Psalm 91:2
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.” (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Psalm 91 and Matthew 4:1-11
Psalm 91 is an interesting psalm in that many in the church have used this psalm to make the argument that God will protect His people from harm so long as we are doing His work. We know this is not true because many good Christ-followers have been persecuted, tortured or even killed for doing God’s work. But this psalm does claim God will protect and deliver His people. So how do we reconcile this?
Let’s start with Satan. Psalm 91 is the psalm that Satan quotes to Jesus in the desert. He quotes verses 11 and 12 as recorded by Matthew, “Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written:
“He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone”‘” (Matt 4:5-6).
Jesus most likely recognizes the Scripture and quotes Deuteronomy back to Satan, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matt 4:7). One point to make here is that even Satan knows Scripture and can quote it. Knowing who Jesus is and knowing Scripture isn’t the litmus test for us to determine who is following Jesus. Even Satan and the demons can do that.
But we can see here that Satan wrongly interprets Psalm 91. At first glance, verses 11 and 12 would indicate that Jesus would be kept safe by God’s angels in all his ways. No harm would ever come to Jesus. But that is obviously not true because he came to earth to sacrifice himself.
One of the verses that Satan overlooked was verse 13, “The young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.” Recall in the Garden of Eden, this prophecy was first spoken. God is punishing Satan the serpent and tells him that Jesus “will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The very next verse after the one Satan quotes to Jesus reminds Satan that he will be defeated.
Did Satan just not read far enough? I don’t think so. We can only guess at what Satan was thinking but why offer Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he already possessed them as he claimed? Because he really didn’t possess them. Jesus came to earth to claim his kingdom and to defeat Satan. Satan knew this and this was a last ditch effort to change his destiny. He didn’t overlook verse 13 in my opinion. He very much knew what it said and was doing all he could to keep it from coming true.
So there a couple of things to learn in Psalm 91. First, Jesus would be victorious but like the Jews, Satan would misinterpret Scripture. Jesus first trip to earth would be to establish his kingdom but it would be a spiritual kingdom. His second coming would establish his rule over all the earth. Both the Jews and Satan thought this would all come during the Messiah’s first trip.
Second, this psalm is for us but in the same sense we are missing the mark if we claim protection in all that we do for God. God certainly has the ability to physically protect us but it’s not a promise we can claim anytime we want. I see this psalm, particularly verses 9 and 10, much like the rest of Scripture in that God will always protect us in spirit. Our souls are secured for all eternity because of the cross. No evil can take us from God. We are His forever and nothing Satan or this world can do to change that.
But we can also take refuge in the last stanza of this psalm. “When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble.” (vs 15). God’s presence is always available to us. In times of trouble and hardship, if we call out to God then He will answer us. We are his children and He loves us more than we can imagine. It’s in these times when we would do good to “say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’” (vs. 2).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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