Because of time, we cannot read the whole chapter. I hope you will go back to your various places and continue to meditate on this psalm.
Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses, the man of God:
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place
In all generations.
In Psalm 90:12, Moses prays:
So teach us to number our days,
That we may get us a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 91:1 says:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:2 says:
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God; in Him will I trust.
Psalm 91:14-16 says:
Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him:
I will set him on high, because he hath 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 honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Lord, as we remember You around the table, we can never measure Your great love to us. We can only receive Your love. We can only offer You our praise and our thanks. If we have You, it is enough. We thank You and praise You.
We thank You that we can still be in this place to receive Your word. We want You to enlighten Your word in our hearts, that we may hear Your voice and walk in Your way. In the Lord Jesus’ name, amen.
In our first session, we shared about the importance of spiritual communion. We discovered that our God is a God who seeks communion. Therefore, He is here to commune with us.
Because He desires to commune with us, He paid the greatest cost. Because He so desired fellowship and communion with us, He was willing to forsake His own Son.
The Lord Jesus Himself, because He desired to bring us into communion with God, was willing to be hung on the cross. Today, the way for us to commune with God is now open to us, and He is calling us back to commune with Him.
Yesterday, through the tabernacle, we saw something concerning this communion. When the Lord Jesus was hung on the cross, the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom. Today, the way into the Holy of Holies is open to us.
We must come with sincerity of heart to enter this new and living way. The normal Christian life is a life lived behind the veil—daily living face to face with the Lord Himself.
Because we live within the veil, there is rest in our souls. All the external things cannot disturb us, because our life is within the veil.
This morning, we would like to look at this matter of communion from a different angle. We will consider Psalm 90 and Psalm 91.
We know that the Book of Psalms has 150 chapters. Psalm 90 has a special title: “A Prayer of Moses the Man of God.” Psalm 91, which follows it, has no specific title; however, its contents are closely related to Psalm 90.
Therefore, Psalm 90 and Psalm 91 may both be regarded as psalms of Moses. Most likely, they were written when Moses and the Israelites were at the border of the promised land, in the land of Moab.
The Lord used Moses to deliver His people out of Egypt. They wandered in the wilderness for forty years. At the end of those forty years, Moses led the people to the east side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab.
There Moses reflected on the past forty years of life in the wilderness, and he offered a prayer to God. He said:
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place
In all generations.
This is a declaration of faith. Moses declared by faith, “You have been our dwelling place in all generations.”
During those forty years, the Israelites lived in the wilderness. They camped throughout the wilderness, and they were strangers there. The wilderness could never be their home; it was simply a place through which they journeyed.
Their goal was to enter Canaan, the promised land. Yet even Canaan was not their eternal dwelling place. What was their true dwelling place? Where could they truly dwell? It was in God Himself.
God was their dwelling place throughout their generations. By faith, we can see this reality. They could pass through that awesome wilderness because God Himself was their dwelling place.
The story of the Israelites in the Old Testament is a warning to us. God uses Old Testament history to teach us how we ought to live in these days.
The Israelites were delivered out of Egypt. Because of the blood of the Passover Lamb, we also have been delivered out of the world. This world has become a wilderness to us. We are simply passing through.
We have no permanent dwelling place in this world. We are only passing through. Our home is in God Himself. He is our dwelling place.
As believers, this world is a wilderness to us. Worldly people may think it is a beautiful place, but for believers it is a difficult wilderness. We are strangers here; we are pilgrims here. Our home is not here.
Someone once tried to describe the life of Christians. What kind of life do Christians live? It is a wonderful and special life.
They live in their own country, but they live as though they are strangers in their own land. Everywhere they go, that place is their home; yet at the same time, they have no place that they consider their own home.
Wherever they are, they obey the law of that land. Yet what they do goes beyond what the local law requires. They love everybody, and at the same time they are hated by all.
This was the testimony of the believers in the second century. Strictly speaking, in every century our testimony ought to be the same as theirs.
Wherever we live, we are like foreigners. We pass through the difficulties that people face, and we live wherever the Lord puts us as though that were our home. But strictly speaking, no place on this earth is our home.
