If we are to receive the blessings God wants to bestow upon us, we must be willing to give Him the messes in our lives.
Blessings for messes — that’s quite an exchange!
What a great trade. We give God all our worry, concern, anxiety, and care, and in return He gives us the peace and joy that come from knowing He is taking care of all those things for us.
THE FOUR ISSUES OF CARE
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
JOHN 10:10
In Part 1 of this book we learned we are not to be anxious about anything but to turn from the arm of the flesh and depend upon the arm of the Lord as we remain calm — quietly, and confidently seated with Christ in heavenly places.
In Part 2 we are going to deal with several issues relating to our care. In Chapter 6 we will learn to cast all of our care on the Lord, because He cares for us. In Chapter 7 we will learn to cast our care, but not our responsibility. In Chapter 8 we will learn no matter how bad our situation or circumstance may be, we are to say of it, “This too shall pass.” And in Chapter 9 we will examine the great advantage that comes from retiring from care.
It is my prayer that through these pages you will gain the insight you need to live to the full the joyful, abundant, overflowing life God wills for us and has provided for us through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
6
HE CARETH FOR YOU
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].
I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!
PSALM 91:1,2
In our study of casting our care upon the Lord because He cares for us, we will be looking again at Psalm 91, this time in more detail.
As we have seen, verses 3 through 16 of this psalm contain many of the blessings offered us by the Lord in exchange for our “messes.” But, as we noted in Chapter 5, in order to receive those blessings, we must do something. We must meet the conditions of the first two verses quoted here, which is that we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, remaining stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty.
Specifically, there are three aspects of Psalm 91:1, 2 that determine our ability to receive God’s richest blessings. First, we must dwell, which means “to remain…to settle…continue…sit (-down).”1 This same word is used in John 15:4 in which Jesus told His disciples, Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.
Second, we must dwell in the secret place of the Most High, meaning a hiding place, a place of protection, a place with a covering over it so we will be kept safe from all our enemies.
Third, we must remain under the shadow of the Almighty, meaning we must make the Lord our Refuge and our Fortress, leaning and relying on Him and confidently trusting in Him.
FOR THEN…
For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
[Then] He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.
Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked.
PSALM 91:3-8
When we do the things required of us in verses 1 and 2, then the Lord will fulfill His wonderful promises to us set forth in the rest of the psalm. He will deliver us, cover us, keep us from fear and terror, and protect us against evil plots and slander so that we have no fear of pestilence, destruction, or sudden death, even though others may be falling from these things all around us.
ANGELIC PROTECTION AND DELIVERANCE
Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.
For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways [of obedience and service].
They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot.
Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness — trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
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 show him My salvation.
PSALM 91:9-16
The Amplified Bible version of this passage makes it very clear God promises angelic protection and deliverance to those who are serving Him and walking in obedience to Him.
A cross-reference to verse 13 is Luke 10:19 in which Jesus tells His disciples, Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you. That describes our place in God. We believers are in a position of power and authority over Satan and his demons and devices.
We are also in a position of favor and influence with God. Because of our personal knowledge of Him and His mercy, love, and kindness, because we trust and rely on Him, knowing He will never leave us or forsake us, we have been given His precious promise to be with us, answer us, deliver us, and honor us with long and abundant life. What else could we ask for?
Saying we have angelic protection does not mean we will never have any trials or afflictions. It means we are protected from what Satan ultimately has planned for us as long as we keep our trust in God and say the right things of Him.
But there is one important thing we must learn about this angelic protection and deliverance. It is a process. In verses 15 and 16, the Lord promises us when we call upon Him, He will answer us and be with us in our troubles and will strengthen us and accompany us through them to victory, deliverance, and honor.
It took me many years to see the pattern: God was with me in my trials and troubles, then He began to deliver me out of them, and afterwards He honored me. That is a process, a progression, and we must be aware of it if we are to find peace and joy in the Lord.
ONE THING
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.
For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me; He will set me high upon a rock.
And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me; in His tent I will offer sacrifices and shouting of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
PSALM 27:4-6
At one time in my life I was asking the Lord for much more than just one thing. Then, later on, the Lord started transforming my life. When He did, this was the passage of Scripture He used to start the process.
Now when things start to go wrong in my life, instead of g
etting all anxious and upset and weeping and wailing, I go into the secret place of the Lord and lift up shouts of joy while the devil is trying to destroy me. I find refuge and remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty. If I worship and seek God, He fights my battles.
UNDER THE SHADOW
O God, You are my God, earnestly will I seek You; my inner self thirsts for You, my flesh longs and is faint for You, in a dry and weary land where no water is.
So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.
So will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My whole being shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips
When I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches.
For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings will I rejoice.
PSALM 63:1-7
My husband Dave received a revelation from God on what it means to dwell under the shadow of His wings. A shadow is a shade, a protection from the heat or the sun. It is also a border between light and dark. We are either in the shadow of something or we are not.
In the same way there are definite borders or limits within which we must stay if we are to remain under the shadow of God’s wings — that is, under His protection against the world or the devil.
