a shadow from the heat, verse 1.
(5). If the believer’s enemies are crafty like fowlers or hunters, the Lord promises to prevent and break the snares, verse 3.
(6). Whether evils come on the believer night or day openly or secretly, the Lord preserves his child from destruction verses 5 and 6.
(7). And if stumbling-blocks be laid in his child’s way he has his instruments, his servants, his angels, prepared to keep the believer in that, verse 11.
(8). ‘He shall give his angels charge over thee.’ Not one angel only, but all of them, or, at least, a number them.”
Verse 1. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” This is an expression that implies great nearness. We must walk very close to a companion if we would have his shadow fall on us. Can we imagine any expression more perfect in describing the constant presence of God with his people, than this – they shall “abide under his shadow”? In Solomon’s lovely allegory, the Church in a time of close communion with Christ, says of him – “I sat down under his shadow with great delight.” (Song 2:3) She “sat down” under his shadow – desiring not to leave it, but to abide there for ever. And it is he who chooses to dwell in the “secret place of the most High,” who shall “abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” There is a condition, and a promise attach to it. The condition is that we “dwell in the secret place,” – the promise, that if we do so, we shall “abide under the shadow.” It is important that we view both sides in this way. For when we remember that the blessing is a promised blessing, we are led to feel it as a gift, and a thing, therefore, to be prayed for in faith and sought for by God’s appointed means.
Verse 1. “He that dwelleth ... shall abide ....” Take care to keep under the shadow of the attribute if you would expect the performance of this promise. The shadow will not cool unless you are in it. What good is it to have a shadow, though it be the shadow of a mighty rock, if we sit in the open sun? The saints, like the conies in Proverbs, are a weak people in themselves and their strength lies in the rock of God’s almightiness, which is their habitation.
Verse 3. “Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler ...” It is the great concern of the devil to keep out of sight so that he himself is not recognised or seen in his temptations. As the angler keeps himself behind the bush, and the fowler hides himself from the birds, so the devil uses all his art to hide himself from the sinner’s observation, so that the deluded soul shall little think that the devil is so near to him, and has so great a hand in the business. Perhaps, if the ambitious or covetous person saw the devil offer him the bait, and heard him say, “All this will I give thee,” he would have less inclination to take the bait. If the devil appeared himself to the drunkard and presented him the glass, he might have little inclination to drink it down. If the proud and malicious saw the devil at their back, rejoicing in their sin and urging them on in it, it might frighten them half out of their wits. Therefore, the great endeavour of the devil is to persuade men that it is not he that makes the motion to them. Rather, it is such-and-such a friend, or neighbour, or gentleman, or minister, or wise man – is it not the devil! Only when the fish is caught, and the bird is in the net does the author of it all appear to kill them and carry them away quite openly.