Under the Shadow of the Almighty

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, April 14. We have been learning about the different aspects of God's character, but these facts should ultimately transform the way we live. Let's close out this study by positioning yourself to continually live under the shadow of the Almighty.

Now the Bible is full of wonderful, beautiful promises, all of which are backed up by the omnipotent hand of God, that is, He is able to fulfill every single promise in the book. And once in a while some Christian says, well, I know that I'm saved, and I believe I do know some of the promises in the Bible, but why does God allow certain things to happen to me? Why do I get in trouble? Why do I have enemies? Why is it that I'm full of worry or fretting or crying or weeping or frustration or anxieties?

Why are these things so besetting to me? Why do these things happen to my family if God is God? And if what He says is true, that my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, why doesn't God supply my need? Now listen, it isn't because God has grown weak or that God has forgotten His promise, nor is it necessarily the reason that you have sin in your life. But there's another reason, and that reason oftentimes is that even though we know what the promise is, and even though we believe as much as we know how that God will fulfill His promise, learning how to apply that promise to our life is the one thing we oftentimes overlook.

But Psalm 91 of all the scriptures in the Old Testament, Psalm 91 is the most beautiful, I believe, and most comprehensive when it comes to how God protects His children. So I want us to look at three things primarily here. And think about your own life now. We're not talking about just external enemies, but internal, and the frustrations, the fears that we have. And in this particular chapter, there are several things you and I need to underline, never forget. All right, now, under the shadow of the Almighty, first of all, is a place of protection. Under the shadow of the Almighty, what a beautiful way for God to describe His protective care of His children.

Now look at this, if you will, and let's follow. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, first word, listen, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge. Now what is a refuge?

A refuge is a place of safety you run to when you're being pursued. Have you ever felt you were being pursued? Well, you say, well, nobody's ever chased me. My friend, Satan is on your trail. And whether you can see him or not, or whether you can feel him or not, he's always on your trail. If you look right back over your shoulder, you'll find he's always there waiting to send his fiery dart in some way to cause you to trip up and to fall.

He says that God is our refuge. Now listen, have there not been times in your life when you wish you had somewhere to go? When you can't take it anymore? When you want to get away from it all? When you just want to run? He says God is our refuge.

Now listen, it is one thing to have a cabin up in the mountains or a condominium on the beach. You can't always go there. But the holy God who is our refuge is always accessible. How far do your feet have to take you to get to the refuge who is God?

Friend, you don't even have to budge your little toe and you're there. Because you see, he says God is our refuge. And you see, a refuge is a quiet place of escape. So he says when the enemy pursues, when difficulties surrounds us, when things just crowding upon us and the clouds overhead get pitch black dark, he says, and you want to run? He says God is our refuge.

Listen. And he says my fortress. Now, the refuge is a place you run to when you're going to escape it all, when you're going to get away, when you're going to be quiet.

It's the quiet place of escape. But he says God is likewise our fortress. And a fortress is a place of defense against the enemy. When you and I think of the way oftentimes Satan barrages us, maybe through people, maybe through our own attitudes or temptations or trials in life, we need some place of defense. He says the mighty omnipotent God whom we call Jehovah is our fortress. That is, we don't have to fight the battles. God is our refuge and our fortress. He is our protector. Now you can remember seeing the pictures and reading in medieval times of the fortresses with their moats around them and the drawbridge and a place for the bowman.

God is greater than all of that. You see, men could scale the heights of a fortress. They could swim across a moat.

They can barrage down the gate that keeps the enemy out. But he says God is our fortress. There is a place a man can go. There is a place wherein you and I can hide. There is a place where we can be defended and know that the enemy cannot penetrate.

And what is that place? He says it is God. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, who is our refuge and our fortress. Listen, the refuge, our fortress, my God, my God, Elohim. And here is that Hebrew word which means infinite in power, absolute in faithfulness. That is not only is God the person to whom I can flee to get away and be quiet, he's the person who will defend me when the enemy attacks.

