2 I will say of the LORD (Yahweh), “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God (Elohim), in whom I trust.”
God Is In The Protection Business! He is the same yesterday today and forever. He protected his people in times past; He protects his people today.
To assure us of that, contained in this one beautiful Psalm of protection are no less than FIVE names of God, the number of Grace!
The first four are named right here in the beginning of the Psalm.
#1-El Elyon--"The Most High; Supreme in position."
This Name of God is first mentioned in the Bible when Abram met Melchizedek. There is no One higher or more powerful to watch over us!
Remember what Melchizedek offered? Bread and wine--Communion; and Abram offered Him a tithe of all that he had. So El Elyon is connected with both the Lord's Supper, based on Jesus offering of His body, and the tithe.
Nothing terrifies the devil more than a Christian with the body and blood in his hands, who knows the power of the Lord's supper. And what better protection of our money than His blessing on the nine-tenths left over, another message entirely.
We have always needed God's protection. But more than ever before in the history of the world, we are even more in need of it, especially in light of all the plagues, accidents, diseases and unseen dangers in these end times. One can be as careful and prudent as possible but only God can put us in the right place at the right time OR keep us away from the wrong place at the wrong time.
#2--El Shaddai--Almighty God; Absolute in power.
This Name of God is first mentioned when God told Abram about the child of promise. Soon afterward, Sarah became pregnant. He is the One Who holds ABSOLUTE POWER over every aspect of our lives. The hairs on our heads are numbered. Though they actually are it also means He is concerned with the most trivial (seemingly) details of our lives! He nurtures and cares for us as a mother hen cares for her chicks. If it's important to us, IT'S IMPORTANT TO HIM.
#3-LORD: Yahweh.
This Name is first mentioned in Gen. 2:4--the "Hand of Grace, Nailed in Grace;" the One Who gave His life to redeem us!
He's the covenant-keeping One! He has promised; shall he not deliver? He, Who cannot lie and doesn't need to make covenants, does so for our benefit. We are the doubting, fickle, fearful and often faithless ones. Yet He binds Himself to a covenant to reassure us! WHAT A GOD!
#4-Elohim: Creator, first mentioned in Genesis 1:1; The One Who can make something out of nothing. We are made in His image. We can call forth those things that are not as though they were, just like our Daddy!
"3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence. (Dangerous plague)
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler."
There are things happening all around us today that are beyond our knowledge or control. We cannot afford not to have this kind of protection. We need His shield and buckler which is the truth found in His word. It reminds us to keep our faith that He is faithful Who promised.
Our children are growing up in this environment! Aren't we blessed to have that kind of protection for them? For us!
We don't need to live in fear that these things will attack us and our families. It is our El Shaddai Who keeps us safe! That allows us to rest, breath easy and feel comforted.
"5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10 NO EVIL SHALL BEFALL YOU,
NOR SHALL ANY PLAGUE COME NEAR YOUR DWELLING;
Things we can't see-->terror by night; things we can see-->the arrow that flies by day; secret fears of diseases developing in our bodies which haven't been discovered; accidents that can happen seemingly out of nowhere. These are the things from which our Abba protects us!
You'd better memorize the above verse: "7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, BUT IT WILL NOT COME NEAR YOU."
Believe it! It will not come near you!
I don't care if other Christians are under attack. You cling to this promise and watch how God protects you and your family. We have The supreme God protecting!!!
Above all, DO NO listen to the devil's voice when he says things like "Well so and so got this disease or had that problem. What makes you think you're exempt?"
Or maybe he'll point out the opposite. "So and so smoked like a chimney for 90 years and he's still fine." He won't point out the hundreds who died a terrible, painful, suffering death from smoking. NO!...and before you know it, he will destroy that person too.
I say again: Do not listen to him:
HE'S A LIAR.
That being said, much as God wants to protect His people today He will not force it on you. You don't have to accept it. But know this: He makes a difference between his people and the people of the world.
Nowhere is it better described than when Israel was in Egypt.
The children of Israel, a picture of the church, lived in Goshen while they were in Egypt, a picture of the world. Goshen in Hebrew means "drawing near," which was a play on words, actually.
Joseph had told his family to live in Goshen and draw near to him. What they heard in Hebrew was "you will live in drawing near and draw near to me!"
In Goshen there were no plagues. The swarms of flies,for instance, are a picture of evil spirits. Beelzebub, one of the names of satan, literally means "the Lord of the Flies!" Yep; That's the devil right there!
But there are no flies on us!
Then, in Exodus chapter 10 when they were still in slavery, where they were exempted from the plagues of darkness, it is particularly indicative of our day. God had shown the Egyptians signs and plagues yet still Pharaoh's heart remained hard. He refused to let God's people go.
So God told Moses to stretch out his hand over the land of Egypt. A thick darkness covered all the land which could actually be felt; like a presence! It covered Egypt for three days. They could not see one another nor did anyone rise from his place for those three days.
Not so in Goshen. All of the children of Israel had light in their dwellings!
Did that passage ever sound strange a little to anyone else? I mean didn't the Egyptians have lamps? They used oil lamps in those days. Why couldn't they light one of them up and see in the dark?
Because it was a supernatural darkness as the light in Goshen was supernatural light. You see, if the light in their homes was from the oil lamp, that same resource was also available to the Egyptians. But the Bible says the Egyptians could not penetrate that darkness with their light.
In these last days there will be supernatural light in your dwellings just as surely as there is supernatural darkness over the rest of,the world; over Egypt. You and your family won't be in the dark like the people of "Egypt." You will be able to see and understand what is going on and why.
So even when plagues of all types come, they will not come near God's people.
We don't fear the things that people of the world fear. We have a good God who takes good care of us. We put our faith and trust in that!
Jesus said if God feeds the birds of the air, how much more will He feed you? You are worth more than many sparrows.
Psalm 23 is strong consolation that he gives us everything we need. In fact, goodness and mercy will hunt you down!
"11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”
This beautiful Psalm concludes with this:
"With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My "Salvation." The last word in Hebrew is literally "bî·šū·‘ā·ṯî {בִּֽישׁוּעָתִֽי}," which means "show him my salvation. The word in Hebrew for salvation is "Yeshua- [ישועה]: JESUS!!
AWESOME! He wants to protect and bless us; to SATISFY US with long life so He can show us more of Jesus; give us more time to tell others about Him, His beauty and preach gospel to as many as possible.
The devil's plan is to stop the gospel from spreading. He cannot do anything about the fact that we're going to heaven but he certainly can see to it that we get there faster by getting us to believe lies. He knows that in heaven, we cannot be of any more earthly good, like bless our families, church, community or nation; in fact, all nations!
God wants us well and well protected and living a long life!! AMEN!
Five names of God in one Psalm! We are surrounded and protected on all sides and JESUS is our salvation!
God HIMSELF protects us!
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