Psalm 91:14-16

Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he hath known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him:
I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him My salvation.

If you’ve been following along with the Psalm 91 series, you might have already noticed a marked change in these last three verses from the rest of the chapter. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll just tell you: the narrator’s voice has been someone talking about and to God all through the first 13 verses. Starting at verse 14, though, the narrator’s voice changes: God begins to speak. 

Now, God speaks all the time throughout scripture, so we might sometimes forget the novelty of it when it doesn’t add on a “Thus saith the Lord:” in front of it, or the ink doesn’t turn red. But if this new voice is God’s, then it is the same voice that spoke everything into existence, from the stars in space to the dewdrops on spiderwebs. These words are from the same holy mouth that breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life.

Such power deserves great reverence, and we ought to listen expectantly to whatever He has to say.

So, what is He saying?

Well, it’s a promise, a blessing. God says, “I will deliver him; I will set him on high; I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will honor him; I will satisfy him with long life, and show him My salvation.”

This promised blessing is all one could ever desire and need; this is life in the fullest sense of the word. But notice, too, that it has clauses: “because he hath set his love upon Me… Because he hath known My name… He shall call on Me…”

You see, these blessings are only offered to those who love God, who intimately know His name, and who call on the name of their Beloved Father. For He cannot answer one who will not call, and cannot honor one who has not taken time to know his Creator, and cannot deliver one who does not love enough to follow Him out of troubles.

If you love God, you will repeat His name until it comes easily to your lips. If His name is quickly spoken already, it is what you will call when you are in trouble.

The hardest part of this is beginning. The greatest commandment we’ve been given is to love God with all that we are, but how many times do we fail to give Him the one thing we can give? For all our works are just as good to Him as dirty rags, and no good comes from us that He did not first give us.

But He is not just the judge that decides whether you are adequate or not: He is the One Who makes you adequate. 

God is Love, and we love Him because He first loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins! When we accept Him as our Savior, we die to our sins and live by Him Who is our Love. We are capable of loving to the greatest extent because Love lives in us.

When you feel incapable of loving God or others, bring it to Him and ask Him to love through you. Ask Him to teach you how to love. God is satisfied with your love of Him, and if you are struggling with that, He will satisfy you with Himself– Love.

Leaning on Christ, we can love Him, know His name better each day, and call on Him in uncertainty.

And leaning on Christ, all the promised blessings of Psalm 91 are ours to hold fast to.

Thank you for reading with me on this journey through Psalm 91. It’s been a huge joy and growth experience to write on this passage, and I pray it has been a mirror of God’s self-sacrificial love to you and me alike. I’ll see you along the Way!