We obey the local customs and laws. Our conduct ought to be better than that of the local people, and we ought to love all people. Yet at the same time, we are hated by all. This is the way Christians ought to live on this earth.
On this earth, we have no dwelling place. Our home, our dwelling place, is in God.
Wherever we go, we may need to fill out a form with our name, address, permanent address, and temporary address. How should we fill out that form?
For our temporary address, we may say Hong Kong, or a certain place on a certain street. But where is our permanent residence? Our permanent residence is in God Himself, because He is our dwelling place in all generations.
Although God is our dwelling place, as far as our bodies and our flesh are concerned, we are still here on this earth. As Moses reflected on the past forty years, he described life here as very brief.
Life is like a sleep. You go to sleep, and when you awake it is already daytime. It is like a watch in the night.
Life is also like grass. In the morning it grows and looks green; in the evening it is cut down and withers. Our life down here is indeed very brief.
Moses said that the average life is about seventy years, and if we are strong, perhaps eighty years. Even if someone lives to one hundred years, it is still like a dream—a watch in the night.
God took the dust of the ground to form our bodies, and very quickly we return to the dust. As far as our outward condition is concerned, this is the description of human life.
As we live on this earth, we live under the wrath of God because our iniquities and sins are exposed before Him. Our days are marked by labor and sorrow. This is the description of life down here on the earth.
Sometimes we may wonder: if this world is full of sorrow, why did the Lord not immediately take us to Himself the moment we were saved? Would that not be wonderful? We could avoid many sins, failures, and problems in the world.
Why would He leave us here on this earth and allow us to live this short and brief life, full of labor and sorrow? Why would He do such a thing to us?
Even though our dwelling place is God Himself, He still leaves us here on earth and allows us to experience the things of life on this earthly level. Why does He do this? He wants us to learn one lesson.
In Psalm 90:12, Moses prayed:
So teach us to number our days,
That we may get us a heart of wisdom.
The reason He allows us to live here is that we may learn to number the days of our lives. This numbering of our days is not merely counting the years or months that we live.
To number our days means that those days truly count in God’s sight. A person may live on earth for seventy or eighty years, but how many of those days truly count before God?
The days that count are the days that are acceptable to God—the days in which we live according to His heart and according to His will. Those are the days devoted to the fulfillment of God’s will.
Within eighty years, is there a month? Is there a year? Are there days that truly count in God’s sight? If we have this consciousness, then we gain a heart of wisdom.
We will discover that all the experiences we go through in this life are for our good. Romans 8:28 tells us:
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good,
Even to them that are called according to His purpose.
“All things” includes the sweet things as well as the bitter things of this life. Everything works together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose.
Brothers and sisters, today we take God Himself as our dwelling place. Every day we live in Him. This should be our normal condition.
In Ephesians 2, we are told that He made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places.
As far as our spiritual life is concerned, we are already in the ascended life. We are with Christ in the heavenly places. Today, in our spirit, we are already dwelling in God.
Colossians 3:3-4 tells us that our life is hidden with Christ in God, and that Christ is our life. As far as our life is concerned, we are in Christ, in God.
Our home is indeed in heaven. Our dwelling place is in God. This should be our ordinary, normal condition.
If our life is hidden with Christ in God, then we are able to live in this world, which is full of sorrow and full of evil. But if we do not live in God, how can we live in this difficult world?
It is possible that the afflictions of this life will crush us. Many Christians are defeated because they do not dwell in God. They are not in communion with God.
They want to be Christians on this earth, but they do not live in God. They will live a defeated Christian life.
The only way to live in this difficult world is for our spirit to be dwelling in God. When we dwell in God, we discover that all our surrounding circumstances are arranged by the Holy Spirit.
Is this not what the Lord Jesus told us? Two sparrows are sold for a penny, yet not one of them can fall to the ground without the Father’s permission. You are of much more value than many sparrows.
Even the hairs of our heads are numbered. We may comb our hair every day, but we do not know how many hairs we have. Yet every hair is numbered by God.
If you comb your hair and lose a few hairs, you may not know how many you have lost. But God knows. You can see how perfectly He loves us. Nothing that happens to us escapes His notice.
For us as believers, everything that happens and all our circumstances are arranged by God, and God knows all about them. We call this the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit arranges our circumstances, not according to our liking, but according to His will. God knows what is good for us so that we may be conformed to the image of His Son.
From a human point of view, many things appear to be disasters. Consider Matthew 24. The Lord spoke of famine, earthquakes, and wars before His return, but He said that the end is not yet.
The Lord described these things as the beginning of travail. From man’s point of view, they are tribulations. Earthquakes, wars, and natural disasters are all tribulations; they appear negative.
But they are also like the pangs of childbirth. When a woman gives birth, she goes through pain, but that pain is positive because through it a child is brought forth. Afterward, she forgets the pain because of the child.
Why does God not immediately take us to Himself when we are saved? Our spirit is already with Him, but our body is still here on the earth. God uses our circumstances to educate us and to instruct us, that we may be conformed to His Son.
God is using time to accomplish what He desires to accomplish in us. Therefore, we need to rise up and cooperate with God.
When we face the things of life, we should not complain or murmur. We need to recognize God’s will, that we may grow up spiritually.
When we are born, we are infants. But God does not merely want children; He wants sons. Therefore, we need to grow up spiritually. Spiritual growth comes through many difficulties.
Moses had this prayer because he hoped that the forty years in the wilderness would not be in vain. If we take God as our dwelling place, all these years become of great value to us, and they are for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
In Psalm 91, at the beginning of the psalm, we see a spiritual reality:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Our God is called the Most High God. This term appears a number of times in the Psalms and in the Book of Daniel. God is the Most High God. There is no one like Him. He is Almighty, and He rules the whole creation.
Today, even though we believers live down here on earth, as far as our spiritual life is concerned, we abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
As far as our flesh is concerned, we know how weak we are. But as far as our spiritual life is concerned, we abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
The normal Christian life is a hidden life. Christian life is not lived before men. It is not for men to see. Basically, our life is to be lived before God, lived in God. This is our normal life.
If we lack this hidden life, we will be very weak in the world. We will be exposed to all the dangers in this world. But if we dwell in the shelter of the Almighty, nothing on this earth can touch us.
Because He is the Most High, the earth cannot touch Him. If we dwell in the shelter of the Most High, that is our home. Then we will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
In other words, if we do not dwell in the shelter of the Most High, then we are not abiding in the shadow of the Almighty. But if we dwell in the shelter of the Most High, then we will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
What we need to pay attention to is not merely whether the shadow of the Almighty is protecting us. What we need to pay attention to is whether we dwell in the shelter of the Most High.
If we have a life in the secret place, we have communion with God in secret.
In Genesis 17:1, God said to Abraham:
I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou perfect.
The name “God Almighty” is El Shaddai. What is the meaning of El Shaddai? It speaks of the all-sufficient One.
God is like a mother’s breast, and we are resting in His bosom. Like a weaned child resting in the bosom of its mother, there is no concern and no worry. It is a sweet and secure resting place.
This is what is referred to as the shadow of the Almighty. If we dwell in the shelter of the Most High, we will indeed abide in the shadow of the Almighty. This is a spiritual reality.
We must go beyond the merely earthly and practical things. We need to enter into spiritual reality, because spiritual reality is most precious.
If we truly have spiritual reality, then we can face the practical things in this life. Today many people want only to be practical down here, but there is no spiritual reality behind it. Therefore, they cannot face the realities of life.
This is why we keep repeating it: we need to have a life in secret. We need to have a life within the veil. Every day we need intimate communion with the Lord. We need to take Him as our dwelling place.
If we do not do that, we cannot live in this worldly environment. Thank God, we do have this spiritual reality. He has already prepared the way, and He has already accomplished it for us.
We need to receive the grace and cultivate this kind of life. Then we will dwell in the shelter of the Most High.
