IN THE SHELTER OF THE MOST HIGH

THE ONE WORD ORDER

Kolyah

March 30, 2020

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IN THE SHELTER OF THE MOST HIGH

As we see this COVID-19 assault manifesting across the nation, and across the whole world, we are seeing many people running for cover to avoid the illness. Health and government officials have told us to stay in our homes … often using the term “SHELTER IN PLACE” … as a way to stop or to slow down the spread of this affliction. I’ve heard business reporters saying such things as, “The investors, who have been saving for retirement have now lost the shelter of their once strong portfolio.” Over and over I heard the word shelter being used in regard to this crisis. Where/what is a shelter? Can we find a safe shelter against such a dangerous and contagious pathogen? 

Whenever there is an air raid siren sounding in Israel, whether in a drill or in a real attack, the Israelis are told to immediately go to the safety of a shelter … their meetklat מִקְלָט. Many, many times we read the word shelter in the Bible, but often different Hebrew words are used in different texts, when only that one English word appears as the translation for all of them. I’ve been told that where “shelter” is used, in an English translation bible, there can be 15 different Hebrew words applied, according to the deeper meaning of the text. The actual Hebrew words used in the bible can refer to a secret place, a refuge, an asylum, a haven, a sanctuary … a cover, refuge, harbor … stronghold, strength, fortress, force, protection … an escape, retreat … a tent, tabernacle, pavilion, tentorium, etc. It all depends upon the specific meaning of the Hebrew word applied.

Here are some sample texts using the word SHELTER that can be applied to us in this crisis situation:

Isaiah4:5b-6

5b For over all the glory there will be a canopy, 6 shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.

Psalm 61:3-4

3 For You have been my refuge, a tower of strength against the enemy. 4 Let me dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah

Psalm 31:19-21

19 How great is Your goodness which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have bestowed before the sons of men on those who take refuge in You. 20 You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the schemes of men. You conceal them in Your shelter from accusing tongues. 21 Blessed be the LORD, for He has shown me His loving devotion in a city under siege.…

Psalm 55:8

8 I would hurry to my shelter far from this raging tempest.”

Psalm 27:5

5 For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock.

The application of the word SHELTER that I love the most is found in Ps. 91 … the scripture that so many of us have been speaking over our lives and over our loved ones each day since this began.

Let’s take a close look at the first two verses of Ps 91 (NASB)

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

            Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

      2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,

            My God, in whom I trust!”

The Hebrew word SHELTER used there is spelled Samekh, Tav and Resh. It is pronounced satar (or say-ther). In the NASB it’s translated as SHELTER. It’s interesting that the Hebrew word machaseh (or machseh), defined as a refuge or shelter, is not used here. Nothing in scripture is an accident. That use of wording is important.

Every Hebrew letter has an ancient word picture associated with it. Let’s talk a look at what the letters of the word satar show us about the Lord’s intention here … Samekh, Tav and Resh

Samekh … The shape of the samekh is like a shield. Some have suggested that it looks like a door to a cave or a little vessel to contain something. Some of the ancients used it to be the sign on a wall or gate that was put up by a shepherd to demark the safe place reserved for his flock.  In whatever way you look at it using ancient eyes, you see that the samekh refers to some sort of protection. As I look at the modern letter, I see that it resembles the shape of a human heart. It could be seen as representing the protection that we find by entering into the heart of the Lord; or it could reflect the protection for our hearts as we hide behind YHVH’s secure wall of love.  I like all of those images.

Tav … In ancient times, this letter was formed like two crossed sticks … like a small letter “t”. It was the indication of a covenant to the ancients. It became like a signature. You might remember that illiterate people were able to sign their name to a document by writing two intersected lines on the paper. In addition to being a sign of covenant, the letter tav has also been accredited with indicating wisdom or restoration.

Resh … The letter resh represented the head of a man to the ancients.  It often indicated the position of a tribal chief or authority.  It has also held a connection with the wind (the ruach) for some ancients … now to be connected with the Holy Spirit (Ruach Ha Kodesh). 

Let’s put these letters together and see what they tell us. The shelter, SATAR, of which the Lord provides in Ps 91 is:  a shield for us … a sign that we are in the safe place provided by our Shepherd …the heart of the Lord, where we can enter in and find protection. It is a covenantal place that bears His signature … a place where we can draw from His wisdom as well as find restoration.  It is also an authorized place, owned, set aside for us by our CHIEF, and permeated with the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

Doesn’t that add a rich dimension to the word shelter in the first verse of Ps 91? Knowing the depths of this word, adds strength and comfort to our lives in times of trouble.  But I don’t want to stop there. There is something else very precious, given to us by the Lord, in the first two verses of this chapter.