Infinite in power, absolute in faithfulness, which means that we never have to worry about whether God will prove to be true in that particular period of threat or enemy invasion. Listen, he's my refuge. He is my fortress in him will I trust. And then if you move down to verse four, he shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shall thou trust. Here he pictures God. You say, well, how does he picture God's wings? In the Old Testament, most of the time they were referring to mighty birds and under protection of his wings, they were referring to the mighty eagle. He says that the wings like the wings of an eagle, that eagle can soar upward and upward and upward and swoop down upon his enemy. He says that you and I are abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. Under the shadow of the Almighty. He says under his wings, he says he shall cover us with his feathers under his wings, shalt thou trust, his truth shall be thy shield and thy buckler.

Now listen, he doesn't miss a thing. When you and I are frightened or afraid, being attacked, or going through some period in our life where we just think, Oh God, I'm not sure you're gonna be able to see me through this. Listen, he says you see yourself under the mighty swooping covering surrounding wings of a mighty gigantic eagle whose tremendous steel like claws and steel like beak can protect you. But listen, it isn't just the mighty wings he says he will cover you with his feathers.

You see, the mighty wings is a one thing. But those warm, comforting feathers say to us, we get close as that hen hovers over the little chicks, keeps them warm, comforts them, reassures them by the warmth of the feathers. He says that God's people listen, who are living constantly under the shadow of the Almighty and everybody isn't. Those who are living under the shadow of the Almighty, he says, we are covered with the mighty wings of a holy God.

But more than that, he says the tenderness and the loving kindness of our Father is exemplified in that single of the word by he says, he covers us with his feathers. Then he says, he is like a shield and like a buckler. Those two words shield and buckler refer to the same thing but not the same kind of thing. You and I know what a shield is the Hebrew word for shield here.

In the Greek, the Greek word is through us, which means is the same Greek word for door. It was a shield that was shaped like the body of a man and we could cover him completely. And in battle, they carry these shields and a man could hide behind it completely.

It completely covered his body. He says God is our shield. He covers us in battle. But then he uses the term buckler.

Buckler is likewise a shield, but it's a little round shield that was oftentimes used in close combat with each other. But here again is his way of doubly assuring us that when you and I are in mortal combat with the devil, when all of Satan's forces seem to be thrusting themselves upon us in trials and heartaches and burdens and temptations, he says, listen, fear not. God is thy shield and thy buckler. That means we are doubly protected. But you see, if God's people look at the enemy, and we evaluate the enemy, and we try to weigh the enemy's strength, and we think, Oh, God, what am I going to do?

What are we doing? We are forgetting that we have a refuge to run to a fortress to surround us an omnipotent God to fight for us. We forget that we're under his wing, we forget that we have his double assurance that he will shield us from the enemy. Listen, he says that you and I are abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. Listen, almost everything I've referred to here has been defensive.

But listen to what he says. He says in verse nine, because thou has made the Lord which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling, for he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. Listen, not only will God defend us, but he says he shall give his angels charge over thee to do what? To keep thee in all thy ways. You just think about it, the holy omnipotent loving God who created all of this, he says he has given us his host of angels to do what? To keep us, garrison us around, protect us, what?

In all our ways. How else could God have said to us, I want to protect you? Why should we be afraid? What should the people of God be afraid of when they have the omnipotent God of the heavens as their protector? Who says I'm a refuge? Who says I'm a fortress? I'm a shield, I'm a buckler, I'm wings, I'm feathers, I will give my angels charge over thee. That is his way of saying to us that under the shadow of the almighty God is a place of divine protection.

But there's a second thing I want you to notice here. He says not only is it a place of divine protection, but it is a place for God's people to abide. Listen, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. Now what does that imply to us?

What does he say? Abide under the shadow of the almighty. Now you've sat there more than likely, some of you, and you've said well now I know I'm a Christian, I know that I'm saved, and yet I go through these periods of battle, I find myself defeated by Satan, a period of sickness, this valley, that valley, all kinds of troubles and heartaches and somehow I don't feel all this shield and this wings and these feathers and this refuge and this habitation and this fortitude, I don't feel any of that.

