|
"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1
In Psalm 91, David tells of the benefits that believers who dwell in the secret place of the Most. High experience. Such benefits include divine protection from danger and destruction. What is the secret place of the Most High? Episodes from David's life will shed light on the answer to this question.
In 1 Samuel 23, the Lord told David the Philistines were attacking the city of Keilah. David inquired of the Lord what He should do about it. The Lord instructed David to go to attack the Philistines and save the city. Also during this time David was fleeing for his life from Saul. The Spirit of the Lord has departed from Saul because of his disobedience. The Lord was now with David and Saul having perceived this was now afraid of David. As a result, Saul became an enemy of and sought to kill David.
David went to Keilah, attacked and defeated the Philistines. When Saul heard of David's whereabouts, he gathered people to go to Keilah and "besiege" David and his men. When David heard of Saul's intentions, he again inquired of the Lord whether Saul would come to the city and if so, would the men of the city betray him to Saul. The Lord answered David's inquiry and as a result, David and his men fled the city before Saul got there, thereby spoiling Saul's plot.
In 1 Samuel 30, the Amalekites invaded the city of Ziklag and took the wives, children and belongs of David and his men. When David found out about this, he inquired of the Lord whether or not he should pursue the Amalekites. The Lord instructed David to pursue them and also told him that he would recover all that had been taken.
From these three episodes in David's life, what is the common denominator? The common denominator is that in each case David did not make a move without consulting the Lord. David only took action after the Lord told him what to do. Proverbs 3:6 says, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path." This is dwelling in the secret place of the Most High.
In David's circumstances mentioned above, He consulted the Lord using an ephod. An ephod was something the priests wore as a part of the holy garments. It was used to inquire of the Lord. How this was done is not exactly known, but the result is. Through the ephod, Israelites were able to consult with God.
Today, we Christians have the Holy Ghost as our Comforter. Jesus said He would be with us forever and guide us into all truth. (John 14:16; 16:13) If we allow Him, the Holy Ghost will direct our path in all that we do. There are no limits to the areas of our life where He will direct us. If we consistently follow his leading, we will dwell in the secret place of the Most High just as David did and experience the benefits outlined in Psalm 91.
After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, many persons testified of not going to the World Trade Center on that day because they were prompted by the Holy Ghost not to go. Had they not obeyed the Holy Ghost, those persons may not be alive today. In August 1997, after having just taught this lesson a few days before in a local prayer meeting, I left home to go to a nearby store. As I approached the red light where I needed to turn to go a particular store, the Holy Ghost told me to go to a store across town. On this particular day at this particular time, I was tired and did not feel like driving across town to go to a different store. So I decided to turn anyway and proceed to go to where I was going.
As I approached the store from a street behind the store, another car proceeded to make a left turn without looking for oncoming traffic and did not see me coming. The driver turned in my path and because there was no way to avoid it, we collided head on. Fortunately we were both traveling at a slow rate of speed. No one was hurt, but $600.00 in damages was done to the car I was driving. Although the accident was not my fault, I still could have avoided it altogether if I had heeded the direction of the Holy Ghost and gone to the store across town.
The fact that the Holy Ghost warned me is evidence that God's protection was in my life. When I didn't take heed, I stepped out from that protection and experienced the accident. Ouch! Nevertheless, divine protection was there. I am just thankful that the accident was not worse.
| 
