Psalm 91 The Secret Place

This is the Psalm I meditated and prayed for over a year when I was sick. I prayed it also for my friend Connie who lived with the disease I was struggling with. I prayed for others whom my illness had all the sudden made me aware of. As I look at Psalm 91 today I see symmetry in its structure. There is a declaration of sorts that includes instructions, then a list of promises. I think it was the promises that attracted me to this Psalm when I was laid out on my bed and threatened with the implications of a serious auto immune disease. I wanted God to take me to a place when I could live, where the disease could not touch me. I felt worthless because a huge part of my identity was based on what I could do. I was an active mother of two very active boys. Whatever had overtaken me had devastated my world.

Then things changed. One day as I lay in bed I sensed Jesus sitting next to me on the side of my bed. He leaned over and oh so tenderly touched my forehead and told me I was of great worth to Him. He asked me to pray. I was to pray for other who struggled like I did. So I began to pray for those around me who I knew suffered from chronic debilitating diseases. I prayed for healing. Then I asked for prayer for myself and to be anointed with oil. When I was anointed I gave the disease to Jesus. The moment I did that I was filled with the Holy Spirit and knew God had heard and answered my prayer. My healing was something I would have to walk out. The Lord eventually told me when I finally accepted His healing in fullness that I would live as if I did not have the disease. I think the doctors call it remission. I have been in remission for over 10 years and healthier than I have been most of my life.

I think most believers are driven to the secret place when they are in distress. What I found when I was too weak to walk across the room was the shelter of the Most High God. Since then I know that the depth of my relationship with the Lord is directly proportional with the tests and trials in my life. We have traveled many places together. But I have recently been challenged to dwell in the secret place in a time of healing and restoration. I am in a good place and I want to make the secret place my home.

What do I need to do? Psalm 91 says:

¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High (condition)
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (promise)
² I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, (action)
my God, in whom I trust.” (declaration)

These first two verses are the solid foundation for the promises of God listed in the center verses of the Psalm. They are what the promises are built on. The idea is repeated in the center of the promises in the center of the Psalm in verse 9:

⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling…

Placing the promise in the middle of the Psalm gives the Psalm movement, an impetus to remind us and move us forward. It is like the writer is saying I want you to really see this. Put this in your spirit.

In the Psalm there are four different references to the name of God; Most High, Almighty, Lord and God.

I believe the Psalm is saying that we need to acknowledge God and the implications of His names.

In saying of Him that He is God Most High we acknowledge Him as Sovereign ruler over all the universe. He is the one who delivers us from the hands of our enemies, who rules over the affairs of man, whose dominion is everlasting. He is the ruler of our heart. He is Almighty God; El Shaddai, the most powerful and all sufficient God. He is the “pourer forth”, the God who pours Himself out for you. He is Lord; Jehovah, the self-existing one. He is life in its essence. He has always existed, the eternal God. He is God; ‘elohiym, the Creator. All things were created through Him and for Him. We are His creation, His workmanship.

He is the foundation of the promises He lays before us in His word. If we will acknowledge Him not just in our heart but in our declarations and our actions based on the knowledge of who He is, we will have what He promises. Psalm 91 should change our prayer life. It should change how we speak to others about Him. It should give us a place of security was we go out from our personal and corporate times of worship into the world with its many distractions.

The secret place although a place of refuge in times of distress has in its true purpose a place that elevates us so that we can go out into our daily life with His protection and provision. It is the idea of a dwelling place that shows us His shelter is not just for times of trouble. It is where we can live. If God is Lord, than He is life itself. What better place to dwell than at life’s source, in the presence of the all sufficient God. We were created to live in the secret place. It is where we find the source of life; our God in all His power and glory.

The Lord wants to give us what He promises, daily, in full measure; a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over… poured into our lap. (Luke 6:38) There are twelve promises in Psalm 91. Twelve is a number of completion and perfection. The promises of God to a people who will love Him, acknowledge His name and make His shelter, the secret place their dwelling are almost unbelievable in their breath and measure. God will save us from trouble and sickness. He gives us shelter from life’s storms. He commands His angels to watch over us. They will lift us up in their hands. He rescues us. He protects us. He answers our prayers. He shows up when we are in trouble. He delivers us. He honors us. He gives us a satisfying and long life. He shows us His salvation that leads to eternal life.