Take a look:

1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

            Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

      2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,

My God, in whom I trust!”

Did you notice that the God of Israel is mentioned 4 different ways in those two verses? 

That is hugely significant.

First, He is identified as THE MOST HIGH

Secondly, He is referred to as THE ALMIGHTY

Thirdly, He is called THE LORD

Finally, He is called MY GOD.

Why all those individual designations for the same God and Father? Anything repeated in a text of scripture always indicates emphasis. But this repetition is not using the same terms. Why?  The Lord is giving us a very comforting message by presenting these identifying titles for Him in two short verses.  Each name, given to identify the God of Israel, indicates a distinct feature of YHVH’s character or nature. So, let’s see how He chose to reveal Himself in these two verses.

THE MOST HIGH: the Hebrew word used is ELYON.  That word indicates supremacy, sovereignty, no one above Him … prominence beyond anything that has ever existed … nothing is beyond Him … everything else, at all times, is less than He is.

THE ALMIGHTY:  The Hebrew word origin is SHADDAI.  This word indicates invincible power that supersedes all things. It also indicates that He is the Provider of all solutions in all circumstances, and the Supplier of all needs. Nothing can overcome Him or defeat Him. There is nothing impossible for Him.

THE LORD:  Throughout scripture the term the Lord is used in place of the actual spoken name of the One True God. In the actual texts, four Hebrew letters, YHVH, are written representing His actual name. YHVH is the sacred name of the Lord that was revealed to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as to Moses at the burning bush.  It is not pronounced by religious Jews (for fear of mis-pronouncing it …or for fear of not being holy enough to utter something so holy). They only identify its application by using the term “Ha Shem”; translating from Hebrew as THE NAME. We, who believe that we are allowed to speak His name, could pronounce it as Yehovah, Yahweh, or Yeh-oo-ah, depending on the vowels applied. The name of the God of Israel, and the meaning of His name, indicates that He is the forever faithful and forever present God. He is knowable and very personal. His reality is being the God who was, who is, and who is to come … that is the meaning of those letters YHVH … the sound of His actual name. He has always existed and He always will.

MY GOD:  This stems from the Hebrew word Elohim. The first appearance of this word Elohim in the Bible was a Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth." This name for God has a plural ending in Hebrew. For those of us, who have the revelation of the triune reality of the Lord, we see that He is Father, Son, and Spirit … always with us, One completion of all that we ever need. And that marvelous deity can personally be ours. MY Elohim!

So what our Heavenly Father is giving to us in these first two verses of Ps 91 can be summarized as this:

1 All, who dwell in the shelter of One, who is totally sovereign over all things for all time,

            Will abide in the shadow of One, who is eternally invincible, and who is the Solution Provider in all circumstances.

      2 I will say to the Perfectly Complete One, who has always existed, exists now, and will exist beyond all time constraints, and who knows me intimately, you are “My refuge and my fortress,

You are the perfect, Divine Unity that I claim as my own … the One, who is perfect and above all else, … in You I place my constant trust!”

Don’t those details of translation give us a deeper understanding of the reality we have in the One we look to, and revere as our Creator, Protector, Deliverer, and Sustainer? I believe the Lord has put those specific words into place right at the beginning of Psalm 91 … this definitive Deliverance Psalm that is now being used widely as a defense and comfort against Covid-19 across the world.  I don’t think we have really grasped the full power of those words; but now we must try to take hold of that reality.

When we understand the meaning that Lord has for us, in the word SHELTER … the REALITY of it … we can embrace the gift it gives us for securing our eternal hope and help in times of trouble. As we come to that realization, it might be good to look at what other things we have depended upon or counted upon, to shelter us, other than Him. 

??? Have we felt secure in our jobs and income?  In our good health, our youthfulness, and or in our strong bodies?  In our intellect and in our academic degrees or accomplishments? In our own understanding and in our religious doctrines? In our dreams and plans as we have established them? 

??? Have we placed our shelter in our own efforts, which we have asserted, on any front? 

 I believe the COVID-19 threat is giving us the opportunity to move from sheltering in insecure places, where we have mindlessly lived and operated … and to move away from erroneous beliefs that we have relied upon to give us comfort, shelter, and security in our daily, non-threatened, lives.  Life for many has been OK until suddenly NOW it’s NOT OK.

??? What have we counted upon to provide us with purpose, fulfillment, safety, security, our hope, and a future?  What besides Him have we been living for? What warnings and wise counsel have we ignored, or rejected, to make our own, entitled plans or choices succeed? What have we decided as being His will and way for us … without us actually asking Him with an open, submitted heart, open mind, and open hands? How many times have we put trust and shelter in our own plans and dreams for our lives; without considering the call and priorities that He has put on the lives of all of His children? Where have we grieved the Holy Spirit, by shunning Him to do things the way we want to do them? 

