Open your eyes to see. Open your hands to receive. Your blessings are here for the taking.

Finish Psalm 91 with us today.

The Gifts Are Here

It’s your partner’s birthday. You spend time thinking about a gift, spend money buying it, spend energy wrapping it to give.

You set it on the kitchen table. But it goes unnoticed. Day after day.

Your present is never opened. The blessing is never received.

Do we do this with God’s gifts to us?

As we finish Psalm 91 this week, we see a multitude of blessings that God is ready to give.

When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.
Psalm 91:15-16

Why don’t we accept these gifts? Why do we block our own blessings?

Can’t Receive If Don’t See

We often don’t see the gifts. Our blindness causes us to miss out on God’s good gifts.

• Maybe we’re too proud to notice.
• Or we’re too ashamed to admit we need help.
• Or too afraid to expose ourselves to disappointment.

We can’t receive what we don’t see.

But we don’t have to stay blind.

Be Expectant

Instead, we can wake up expectant every morning.

How? By humbling ourselves. By stepping out in faith to trust God more. By dwelling in the shelter of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1).

Then we will discover God’s grace in our relationships, in our provisions, in our circumstances.

Once we see the blessings, we can open our hands to receive God’s gifts. To tear off the wrapping paper, rip open the box, and use the present inside.

The more we accept God’s love, the more our hearts are open to receive His blessings.

Psalm 91:14-16 lists these blessings from God to His children.

• His deliverance
• His protection
• His answers
• His presence
• His rescue
• His honor
• His satisfaction
• His salvation

I don’t want any of these gifts to be left sitting on the table, unwrapped, unused. Let’s receive God’s gifts and be blessed by them.

Don’t leave your gifts of grace unopened.

They’re here for the taking.

Thanks for journeying through Psalm 91 with us for eight weeks. If you’ve also been memorizing, great job! May God continue to remind you of these truths again and again.

Have you left a gift unopened? What gift of God do you want to open today? Share your thoughts in the comments.

See all the Psalm 91 posts here

Do you have to see God to believe in His protection?

Even when God is invisible, He is guarding you.

What We Don’t See

I was at the kitchen sink washing dishes Thursday night. My right foot was hurting a little.

I looked down at my white sock. It now had a red spot. It was blood.

This week we’re reading and memorizing Psalm 91:11-12.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

I hadn’t struck my foot against a stone, but minutes earlier, a weird thing had happened. It explained the bleeding.

Sometimes we see things and then we understand.

But other times we’re asked to understand even without seeing.

It’s harder that direction.

It’s easier to believe in God when we see Him in action. When we don’t see Him, we can doubt He’s around. Or that He cares. Or even that He’s real.

And His angels? We can doubt that level of protection, too. Maybe this isn’t meant for us?

Maybe Psalm 91:11-12 was only meant for Jesus? Satan did bring it up to Jesus in the wilderness temptations. In the second temptation, Satan said to Jesus,

If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”
Matthew 4:6

But just as Jesus answered, “Don’t put God to the test,” we, too, don’t need to challenge God to prove Himself to us.

So how do we respond to these truths in Psalm 91?

Believe Without Seeing

We believe in invisible things all the time. The current coronavirus pandemic is the perfect example. The majority of us will never see the virus with our own eyes, but we know it’s real.

We take it seriously because we see its results.

The same with God. Even though we don’t see God face to face, we often see His works. In our attitudes, in our relationships, in our circumstances, in nature, in His Word.

Our protection may be invisible, but that doesn’t make it less real.

Maybe you’ve never seen an angel as promised in Psalm 91:11 (or maybe you have?). (Read more about angels here: Psalm 34:7; Psalm 103:20; Hebrews 1:14.)

We read that angels did come to Jesus after the temptations and ministered to Him. Just as an angel had come to Joseph, warning him to flee with baby Jesus from Herod. And just as angels later attended to Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane.

If God commands angels to protect His children, we don’t have see it to believe it. It is true.

• We can rest securely in God’s shadow (Psalm 91:1).
• We no longer have to fear the terror of the night (Psalm 91:5).
• We are safe in our dwelling place in Him (Psalm 91:9).

Rest in God’s Protection

I stopped doing the dishes and pulled off my sock. The tiny red spot confirmed I’d taken a direct hit. Earlier, I had opened the dishwasher door and a steak knife fell out, tip down, on the top of my foot before landing on the floor.

It was a very minor injury from an accident that could have been much worse. I thought of Psalm 91 and thanked God for His unseen protection. He doesn’t always stop the catastrophe from happening to us in the physical realm. But this time I was spared.

