Bible Study - Psalm 91

This coming Sunday is the First Sunday in Lent, where our Gospel reading always tells about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, right after His baptism. The temptation portion of this year’s reading, from Mark 1:12-13, is very short. It simply tells us that “the Holy Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness, where He was for forty days, being tempted by Satan.” The nature of the temptations is not mentioned, but it is said that Jesus “was with the wild animals.” This may be mentioned for one of two reasons.           

A wilderness area with wild animals was considered by some a place where evil spirits, demons, might be. See, for example, the story of a man who had demons in him in Luke 8:26-33. Note in v. 29 that this man was sometimes “driven by a demon into the desert” area. See also Luke 11:24, where a demon is described as "passing through waterless places seeking rest.” It would be no surprise, then, to find Satan in such a dry, desolate area and be tempted by him.

On the other hand, the mention of being with the wild animals also indicates the care and the protection from the Lord for Jesus, in the wilderness, and a prophecy in Psalm 91:13: “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.” Jesus Himself used this passage in Luke 10:18-19, when He said to His disciples, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” There is one New Testament example of this happening - when Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta and was bitten by a deadly viper. People thought he would die, but he did not get sick at all. Then they thought he might be a god (Acts 28:1-6).

Psalm 91 played an even more important role in one of the actual temptations recorded by both Matthew and Luke. We will just look at Luke’s account in Luke 4:9-12. The devil had taken Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and then said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.” Then the devil actually quoted Scripture to Jesus, from Psalm 91:11-12, which seemed to promise that the Lord would send angels to catch Jesus in the air before He struck the ground. What a spectacular miracle that would be and how impressive for lots of people near the temple at the time, the devil was implying. “He (the Lord) will command His angels concerning you, to guard you” and “on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”

Jesus, of course, knew that the devil was taking these words he quoted totally out of their context. Psalm 91 is talking about a person who “trusts in God” and “dwells” (lives) in “the shelter” and “shadow” of “the Almighty,” “the Most High” God. The Lord is his “refuge” and “dwelling place.” Jesus was such a person in a perfect way, and the Lord says, “Because He holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver Him; I will protect Him because he knows My Name.”

Jesus would be the opposite of what He really was if He listened to the devil and followed his direction and jumped off the temple. Jesus also knew and quoted Scripture in answer to Satan, from Deuteronomy 6:16, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test,” by doing something reckless and foolish, just to see if He would really help you if you jumped off the temple.

In the last two verses of Psalm 91, the Lord is still speaking and does not promise that all will go perfectly, even for His people, in this sinful, fallen world. What He does promise is that He will be “with us” in times of ”trouble” and “answer us” when we “call out to Him.” He will “rescue” those who trust in Him and will finally “show us His salvation” in eternal life.

Even Jesus, following His Heavenly Father’s plan, had much sorrow and trouble in His life here on earth and did not have the “long life” spoken of in verse 16, but all His sacrifices were for us, that we might be forgiven and blessed and receive the gift of eternal life. Jesus Himself rose in victory on Easter Sunday, assuring our ultimate victory in Him, and Jesus, as God the Son, received at His ascension what He had asked from the Father, “Father, glorify me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:5). (See also John 1:1-5 and Philippians 2:5-11.)