God's Verbs vs My Verbs

Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
3 For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
8 You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
9 For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
10 No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.
11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
15 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 “With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.”

I’m a writer. I love words. I love to read things and take them apart. I notice verbs and adjectives and descriptive phrases. I’m also a list maker. And I’ve carried these habits into my Bible study. Sometimes, they help me see wonderful things I might have missed.

Psalm 91 is rich with words and phrases that bring confidence to my soul when it’s quivering in fear. Notice the verbs pertaining to us: dwell, abide, trust, say, seek refuge, know, love, behold. At first glance, it seems that our responsibilities are passive. But they are, in fact, active. They are soul practices that must be learned and cultivated. They are simple acts of devotion that are becoming increasingly difficult in our fast-paced lives, where rest is a vanishing commodity. They require stillness and attentiveness. They are active, yet require inactivity.

The hazards of Psalm 91 would leave us anything but restful. They include: traps of the enemy, deadly pestilence stalking in the darkness, arrows flying by day, terrors of the night, destruction at noonday, evil, plagues, lions, and cobras, among other dangers.

And yet, the psalmist paints a portrait of perfect peace in the midst of this chaos. How? Not simply through rest and relaxation techniques, not through yoga and meditation, but by taking refuge in the One who is the Almighty (limitless in power), the Most High (Ruler above all), the LORD (the promise-keeping, relational God who pursues and protects His people), God ( the sovereign ruler and creator of the universe).

We are permitted rest because the work, the labor, the battle, the combat – these belong to God. His verbs include: guard, shield, cover, give angels charge, bear up, deliver, protect, answer, be with, rescue, honor, satisfy and save.

God, the Almighty, the Most High, is spoken of as our personal refuge, our fortress. He allows us to find comfort and protection nestled close, under the shadow of His wings. He will cover us. We are invited to abide under the very wings of God Almighty. To be in someone’s shadow requires nearness. The times when I allow myself to get to that place, I echo Asaph’s words from Psalm 73:28 “But as for me the nearness of God is my good.”

What better place to be? Why do I not live there every moment? Because it requires me to cease striving and simply dwell, abide, see, call upon, and behold. It’s hard for me to rest rather than try to wrangle control. My nature is to strive and stress and want to have everything figured out.

But today my prayer comes from Psalm 91:2 “I will say to the LORD, ’My refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’” I have to actually open my mouth and speak the words aloud. I need to remind my soul that I have a refuge. I have a fortress. I have a God in whom I trust. And when I compare my list of verbs with His list, I’m reminded that I can rest.