Even when we can’t see God, He sees us. We are always on His mind and always in His works.

Maybe you’ve not seen God’s protection in the way you think it should happen, but rest assured of this truth: God is for you and God is with you. He commands His angels to guard you.

Find peace in your present and assurance for your future.

About things seen.

And things unseen.

How has God protected you? Where have you seen signs of His guards? Please share in the comments.

See all the Psalm 91 posts here

Will what worked for them, work for us? They made God their dwelling place. His protection rippled out.

Read Psalm 91 with us. This week we’re memorizing Psalm 91:9-10.

Things seem opposite. It feels counterintuitive.

Instead of going to our friends and loved ones to show we care, we’re being asked to stay away. Especially stay away from those in high-risk categories for the coronavirus.

We don’t know who wrote Psalm 91 or the circumstances behind it, but we do know the people in those times faced plagues and pestilences more often than we have. What’s new to us, wasn’t new to them.

They were likely worried for their family members as well. They didn’t want to see loved ones die. They didn’t want to be unprotected themselves.

So what did they do?

Here’s their advice.

Make the Lord your dwelling place.

What worked for them in the past still works for us in the present.

Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge—no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
Psalm 91:9-10

By trusting in God as our refuge, we not only are protecting ourselves, we’re also protecting those “near our tent.”

God’s protection ripples out.

When you stay close to God, others around you also benefit by His shade.

It’s a protection plan for the family.

Intentionally keep choosing to dwell in God’s shelter.

We may still fumble, take wrong turns, endure suffering, and face hard circumstances, but no ultimate evil can overcome us inside God’s care.

Has the godly choice of others been a ripple effect in your life? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Don’t let the numbers scare you. Despite the many, remember that you are the one being protected by the One.

Continue reading with us in Psalm 91.

Fear of Numbers

Maybe you’ve been on a physical battlefield in a foreign country. Or maybe like me you’ve only seen it pictured on the big screen or in photos in books.

Devastation has hit. Bodies are everywhere. Too many to count.

I think of the hospital scenes in New York this month. I look at the COVID-19 statistics today. The numbers are frightening.

• Are there more or less cases today than yesterday?
• How many have died now?
• Where is the latest hot spot?

The economic numbers are also discouraging. Unemployment is up. Stock markets are down. Bank accounts are dwindling.

Read Psalm 91:7-8. What image does it conjure up for you? Does it remind you of the world now?

7  A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8  You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.

Suffering is a universal experience, in all places, in any year. As believers in Christ, we aren’t immune from suffering.

So what does the psalmist mean when he says that it won’t come near us?

Remember the One

While our bodies are just as susceptible to destruction as any other, our souls are not as susceptible. They are protected.

Our immunity doesn’t rest in the physical (although God can still perform miracles there also). Our advantage comes in the peace of God’s presence in us and around us.

God knows the numbers. He counts each one as valuable. Including you.

He sees you as His important one, and you can count on Him as the One for shelter.

God is the God of one-on-one.

Never Alone

As tens of thousands get COVID-19, we hear of patients dying alone in the hospital. We may fear that for ourselves or for those we love.

But we need to remember we are never alone.

God is our go-between.

Suffering may feel close, but God is always closer.

He sandwiches Himself between us and our sufferings. He won’t leave us alone on the battlefield. He cushions us when we go down and lifts us back up to new life again.

As you follow along in Psalm 91 with us (and memorize, too), be comforted this week of this: even among thousands and tens of thousands that fall around you, God hasn’t forgotten about you. He still counts every hair on your head. He will never abandon you to destruction.

In Christ, we remain more than conquerors. On this battlefield or on any other. Nothing can pull us away from Him (Romans 8:31-39).

He is God, and there is no other. He is God, and there is none like Him (Isaiah 46:9).

The main number we need to watch? The One.

Also read Jennifer’s post, “Never Alone”

See all our posts here on Psalm 91.

• How to Shelter-in-Place in God With the 9-1-1 of Psalms {Psalm 91:1-2}
• Don’t Take the Fear Bait—Much to Lose, But More to Gain {Psalm 91:3-4}
• Vulnerable or Safe? Both {Psalm 91:5-6}

How are the numbers in your state? Has the curve flattened? How are you keeping your eyes focused on the One? Please share in the comments.

Being exposed to a global pandemic is uncomfortable. We are indeed vulnerable.

Yet we are also totally safe.

