#4 - The Secret Place of the Most High

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Psa 91:1  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 

Psa 91:2  I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." 

Psa 91:3  Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 

Psa 91:4  He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 

Psa 91:5  You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 

Psa 91:6  Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 

Psa 91:7  A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. 

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To me, the above selection from Psalm 91 is one of the most precious passages in the Bible.

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“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High…”

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This speaks about a place where only the King and His bride are welcome, the “secret place.” It’s a place in the King’s palace that is reserved for the King and His bride alone.

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Call it whatever you want, the sitting room, the bedchamber, or whatever. It’s a place that even the most trusted servants are not allowed when the King and His bride are present. It is only for the King and His bride.

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It’s the place where they can speak of things that are for no one else but each other, the “secret place.”

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Our secret place should be our time alone with God. This includes the time we spend in prayer, wherever that might be, but it can also be a part of our relationship with God that goes with us wherever we go. The apostle Paul told us to: “pray without ceasing…1Th 5:17” 

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I came across an interesting definition of this passage using Google’s AI. Under the heading “How to Pray Without Ceasing” it says:

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“Cultivate a constant awareness of God: 

Think of God and His presence as a continuous, underlying theme of your thoughts and actions, not just a discrete activity.”

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To me, this definition gives a fairly accurate essence of praying without ceasing.

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We don’t need to always be talking “at” God or asking for something.

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Just be alone with Him…in silence…in the secret place.

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Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you can be with Him, just aware of His presence and resting in Him, in His secret place.

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The second part of this passage is equally beautiful.

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…shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

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They that dwell in that “secret place” have the protection of the King Himself. Jesus said:

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Mat 23:37  "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 

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Our Lord uses the analogy of a hen and her chicks to describe how He would protect those that dwell with Him. We will abide (remain) in His protection.

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The remainder of this passage gives a beautiful description of the protection that the Lord provides for us, and it ends with this promise.

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“A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.”

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God’s protection for them that put their trust in Him is as if we are standing in a battlefield with the battle raging all around us...and indeed, we are standing in a battlefield with the battle raging all around us.

 

However, because "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty," then "a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you." 

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Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus:

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“Eph 6:12  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.”

Therefore, he admonishes us:

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“Eph 6:13  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 

Eph 6:15  and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 

Eph 6:16  above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 

Eph 6:18  praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…”

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And so, we come full circle. We come back to the admonition that we should be “praying always” while we “dwell in the secret place of the Most High” and “abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

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Dear God, lead us to yourself. May our souls so thirst for your presence that we can cry out to you as the psalmist did: “As the deer pants(thirsts) for the water brooks, so my soul pants(thirsts) for You, O God.” Psa 42:1

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May our souls rests in Him in His secret place and that thirst be quenched.