Why does He do this? What does it say about the Our God? Psalm 91 closes with His motive. When we fulfill our part; love Him and acknowledging His name He moves on our behalf. We were created to have a relationship with the God of the Universe. When we move towards Him, He moves on our behalf.

When God moves on our behalf things change. We will not live in fear but in faith of a God who fights our battles and protects us and our family. The Most High God will deal of our enemies. We only have to watch. He will help us defeat the great enemy of our soul.

Faith, Prayer and Cancer

I work in a small family owned print shop that has been in business for over 30 years in Richardson. We have people come in who have been doing so for many years. We tend to attract people of faith and many of the businesses that use us are faith based, so the incident that happened Thursday isn’t unusual, just really so full of God that I was so jazzed after it happened I knew I needed to write.

I want to set up the situation. I worked all day on a design and was ready to get away from my computer when one of our customers came in. She has taken over my computer before and sure enough she has some last minute changes and asked to use my computer. I was more than happy to get up and go out front and wait on customers. An older gentleman came in and asked me to copy an assortment of medical related papers. We have self service machines, but some people especially older ones don’t want to hassle with the machines, so they have us do the copying.

When I finished up and started to ring him up the man began a conversation with me. “Since I was in here last I have kept myself very busy.”

I said “yes.” I have no idea what he is talking about.

“I get calls from all over to go visit people in the hospital. I get calls to go cheer people up.” He continues.

My father for years until recently had a very active hospital visitation ministry. He is in his mid eighties and not quite as active now. It was just always something as he felt lead to do, sometimes as an elder in his church sometimes not. He just went. Mom often went along. I told the man this and smiled approvingly. I love to hear about people reaching out to others. It makes me feel like there are good people, we just don’t hear about them enough. The man has now piqued my curiosity.

I told him that I write devotionals I wanted to write about him. I am thinking a don’t grow weary of doing good, anyone can do ministry if they want, keep your eyes open sort of thing.
He said “OK, let me tell you my story. I got cancer. I was diagnosed at stage four and because of my age I was told they would treat me for 90 days that was it. So I was lead to believe I had several months to live.”

His eyes are starting to tear up. I know this is very emotional for him. “My two grandson 8 and 10 years old call me and tell me they want to go shopping with me, but that is just an excuse. They justed wanted to get me alone so they could tell me what they have done.”
I am listening intently.

“They called all their friends, all their friends on their sports team and asked them to pray for me. These little boys who they told, told their parents to pray. The parents called their churches and put me on their prayer list. The next thing I know there are church in Dallas, Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco all around praying for me.”
We both have tears in our eyes. “I have never heard of such an out pouring of pray for anyone in my life.” His voice cracks.

“When I go to the doctors the nurse chews me out. She tells me this is serious, I should be more worried, but I can’t I just can’t, I am at peace,” he explains to me.

“What kind of cancer did you have?” I asked. He told me Lymphoma. I tell him about my sister. He says he is in remission and the doctor’s are mystified. He said because of his case at Southwestern they have made a new policy on older patients that have been given a poor prognosis. They have decided to not write them off. He said one of the doctors there was studying the relationship between cancer, treatment and the role faith plays in it. He interviewed my new friend for the study.

“But let me tell you the neatest thing that came out of all this difficulty I have suffered. I get a call awhile back from a man who asked me to share his last sunset. What a privileged that was. I drove to Southwestern. We opened the blind so we can see the sun going down and I sat in a chair next to him and we watched the sun go down. Sure enough that was his last one. It was the most amazing thing I have ever done to share that time with another human being.”
I have tears down my checks now.

People call me from all over because they need cheering up. People call me for their family members who have been diagnosed and are so depressed they won’t talk to anyone, but they will talk to me because I have been where they are now. So I go.

I am thinking about all my yuck and the message I got from my friend and prayer partner. She told me “God can use me better this way.” That is what God told her when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. And he has used her, just like this man.

Before he left, he laughed and said I bet the doctors fight over who is going to get the credit for getting me into remission, but we know why I am still here don’t we. Prayer really works and God does heal even today.

I realize I am looking at a miracle of Biblical proportion. He just left the shop… because of the faith of two little boys who loved their grandpa.

Dedicated to: My dad, my sister Mary, Suzy, T.J. and Janet, and Jenia and her mother in law.