We Are Vulnerable

Is anybody else waking up more in the middle of the night?

And when you do, where do your thoughts go? Honestly, my first thoughts are: we’re still in a pandemic.

We feel vulnerable in this season because…we ARE vulnerable. Many things are out of our control. We feel exposed. To viruses. To relationship troubles. To economic collapse.

The psalmist makes this list of threats in Psalm 91:5-6:

• terrors of the night
• arrows that fly by day
• pestilence that stalks in darkness
• destruction that wastes at noonday

Those aren’t the words we’d use today, but we recognize the categories of fear nonetheless. By day and by night, we understand our fragility, regardless of how many times we wash our hands or keep our distance or eye our checking account.

That is the bad news.

Yet We Are Safe

But God is Lord of the good news.

And the good news is that even though we are vulnerable—yes, we are susceptible to arrows and viruses alike—we are protected from their ultimate destruction.

For us, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

We can trust God’s protection in the moment, and we also can trust God’s protection for the future. Not protection from hard things hitting us, but protection from ultimate defeat by them.

Fear sets in when we think we have to provide our own protection. And we know we can’t.

Peace returns when we remember that God is the true protector. It’s His faithfulness that is our shield (Psalm 91:4).

Even when we don’t see God at work or don’t feel Him moving or even don’t fully believe His protection, God is at work on our behalf. Nothing has caught Him off guard.

It is God’s grace that will save us, not our own tactics or safeguards.

As you go through your week and if you wake up in the middle of the night, pray the words of Psalm 91 again and again.

• To calm yourself down.
• To build your trust up.
• To depend on God more.

Trade in your fears for God’s faithfulness.

We have a safe place in Jesus, despite our vulnerability in the world.

Ultimately, vulnerability isn’t our weakness. It’s our opportunity—to run to safe refuge in God.

It’s in God’s shelter that we are finally safe.

How is your sleep this month? What makes you feel safe?

Share your thoughts here.

Don’t take the bait to be trapped in fear of COVID-19 on the loose. Take refuge in God’s resources.

This week we’re reading and meditating on Psalm 91:3-4.

An Enemy in the Midst

A mouse was in the house. I just knew it.

There were signs. A half-chewed bag of cereal in the pantry. Mouse droppings in the corner of the kitchen. And then a flash of gray flying across the kitchen floor.

My first reaction? Go higher! Stand on a chair. Call for help.

When something enters our home that doesn’t belong, we sometimes see the signs before we see the enemy.

It’s the same for our spiritual lives.

When the first threat of the coronavirus entered our consciousness—when we realized we or someone we love could actually get sick and die—we had a variety of reactions, too. Some healthy, some unhealthy.

But now that we know an intruder is in our midst, how can we handle it?

We Have a Lot to Lose

We know this invisible enemy can trap our capacity to breathe.

• But just the thought of it can also trap our peace.
• It can cause us to worry about our economic future. And trap our hope.
• It can cause tension in our family. And trap our joy.

It can even cause us to doubt God’s provision. And trap our faith.

But it doesn’t have to. With our agreement, God can spring those traps before we walk into them and get caught.

The enemy attempting to take our bodies can’t steal our souls.

Psalm 91:3 says that God will deliver us.

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
Psalm 91:3

Is God guaranteeing us that we won’t catch COVID-19? No. We know believers who have gotten the disease. Some recover, but some die.

Does that mean God didn’t deliver them?

But We Have More to Gain

No. But we each have to grapple with this in our own way.

God wants us to talk to Him about it. To have the hard conversations. To wrestle with our understanding so we’ll come out stronger.

Whether in life or through death, we can trust that God is our refuge from traps and plagues. He longs to gather His children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Matthew 23:37).

He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
Psalm 91:4

• He frees us from the trap of anxiety by giving us a place to shelter in Him (Psalm 91:1).
• He frees us from the trap of material worries by giving us assurance of His provisions (Matthew 6:30-32).
• He frees us from the trap of despondency by renewing our strength for the battle (Isaiah 40:31).
• He frees us from the trap of doubt by giving us His faithfulness in exchange for our faithlessness (2 Timothy 2:13).

We don’t have to rely on our own resources.

We can depend on God’s infinite supplies. We can think His thoughts and trust His ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

It’s His gift to us (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Don’t Take the Bait

After I climbed down from my chair, I tried to find where the mouse was hiding. He wasn’t cooperating. Instead of sitting quietly in the middle of the room, in plain sight, waiting for me to capture him, the mouse had scurried underneath something, in the dark, unseen.

