He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91.1-2
This Psalm is an exhortation. It was originally intended for those who were to be facing danger. This first part of the Psalm offers an assurance. The rest of the Psalm gives some specific examples of what the writer has in mind.
But note how he starts. He states a basic point about how there is safety in the Almighty, verse one. That's the idea that he wants to drive home to his audience and, in this way, encourage them. However, before he applies any of this to those reading his words (the rest of the Psalm), he makes sure that they all know that he is already convinced of this fact about God himself, verse two.
This is a good example of how to encourage others. Like the psalmist, we are to point those in need of encouragement to some specific truth about who God is. In this case, it’s how He provides shelter and care because He is so very for them. But then, we are also to make sure that they know that we are speaking out of our own history with God. We make sure that they know that we’re not just giving them some religious words we read in a book somewhere. We have experienced His shelter and care. We speak out of that experience. And that makes such a difference.
This Psalm is an exhortation. It was originally intended for those who were to be facing danger. This first part of the Psalm offers an assurance. The rest of the Psalm gives some specific examples of what the writer has in mind.
But note how he starts. He states a basic point about how there is safety in the Almighty, verse one. That's the idea that he wants to drive home to his audience and, in this way, encourage them. However, before he applies any of this to those reading his words (the rest of the Psalm), he makes sure that they all know that he is already convinced of this fact about God himself, verse two.
This is a good example of how to encourage others. Like the psalmist, we are to point those in need of encouragement to some specific truth about who God is. In this case, it’s how He provides shelter and care because He is so very for them. But then, we are also to make sure that they know that we are speaking out of our own history with God. We make sure that they know that we’re not just giving them some religious words we read in a book somewhere. We have experienced His shelter and care. We speak out of that experience. And that makes such a difference.
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