When we are outside in the summertime, we can choose to stand in the shade or the shadow of a tree, or we can choose to walk back out into the full, direct sunlight. One place will usually be a lot cooler than the other and will offer much more protection against the damaging rays of the sun than the other.
That is the way it is with the Lord. As long as we choose to remain under the shadow of His wings, we will be much more comfortable and much better protected against danger than when we choose to walk out from under those wings.
A border is an intermediate area or boundary between two qualities or conditions. We can choose to live under one set of conditions or under a different set of conditions. The wise thing is not only to choose to stay under the shadow of the Almighty, but to take up permanent residence there.
When we drive down the highway, as long as we stay within the dividing lines between lanes and obey the signposts along the road, we are in much less danger of being involved in an accident than if we ignore those boundaries and instructions. Those lines and signs are put there for our benefit and protection.
In the spiritual realm, the “lines and signs” that keep us on the way of the Lord and out of danger are trust and confidence. As long as we place our trust and confidence in the Lord, He will keep us under the shadow of His wings and protect us from all danger and harm.
PRAYER PRODUCES PEACE
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
PHILIPPIANS 4:6,7
In this passage the apostle Paul does not say, “Pray and worry.” Instead, he says, “Pray and don’t worry.” Why are we to pray and not worry? Because prayer is supposed to be the way we cast our care upon the Lord.
When the devil tries to give us care, we are supposed to turn and give that care to God. That’s what prayer is, our acknowledgment to the Lord that we cannot carry our burden of care, so we lay it all on Him. If we pray about something and then keep on worrying about it, we are mixing a positive and a negative. The two cancel each other out so that we end up right back where we started — at zero.
Prayer is a positive force, worry is a negative force. The Lord has told me the reason many people operate at zero power level spiritually is that they cancel out their positive prayer power by giving in to the negative power of worry.
Too often we pray and give a positive confession for a while, and then worry and give a negative confession for a while. We go back and forth between the two extremes. That is like driving down the highway going from one side of the road to the other. If we keep doing that, sooner or later we are going to end up in trouble.
As long as we are worrying, we are not trusting God. It is only by trusting, by having faith and confidence in the Lord, that we are able to enter into His rest and enjoy the peace that transcends all understanding.
PRAYER PRODUCES REST
For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest.…
HEBREWS 4:3
If we are not at rest, we are not believing, because the fruit of believing is rest.
For many years of my life I would claim, “Oh, I’m believing God; I’m trusting the Lord.” But I was not doing either of those things. I didn’t know the first thing about believing God or trusting the Lord. All I did was worry and fret, talk negative and try to figure out everything on my own. I was anxious and panicky, irritable and on edge all the time. And yet I called myself believing and trusting.
If we are truly believing God and trusting the Lord, we have entered into His rest. We have prayed and cast our care upon Him and are now abiding in the perfect peace of His holy presence.
PRAYER PRODUCES PATIENCE AND HOPE
Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.
Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.
And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope.…
ROMANS 5:2-4
It is easy to say, “Don’t worry.” But to actually do that requires experience with God. I don’t think there is any way a person can fully overcome the habit of worry, anxiety, and fear and develop the habit of peace, rest, and hope without years of experience.
That’s why it is so important to continue to have faith and trust in God in the very midst of trials and tribulations. It is so important to resist the temptation to give up and quit when the going gets rough — and keeps on getting rougher over a long period of time. It is in those hard, trying times that the Lord is building in us the patience, endurance, and character that will eventually produce the habit of joyful and confident hope.
When you and I are in the midst of battle against our spiritual enemy, every round we go through produces valuable experience and strength. Each time we endure an attack, we become stronger. If we hang in there and refuse to give up, sooner or later we will be more than the devil can handle. When that happens, we will have reached spiritual maturity.
For years the devil controlled and manipulated me. He doesn’t do that anymore. It is because I have had years of experience. I have learned to stop running to people and start turning to God. I have learned to pray to Him and cast my care upon Him — in secret. The Lord has revealed to me that we need to learn to endure our personal suffering privately.
There is a time to share what we are going through, and there is a time to keep things between us and God. Often we talk so much about “what we are going through” that the intended work never gets accomplished. God works out things for our good that Satan intends for our harm. The thing may be bad, but we serve a God Who is so good He can take a bad thing and actually work good in us from it.
SUFFERING IN SILENCE
He was oppressed, [yet when] He was affl
icted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.
ISAIAH 53:7
In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah foretold what would happen when the Messiah was led away to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. He prophesied that He would be silent and submissive, a sign of His inner strength and stability.
In my early Christian life and ministry I wanted to get to the point where I was strong and stable like Jesus. I wanted to reach the point where I was not fretful or worried or filled with reasoning or anxiety.
My husband was the type person who found it easy to cast his care upon the Lord and leave it with Him, believing He would provide for all our needs. I wasn’t that way. In the midst of all our financial problems, I would be in the kitchen poring over our unpaid bills and working, myself into a frantic mess, while Dave would be in the living room watching television and playing with the kids. I was trying so hard to believe, to trust, to have confidence in the Lord, but I just didn’t have the experience to know He would work out everything in His own way and in His own time.
It is in just such trying times we get to know the Lord and, like the apostle Paul, learn to be quiet and confident in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves.