Psalm 91:1

Some years ago, my Sunday School class was studying one of my favorites--Psalm 91. If you haven’t read it lately, pick up your sword, turn to the very middle, and you should be in Psalms. Find number 91. It starts so gently. It begins with a choice, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High.” Where you choose to dwell is up to you. You either dwell under the Lordship of the Most High or you don’t. “Dwell” speaks to me of a place of living, sleeping, eating, spending time.

Some people just visit the Most High; some on Sunday mornings, some on Christmas or Easter, and some for weddings or funerals. They may intend to move their dwelling over there later when they are older and finished with the “I did it my way.”(Sorry, I drifted into a Frank Sinatra/Elvis song).

But for me, there are too many hard spots in life just to visit. I need to dwell there, night and day. My life, like everyone, has ups and downs. “Sometimes ups outnumber the downs, but not in Nottingham.” (More drifting; this time to Disney’s Robin Hood). Anyway, my life has brought enough downs that I need the Most High to help. Sometimes it’s my friends that are having downs; sometimes it’s my family running into a down; and sometimes, it’s me. In any case, I need to be close enough to the Most High so that I can send up an SOS. However, I do want to say that my friends, family, and I all have had some wonderful ups, and I want to be close enough to the Most High to say, “Thank you.”

Sometimes, I just like to go to the throne and do what Psalm 91 says next, “. . .rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” Say it with me slowly, “r- e-s-t.” Do you get tired and weary, too? And hot? Resting in that shadow makes me think of the Israelites wandering through the hot desert while being shielded by a cloud of protection from the heat. Years ago, I went to a baseball tournament in a nearby town on a very hot day. There was no cloud of protection; no shadow; no shade; no wind. There was also no rest. But this verse is the opposite of that and makes me think of sitting under a palm tree enjoying a cool, gentle breeze off the ocean. Now that’s what I call r-e-s-t!

Speaking of rest, I think I’ll go do that. I’ll tell you the “rest” of the story later.