??? IF CORONA is crown … perhaps the Lord is wanting us to stop and look at what we have crowned as having power and authority in our lives, over Him … other than Him.

The Lord knows when we are about to go TOO FAR. In His mercy He will shut us down and block our forward movement, if we are about to take our arrogance, our self-confidence, and our rebellion against His authority a step too far. He will remove our false shelters, shatter our idols, and humble our self-serving pride and stubborn willfulness. It’s as if our world has been running ahead at full speed, when suddenly the Lord has grabbed hold of our feet; sending us falling on our faces.  It’s as if we’ve been swiftly riding our bicycles down the road … feeling carefree, with wind blowing in our hair … when now, without warning,  the bike’s front tire has dropped into a pothole … flipping the bike and sending us flying into the air and onto the ground. Everything is coming to a halt, so that we don’t keep moving forward as we have been … about to drive off the cliff right in front of us that we’ve been too blind to see. It’s our own arrogant inertia of movement, without regard for His warnings, that has knocked us off our feet as a culture.  In Oswald Chamber’s, MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST, on May 24th, the last line of his devotional reads:

“You may often see Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it.” Chambers referenced Matt 10:34

The changes that “wrecking a life” brings in the process of saving lives causes grief. Right now, people are grieving not only the loss of loved ones, of freedom and of supplies, but they are also suffering a death of dreams regarding the future. We thought life might go on like it was until we’re old and grey.  Some thought their career choices would give them the life they always dreamed of. With the crashing world economy, things will likely not ever go back to where they were … not EVER. The excesses of life will likely fall away as we seek after the necessities. Our dream retirement, our dream vacations … our dreams of the future may not ever materialize now, as we have planned them. Our false shelters have come crashing down along with our idols that established them. We have never gone this way before, but according to Psalm 91, the God of Israel has something extraordinary planned, and He will see us through to a new reality, richer, more secure reality founded upon Him. With our popular culture heading toward the pit of hell, and with the vast majority of the youth believing in Humanism, rather than in the truth and standards of YHVH, we surely needed a sudden halt in the direction of our rebellious ways.

We need to thank Him. There is a lot of mercy being expressed in this pandemic. We need to look beyond our emotions to see it.  Someone recently asked me why the Lord would allow so much death in this crisis? There are many good reasons why He may take some people off of the earth through death.

--He may take them to keep them. He can see what choices will be made in the future by any individual. If He sees that one of His children may be seduced away in rebellion and lost, YHVH may choose to take that person home now, so that He can have him/her in eternity.

--He may be showing an individual great love and mercy by taking him/her to spare them the suffering that is coming toward them in the future.

--YHVH may allow some of His chosen ones to die, so that the Kingdom can shine through them … so that others can see His glory through His own children, as they go through the dying process … revealing the victory of shelter and of relationship in Him … revealing the Source of all shalom to all those, who are observing the holy dying process or response to it.

--In great love YHVH may take some of His children home through death, because they have completed their assignments on the earth, and can now go home to receive their eternal reward.

--Some the Lord may take through death, because they have given their lives totally over to evil. If they were to continue to live, they could cause many others to go into sin (and be lost to YHVH) because of their influence.

--And we must always remember that life and death are totally YHVH’s choice.  He has wisdom and reasons beyond us. He doesn’t have to explain His choices and actions to us. He is perfect love and He is always right in what He does. 

Most importantly, the Lord has given us this time, in the midst of the pandemic, to bring in the harvest that is ready, and which we have neglected. Too many citizens of the world have been living outside of His shelter. They must come in now, before the One World Order takes control; forcing submission to the satanic, totally rebellious system of the anti-Christ. This is a precious time. We must run into the full manifestations of the name of our God in this season of the earth. The fullness of YHVH’s name is our safe, strong, tower. We must bring others into that safe shelter during this time of crisis. We don’t know how long it will continue, or how many will be taken from the earth because of this pestilence. For those of us, who already dwell under the shadow of His wings, it’s time to bring others into that safe shelter. The opportunity is here. It is NOW. It is our joy and delight to extend His invitation, of safety in Him unto eternal life, to all of those in this crisis. May He empower us and strengthen us to live within His shelter … unafraid … uncompromised … unwavering … and unshaken.  If the world sees us living in His shelter every day, they will want to join us there … and beyond that, join us in eternity. That is why we are here on the earth right now.  Let’s fulfill our destiny! The lost and terrified populations are looking for safety and for answers in this time of crisis. We have both. Let’s bring them into HIM.