My husband set a trap that afternoon. A piece of cheese was the lure. Before bedtime that night, we heard a SNAP.

The mouse had taken the bait. And lost his battle.

We, however, don’t have to take the bait of worrying, of panicking, of complaining. We can go higher. Call for help. Avoid the traps.

God knows where our traps have been set, and if we’ll shelter in His nest, we will be safe. He’s got this. Let’s let him fight this one for us.

Count on His faithfulness.
Trust His goodness.
Rest in His love.

Thank you for reading Psalm 91 with us for 8 weeks. Over 225 people are memorizing it together.

How are you managing fear in these weeks of uncertainty? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

READ MORE:

• How to Shelter-in-Place in God With the 9-1-1 of Psalms {Psalm 91:1-2}
• What to Expect When You Memorize Psalm 91
• Sign Up to Memorize Psalm 91 to Fight Fear of COVID-19

With chaos and corona raging outside, come in from the storm. Shelter in place in God. Find rest in the 9-1-1 of Psalms.

This is week 1 in our 8-week journey in Psalm 91.

It’s Coming

We woke up to a loud knocking on our hotel door.

It was 5 a.m. on our honeymoon. Jeff and I had spent the last 4 days in Hawaii. We had two more days to go on the small island of Kauai. Or so we thought.

The hotel worker at the door was warning us: Stay here! Do not leave the hotel! A hurricane is coming!

Isn’t this how all of us feel in our world right now? Stay at home! Go nowhere! The pandemic is coming!

If you’re like me, it’s caused you to be unfocused, to have trouble concentrating, to feel insecure.

What is safe and what isn’t?

Listen for the Announcement

A few hours later that morning, another hotel worker warned us to leave our rooms and belongings. Gather in the hotel ballroom. It would be safer there than in our individual rooms when the hurricane came on shore.

We listened to their announcement, to every word they said.

Listen for God’s announcements in this COVID-19 crisis, too. Here’s one announcement in Psalm 91:1, a 9-1-1 verse when we’re in need of protection.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1

Find Your Safe Place

Jeff and I gathered a few things to take with us to the ballroom…two pillows, my purse, a book…then locked our door, following the crowd to the ballroom. Many people were already there, huddled around tables, talking, worrying, wondering. But safe.

Where is the best place for us to shelter-in-place from a pandemic? God’s presence. God’s presence is the safest place for us any time, good times or bad.

When we dwell in His shelter (remain, abide, take a seat and stay awhile), we are shaded from the heat of the storm. The storm doesn’t go away, but we have a layer of peace covering us in the midst of it.

Talk to the Chaos

But the hotel ballroom wasn’t our final hiding place that day of Hurricane Iniki. Before long, the strong winds broke windows of the ballroom and rain came in, mixed with shards of glass. The staff led us all to a part of the hotel I’d never seen before, the tunnels underneath.

There was more people than room to spread out in the tunnels. We scrunched together along the walls in the narrow hallways.

Everyone was tired, hungry, anxious. But a strange thing happened. No longer able to hear the winds we knew were furiously ripping into everything above us, we filled the room instead with conversations, with singing, with prayers.

Psalm 91:2 does the same thing. After hearing the announcement in verse 1, the psalmist responds:

I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91:2

We need to say this, too. Speak it over your chaos.

And say it to the Lord, even when you’re wavering, even when you’re scared, even when you’re uncertain of what will happen next: “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Declare who you know Him to be, even in the midst of your doubts.

It’s enough from us. The heavy load is on God.

And God is bigger than our faith, stronger than our fears, and more peaceful than our storms.

This Storm Will Pass

By nightfall, Hurricane Iniki left. It had devastated the island of Kauai, Hawaii, throughout the day.

But now it was still. Quiet. Dark. Most of our hotel was still standing. And everyone inside the hotel was safe. We had stayed put, and it made a difference.

We were each given a candle and released to return to our rooms. Our room was still habitable, although it was wet and contained debris, despite the door still being closed.

We finally went to sleep that night, not knowing how or when we would get home (that’s another story).

But we were alive. And together.

Regardless of the devastation that the coronavirus threatens us with, we can rest assured that if we stay in our shelter, once the storm passes, our souls will have survived.

And we will still be with God. Together.

He’ll help us pick up the pieces and put our lives back together. Then, as now, He will remain our refuge, our fortress, our God.

In Him we can trust.

• Is your state under a “shelter-in-place” order? How are you doing with it?
• Do you have a prayer room or favorite chair or other place in your home where you can quietly meet with God?

