“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 I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” (Psalm 91:15-16)

Are you facing an emergency today? Dial 911…Psalm 91:1, that is.

This psalm of David speaks of both great adversity and the wonderful help and protection of God. The fact is, God can use difficulty and crisis in the life of the Christian. None of us wants adversity in our lives, but God can be glorified through such times. You may have faced a serious, even life-threatening illness and experienced the healing power of God. Or perhaps you’re still dealing with a troublesome physical condition, and you haven’t experienced that longed-for healing. Either way, we bring glory to His name right in the midst of it all.

Psalm 91 doesn’t say you will never die. But it is saying that you won’t die before your time. It is saying that until God is done with you, His angels will keep you in all your ways…in your ups and downs, when you’re awake and asleep, in the sunshine and in the rain.  What’s your part? It is to dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Your objective as a Christian should be to stay as close to the Lord as you possibly can, leaning on Him with quiet faith and confidence. Because this all-powerful, all-knowing God who possesses heaven and earth, has made a covenant with you, loves you, and offers to protect and provide for you, you should make it your objective to get closer to Him, asking, How can I walk so closely with Him that I will be in His very shadow?

You should periodically ask yourself whether you are meeting the criteria of this great psalm, whether you are living up to the conditions that have been set forth. If your answer is yes, then you have God’s word that these promises will be activated in your life.