When Moses declared this spiritual reality, he responded in Psalm 91:2:
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God; in Him will I trust.
The Lord is the great I AM, the covenant God. He is my refuge. As Moses reflected on the forty years in the wilderness, he could say, “God, You are my refuge. You are my fortress.”
A refuge is a place to which I can run. The one who threatens my life cannot touch me there. A fortress is a place of protection. The enemy cannot invade God’s fortress.
“You are my God. You are the Creator of the universe. You are my God, and You are the One in whom I trust.”
Today, when we see the Most High, we can respond to Him in this way: “Yes, I accept this reality. You are my refuge. You are my fortress. You are my God. You are the One in whom I trust.”
From Psalm 91:3 onward, Moses gives words of encouragement. In this world we have many difficulties, and the enemy has many traps. He wants to ensnare us, and there is also the deadly pestilence.
On this earth we have one enemy. This enemy is not man, nor is it merely circumstances or things. Our enemy is also God’s enemy. He is the adversary—Satan, the prince of darkness.
We who believe in the Lord live on this earth, and our enemy tries to use every device to hurt us. He works day and night, all the time, trying to hurt us.
Sometimes he accuses us. Sometimes he attacks us. Sometimes he tempts us. Sometimes he deceives us. Sometimes he uses people, and sometimes he uses circumstances. All these things have the aim of hurting us.
But Psalm 91 says that His feathers cover us.
Remember the last time the Lord went to Jerusalem. He looked at Jerusalem and wept. He said:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her!
How often would I have gathered thy children together,
Even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
And ye would not!
Little chicks look for food on the ground, and their eyes are focused on the earth. They do not see the eagle circling overhead, seeking to catch one of them.
But the mother hen is not greedy for food. Because she loves her chicks, she is alert. When she sees the eagle circling, she calls the chicks to come to her. She covers them with her wings and protects them.
This is our God. This is our Lord. When the enemy tries every means to hurt us, the voice of the Spirit calls, “Come, come, come, and hide yourself under My wings. Return to the Lord. Come and commune with Him.”
If we do that, the eagle is helpless.
Some have said that Psalm 90 speaks of the first generation of Israel wandering in the wilderness. That first generation died in the wilderness because they did not take God as their dwelling place, their refuge, and their fortress.
But Psalm 91 speaks of two men: Caleb and Joshua. They went through the wilderness with the rest of the Israelites. The same circumstances came upon them, but these two did not perish.
Thousands perished on one side and thousands on the other side, but the pestilence could not touch them. Why? Because they loved the Lord with their whole heart, and because they had a different spirit from the rest.
They believed God and trusted God. These two were the ones who dwelt in the shelter of the Most High, and they abode in the shadow of the Almighty.
They went through forty years of life in the wilderness, but they did not perish. They brought the rest of the Israelites into Canaan.
When we come to Psalm 91:14, God Himself speaks. Verses 4 through 13 are words of encouragement, but in verse 14 God speaks to those who dwell in the shelter of the Most High:
Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him:
I will set him on high, because he hath 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 honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.
Think about Paul when he wrote the Book of Romans. He showed how great God’s salvation is. When he came to Romans 8:31, he said:
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who is against us?
He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
How shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?
It is God that justifieth;
Who is he that shall condemn?
It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead,
Who is at the right hand of God,
Who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine,
Or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Even as it is written,
For Thy sake we are killed all the day long;
We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
Through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
Nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
Shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
O God, we thank You because You are our dwelling place throughout all generations. On this earth we are strangers and pilgrims, but we thank You that our home is in You.
Lord, we thank You and praise You. You have made us alive with Christ, raised us with Christ, and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. Our life is hidden with Christ in God.
We praise You and thank You. Our dwelling place is in the shelter of the Most High. We thank You for this wonderful promise: we will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
We thank You that there is nothing that can separate us from Your love. Even though in the world we have tribulation, in You we have peace, because You have overcome the world.
You know how often we are weak, but Your love does not change. It is eternal and unchanging. We worship You. Lead us on in a way that Your name may be glorified.