Please share in the comments; we’re in this together.

If you’d like to embed a set of powerful words about God deep into your heart, memorize Psalm 91 with us beginning April 6. Here’s what you can expect and NOT expect.

Who We Are

The memorizing community at Do Not Depart has been introducing itself the past two weeks in our Hide His Word Facebook group.

Here’s who we are so far.

We’ve been preparing to memorize by sharing Psalm 91 songs, praying for each other’s healthcare friends, and preparing our resources and hearts.

What to Expect from Us

Here’s what you can expect from us if you join.

• When you sign up, we’ll send you an email with links to resources you can print at home, including journal pages, 3×5 cards, etc.
• Each week for the following eight weeks, we’ll send you an email on Monday morning as a reminder of the two verses we’ll be learning that week.
• We’ll also post a short devotional thought on the week’s verses here at the blog each Monday morning.
• In our Facebook group, we’ll have daily conversations to get to know each other better and to share insights from the text and to tell how we are seeing the Lord show up.

What NOT to Expect

What you WON’T get from us is harassment if you don’t memorize every verse (or any verse!). It’s less about memorizing the words and more about spending time with the Living Word.

We also don’t promise agreement on the interpretation of each verse or the prediction of what God will do next. We will share our insights with each other, but it’s between you and God to figure out how He wants to use the text in your life.

And lastly, we don’t offer a guarantee of immunity from the coronavirus. Praying Psalm 91, even every day, is not a good luck charm to keep the virus away from our bodies.

He Is With You

But what can you expect from God?

We pray that as we draw closer to the Lord through these words in Psalm 91 that He will keep fear from overwhelming our souls.

And cultivate more peace in our hearts.

We expect His presence among us as we gather together for this memory challenge.

No matter what happens next in this crisis or any other, when we dwell in the shelter of the Most High, the Lord will be our salvation.

We need a refuge. It isn’t a list of words. But words can guide us to our Fortress.

Let’s put our trust in the Lord.

“The Word, stored in the heart, provides a mental depository for the Holy Spirit to use to mediate His grace to us, whatever our need for grace might be.”
– Jerry Bridges

Do you have a special need for grace in this season?

Don’t we all?

One way that the Holy Spirit hands out grace is through truths we’ve stored in our hearts about who God is and what He does.

Join us in storing up more Word in your heart as we memorize Psalm 91, beginning April 6.

Learn more about the memory challenge here.

[UPDATE: Registration now closed.]

Fight the Enemy

Are you uncomfortable? A little anxious? Somewhat fearful?

It’s natural for us to feel distressed. With the coronavirus swirling about, we feel uncertain, not knowing where it will land next. Or on who.

But we can know this: We don’t have to live in fear.

We don’t have to “fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday” (Psalm 91:5-6).

16 Verses, 8 Weeks

For eight weeks, we are going to memorize the words of Psalm 91. Through these words, God will remind us that no matter what happens, when we call on Him . . .

• He will answer.
• He will be with us in trouble.
• He will rescue us (Psalm 91:15).

Read all of Psalm 91 here.

Learning two verses a week, we will meditate on truths about God’s faithfulness, power, and strength to stand against whatever large or microscopic enemy comes against us.

Even when that enemy is our own fear.

What You Get When You Sign Up to Memorize Psalm 91

1 – Resources
You’ll receive an email with links to resources to download and print this week to help you memorize each verse.

2 – Weekly Email Reminder
Beginning April 6 and each Monday for 8 weeks throughout the challenge, you’ll get a short email in your inbox reminding you of the week’s verses.

3 – A Shelter in the Storm
God doesn’t promise that you won’t get physically sick and die. But He does offer you spiritual protection, deliverance, and salvation. You and He can work out the meanings of these verses in Psalm 91 in your own life.

Trade Social Distancing for Spiritual Community

We can’t meet in each other’s homes or in person. But we CAN meet in each other’s hearts through the tools of phones and computers.

Get an online spiritual community in this time of social distancing.

Along with a weekly devotional here at the blog, we will gather with our private Facebook group, Hide His Word. Here we’ll discuss insights, memorization tips, prayers, etc. We strongly encourage you to join us there.

The battle for our peace is warring around us. But God is bigger, stronger, and victorious every time.

God is never afraid.

Click here to see the full schedule.

Click here to download this button for your blog or social media.

Join Us!

Sign up today. [UPDATE: Registration now closed.]

Make the Lord your dwelling place.