He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High 

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1 

Abide. Now there’s a word we don’t often use. If I wanted to know where you sleep at night, you’d never hear me ask, “Where might you abide?” Actually, though, I’m quite familiar with the word. Many Christians are, I think, because there are some wonderful scriptures that encourage us to “abide”. That’s probably why I find “abide” to be a very peaceful word! 😊

During the “Covid Years”, Psalm 91 was used in prayer often by many Christians and Jews because of God’s promised protection from things like pestilence, plague, evil, etc. The author had confidently penned the psalm based on his own experience of abiding in the shelter of the Lord.

Psalm 91:1 says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Many translations say “shelter” rather than “secret place”. I like them both!)

The first 3 words of that verse are important. “He who dwells…” Clearly the idea is to sit down and stay awhile!  Secret Place dwellers are the only ones who scripture describes as ever-abiding under God’s shadow!  I like Young’s Literal Translation of the verse: “He who is dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, in the shade of the Mighty lodgeth habitually.” Wow! What better place could anyone live?

The other day I was reading in the New Testament where Jesus told His disciples to do some abiding. Again, it was a scripture I was very familiar with.

“If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” … “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:31b-32. My takeaway was: You want to be free…really free? Then follow truth! How can you know the truth or distinguish it from lies? Abide in God’s word! 

Holy Spirit highlighted the word “abide” in John 8:31 and tied it to Psalm 91:1. The Psalm tells us to dwell in the shelter/secret place of the Lord, while John 8:31 tells one powerful way to do that: Abide in God’s word. Make it your treasure—Read it, meditate on it, sing it, memorize it—marinate in it! Don’t be so quick to cross “Read Bible” off your To-Do list. Ask the Holy Spirit to talk to you about His Word, and when He highlights something, stop and ponder. Ahhh-bide! 

This afternoon as I was doing my own pondering about Psalm 91:1, in my mind I pictured a girl inside a shelter of sorts, a simple structure built from wood. All over the inside of the shelter were scriptures. They’d been written on every board, jotted around the door and windows, scribbled on the walls and even on the ceiling! No decorations, just scrawled verses. That girl was abiding in God’s word alright! (I know that’s not what Jesus had in mind when He said to abide in His word, but for me that picture was telling. It showed what was of utmost importance to the girl. After all, don’t we put on our walls things we love and want to see often?) 

It’s good to know that when you have troubles, you can pray and God will hear you. That gets even better when the Holy Spirit can hand you a scripture from off the wall of your heart that reminds you that God is a very present help in time of trouble! (Psalm 46:1) It’s one thing to run to hide in God’s secret place when the enemy is pursuing you. It’s another thing, though, to just look around your dwelling-shelter and find scripture after scripture reminding you that the name of the Lord is a strong tower (Prov. 18:10), or that if you resist the enemy he will flee from you (James 4:7), or that you can be strong and courageous (Deut 31:6) because the Lord, rather than leaving or forsaking you, is fighting for you! (Joshua 23:9-10)

After the bold declaration that God’s Secret Place Dwellers always are in His protective shadow, the psalm goes on to unpack for us what that looks like in real time. If you’ve never read through all 16 amazing verses of Psalm 91, I encourage you to click here before continuing. 

For the final 3 verses, the psalmist has switched from his own words to writing what he hears God declaring to any who have made Him their dwelling place. Those verses are below, but before you read them, close your eyes and picture God welcoming you into His shelter and tenderly speaking His assurances to you. As you insert your name in each blank space, hear the Him say:

“Because you have loved Me, _____, I will protect you; I will set you securely on high because you have known My name. When You call upon Me, ______, I will answer you; I will be with you in your trouble; I will rescue you, _____, and honor you.  ______, I will satisfy you with a long life, and you will see My salvation.”

Almighty God, it amazes me that You invite me to dwell in Your shelter! Jesus, You are the Word of God, and Your words are my treasure. Holy Spirit I love when You bring scriptures from off my heart’s walls into my spirit as I pray. Truly their truth bolsters my faith! There’s no place I would rather dwell, Lord, than in Your secret place.