He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  Psalms 91:1 ESV

Psalms 91 is one of the most beautiful and comforting passages in the bible to me.  I along with many others pray this chapter in the wake of storms, dangerous situations, and as of late, during this pandemic.  I have learned that praying the Word of God is one of the most powerful weapons that we can utilize to stand in faith through crisis in our lives.

As I was reading and praying through this chapter, I began to look closely at the above verse.  In verse one, there are two words that stand out to me – dwell and abide.  Matthew Henry Commentary says that in this passage dwell means to sit down, be at home in God, stay and rest.  Abide is to be sheltered, God comes between you and anything that would annoy; not an admittance but to set up residence.  So in order to have peace and protection, it comes down to basically say that “he who dwells…will abide; or to abide in safety, you have to dwell.”

In my simple mind, it appears to me that we can’t claim the promises in this chapter without coming to a reckoning with the first verse.  We can’t rest in the safety of the Almighty if we aren’t willing to be at home with God.  There is no coming and going in dwelling.

Farther down in the chapter, verse four says, “He will cover you with his pinions (feathers), and under his wings you will find refuge;” God is portrayed as a compassionate mother bird protecting her young. This reminds me of a story that I was taught in children’s church about a hen and her chicks. There was a fire near a farm and a Mother Hen gathered her chicks together to come under her for protection.  The fire raged and burned up everything.  As the firemen went through surveying the damage, what appeared to be a piece of charred rubble was kicked aside and out ran the baby chicks.  The Mother Hen sacrificed her life in order to provide a safe place – a refuge from the fire. 

I can’t help but believe that the baby chicks would not have been protected, if they ran in and out from under the Mother Hen.  The chicks would have perished in the fire had they not chosen to sit down, stay put and be wrapped in the feathers of the hen. 

As much as we want to declare the promises of God laid out in this chapter, we can’t claim them if we are not willing to stay in relationship with Jesus.  God promises to be our shelter if we choose to sit down and rest in Him.

This isn’t meant to be a rebuke.  I am certainly not in a position to do that.  But what I am trying to say is that God is faithful to His Word.  He desires to fulfill every promise to His children if we will follow Him with our whole heart.   

The word “dwelling” is used two times in the passage; but, in verse 14, the words change to say, “Because he holds fast to me in love …” Dwelling is not being forced to stay.  Dwelling is choosing to stay because we love Him and understand His love for us.