I'm going to tell you why. The key is here. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. Now listen, it's one thing to come under the shadow of the almighty and then to get out, and then to get back. He says dwelleth, abideth, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide.

Abide implies continuousness. That is, that ought to be our lifestyle. That ought to be the place we live. We ought to be conscious of his divine protection, conscious of his presence. Listen, it isn't the fact that you're saved that means that you're always under the shadow of the almighty.

You can get out from under the shadow of the almighty by deliberately choosing to disobey God. And we need to in struck our children in that truth. Under the shadow of the almighty, abiding there, living there, resting there, making our home there, that's their lifestyle.

That's where we're the happiest, that's where we're the most content. Living in obedience to our holy God. Under the shadow of the almighty we abide there.

It speaks of continuousness. It speaks of closeness, the shadow of the almighty. Now we talk about the shadow of the cross, but listen, every day you and I walk in the will of God, we're walking in the shadow of the almighty. Let me ask you something, what can penetrate the shadow of the almighty?

Nothing can penetrate you. You say wait, I'm a Christian, I'm saved and I've been sick and in fact the doctors have said there's no way for me to live. Listen, go back to verse 9. Because thou has made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high of our habitation, there shall no evil befall thee. Listen, everything that comes our way is not evil. Some things that come our way we cannot explain.

These things sometimes are God's tool to transform us into his likeness. He didn't say you'd never hurt. He didn't say you would never have pain.

He did not say you would never suffer. He said no evil will befall thee. God will protect us from evil. When he says that he gives his angels charge over thee, listen, he garrisons us around and the only thing that can get through the shadow of the almighty God is what God parts the shadow and allows to come through in order to teach us, strengthen us, discipline us, build us up, conform us into his likeness. One time in life he may choose to let something come in that'll take our life home to be with him.

That does not mean that God has failed. He says we are to live under the shadow of the almighty. That is a life of obedience. To abide there speaks of continuousness, not running in and running out when we get in trouble. You get out and you get in trouble and you run back under the shadow of the almighty.

No, that's not it. Abiding there, continuousness, closeness. But here's the key to the whole chapter. Listen, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide in the shadow of the almighty.

That whole chapter is a commentary on the first verse. Listen, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. Listen, under the shadow of the almighty is a protected place. Under the shadow of the almighty is an abiding place. Under the shadow of the almighty is the secret place. Listen, how do you get under the shadow of the almighty? He says by dwelling in the secret place of the most high. What is the secret place of the most high?

It is so simple, people trip all over it. When you and I come apart on our face before God and talk to him, pray to him, listen to him, focus our attention upon the book, live off the meat of the word of God, commune with him, fellowship with him, listen to him, join oneness with him, harmony with him, intimacy with him. You know what we're doing? We are dwelling in the secret place of the most high. And I can tell you this out of experience and I can tell you this by the testimony of thousands of people. Most of our troubles start, continue, because we don't live in the secret place of communion with the Holy God.

Now if you forget everything else I said, don't forget that. Most of our problems begin, they increase, they continue, because we fail to live in the secret place of the most high, which is in communion, in the scriptures, in prayer, in listening, in talking, in harmony, in intimacy with the Holy God. Now listen, if you and I could just get a glimpse of what God feels about this. Listen, of all the things in the world that pleases God about your life above everything else, nothing so pleases him as this. A thousand sermons will not please him nearly as much as my being quiet, alone, secluded, listening, intimate, communing with the Holy God. He, listen, that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Listen to what he says. He shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. There's his nearness. Verse 15, I will deliver him and honor him with long life while I satisfy him and show him my salvation. You know what he's saying in this whole chapter.

He wrapped it all up in the first verse. The man, the woman, the young person who is willing to put the priority of their life on their personal communion and devotion with Jesus Christ will live, abide, dwell, be protected and provided by the shadow of the Almighty God. Thank you for listening to Under the Shadow of the Almighty. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.