SCRIPTURE: If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Psalm 91:9-12 NIV
THOUGHT: You may recognize the final sentence of this phrase because it’s the Scripture quoted to Jesus as Satan dared him to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple to prove who he was. Jesus answered with Scripture as well, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
It would have made good theater if Jesus had responded with the first half of the phrase as a challenge back to his tempter: If you would say, “The Lord is my refuge….” But Satan has too much pride to bend a knee and admit his need before God, and Jesus wasn’t there to rescue the archenemy of God (and us).
Two things stick out for me: 1) Satan can use the Word of God to tempt us and the same thing that Jesus embodied can help – i.e. knowing the whole Word of God. and 2) This is a promise to us who believe to trust God, not test God. Matthew 4:11 tells us that immediately when Satan left Jesus, angels came and ministered to him. Jesus trusted his Father in a Psalm 91 kind of way, and God loved him back in a Psalm 91 kind of way. May the same be said of us.
SONG: Psalm 91 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc8thQQl6Bs
PRAYER: Oh God, we bless you! You are worthy of our complete trust. Not only do we say you are our refuge, we make you our dwelling place and trust you to dispatch your angels as necessary.
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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