God’s Truth
Psalm 91:4 – “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.”
Psalm 91 is a well-known and favorite Psalm to many. It starts out with “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” The title given to this Psalm, at least in my Bible, says, “Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God.” The secret place for every Christian should be the presence of God. One writer, Martin Kiogora, said this, and I quote, “The secret place of the Most High place is a place of permanent retreat and dwelling. It is a place of unwavering trust, a place where individuals who trust God can live in intimate proximity to Him…To abide under the shadow of the Almighty means to live with an ever-present consciousness of God’s presence, protection, and care in your life. Additionally, it means placing your trust in God’s power to lead, guide, and protect you in all circumstances. It is to unreservedly give God the throne of your heart.”
When we dwell in the secret place, when we abide in the presence of God, His truth (verse 4) becomes our shield and buckler. The word ‘buckler,’ in the Hebrew, means something that surrounds a person. So, His truth surrounds us. The word ‘shield,’ interestingly, means a hook, or a shield, as if guarding by prickliness; also cold, (as piercing.) Truth in the Bible many times is talking about His Word, the Bible, which, as Psalm 119:11 tells us, we can hide in our hearts. But also, ultimately, Jesus is the Truth, as He told us in John 14:6.
So, to put this all together, we can live “with an ever-present consciousness of God’s presence,” as Martin Kiorgora points out. We can dwell in the presence of God. And when we do, His truth surrounds us, ultimately Jesus’ presence surrounds us, and becomes like a shield that pricks the enemy when he tries to come at us.
What can the enemy really do to us? He can throw taunts all he wants. He can spit out the accusations and the lies and the allegations all he wants. But that is as far as he can go because we are surrounded by the very presence of Jesus. We are under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty. The devil can not reach us, he cannot get to our minds and our hearts, if we are continually abiding under and in the presence of God. Amen!