No one is more trustworthy than the Lord.
“I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress,
Psalm 91:2 (ESV)
my God, in whom I trust.’”
Like verse 1, verse 2 is especially important because it lays the foundation for all the promises that follow. According to this verse, who is God for us?
He is Yahweh
When God first appeared to Moses at the burning bush, he revealed his name Yahweh:
[13] “Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ [14] God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “I AM has sent me to you.”‘ [15] God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “The LORD [Hebrew YHWH], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.’” (Exodus 3:13–15, ESV).
The ESV Bible note for Exodus 3:15 says, “The word LORD, when spelled with capital letters, stands for the divine name, YHWH, which is here connected with the verb hayah, ‘to be’ in verse 14.”
Hebrew scholars transliterate and pronounce the divine name YHWH as Yahweh.
Our LORD is a person who gave us his covenant name, not just his title or role, so we could have a close, personal relationship with him. The difference between “God” and “Yahweh” resembles the difference between someone calling me “Pastor” and someone calling me “Brian.”
Both “I am” and “Yahweh” are linked here with God’s covenant action to deliver his people. We can trust God to protect us because we are in a blood covenant with him. His covenant is his bond, a bond he is sure to keep.
He is your refuge and fortress
The writer emphasizes God’s protection by using two similar, visual words that convey the same idea. God is our refuge and fortress.
The basic picture is of massive, thick, high walls surrounding you that no foe can penetrate. The fortresses seen in books and movies sometimes have a moat surrounding them, or they sit atop a hill or mountain. There may be double walls, each 10-feet thick, and double doors, barred shut with thick beams. Archers atop the walls rain down arrows upon attackers. Other defenders pour boiling oil or heave large stones over the wall. Citadels standing higher even than the wall rise at key positions providing additional defense.
Although God is an invisible spirit, he is nevertheless a refuge and fortress of infinite ability, more impenetrable than any fortress in this world. He can handle your enemies.
Isaiah 36–37 tells the story of how the superpower Assyria came against King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem with 185,000 soldiers. The commander of the Assyrian hordes called out to the people on the wall and threatened them.
He boasted, “Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants?” (Isaiah 36:8–9)
He tried to terrify them, warning that they were doomed “to eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”
The King of Israel brought the dire situation to the prophet Isaiah. The prophet announced:
“‘Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.’
“And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword” (Isaiah 37:33–38).
My point in using this illustration is not that God is going to kill your enemies, but that he has unlimited ability and ways to protect you. God is your refuge and fortress.
He is your personal God
“my God” (Psalm 91:2)
Being able to refer to God using the pronoun “my” makes all the difference in the world. God is Almighty, but what good is that to you if he is not your God, if he does not know you personally or care about you?
Notice in this declaration of faith how many times David, in his time of need, uses the pronoun my:
“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. … In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears” (2 Samuel 22:2–3, 7).
David could not see God, just as you cannot, but he had no doubt that the Lord was nearer to him than any human and acted personally to defend him. If you have faith in Jesus, God knows and protects you personally in the same way.
Moreover, we are talking here about God himself being your bodyguard, not a big guy with a gun in his pocket, who may be in the bathroom when you need him. We are talking about the Creator and Sustainer of everything, the King, the Most High, the Almighty, who never slumbers. He is your personal God.
He is trustworthy
“in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:2)
Two sentences later the writer brings up the all-important subject of God’s faithfulness: “his faithfulness is a shield and buckler” (Psalm 91:4).
You cannot trust someone who is unfaithful. We can trust God because he takes faithfulness seriously. He is perfectly faithful, absolutely, always faithful. He cannot be unfaithful, never has been even once, never will be. He glories in his own faithfulness—like a man who takes pride in keeping his promises—and therefore delights in those who trust him. Trust is of ultimate importance to God.
When you become convinced of that, you can trust him to protect you.
Trust God to protect you
Psalm 9:10 says, “Those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.” (ESV)
Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
Psalm 22:9 says, “You are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.”
Psalm 31:14 says, “I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’”
Psalm 37:3, 5 says, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness…. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.”
Psalm 40:4 says, “Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!”
Psalm 44:6 says, “Not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.”
Psalm 52:8 says, “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.”
Psalm 56:3–4, 10–11 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?… In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Psalm 62:8 says, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”
Psalm 115:9–11 says, “O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.”
Psalm 118:8–9 says, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”
Psalm 119:42 says, “I trust in your word.”
What is trust?
Trust is belief that transcends understanding.
When we trust God, we walk by faith, not by sight.
When we trust God, we believe that he is for us even if circumstances go against us.
When we trust God, we believe his words even when circumstances deny them.
When we trust God, we refuse to fear and doubt.
When we trust God, we patiently endure for as long as necessary to see the answer to our faith.
When we trust God, we know he is always working for good even when everything seems bad.
When we trust God, we do not need to understand, in particular we do not need to understand why.
In sum, you can trust in God for protection because he is God, your God, the one who gives you his covenant name and promises to be your refuge and fortress. You are safe and secure in him.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)