Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part article. Find part two at this link.
No matter who wins today, Election Day 2024, of this we can be sure: America will be in turmoil, and emotions will run high. But those who have a personal relationship with God also have a place of refuge from the storm. It is God’s hiding place—or secret place—described in Psalm 91 (unless otherwise noted, the NIV is used below).
Verse 1: “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
This first verse lays the foundation for everything that comes after. The opening Hebrew word is yoshev, an active participle. This refers to continuous action or life habit, what one does all the time. Used as a noun, it can refer to someone who lives in a particular place, as in, “I’m an inhabitant of New York City.” This means Psalm 91 is giving promises to someone who lives in God’s shelter and protection. Put another way, if I asked you, “Where do you live?” your answer would be, “I live in the shelter of the Most High.”
But there’s more to that Hebrew word for shelter, or seter. It is not just as a shelter; it is a hiding place; it is a covert; it is a secret refuge. It is found in verses such as Isaiah 32:2, which says, “Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land” (Isa. 32:2, my emphasis). It is also found in verses like 2 Samuel 19:2 (ESV), when Saul is threatening to kill David, and which emphasize the aspect of “hiding place, secret place,” even more: “And Jonathan told David, ‘Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself” (my emphasis).
This is where God calls us to live: in that hiding place, that divine shelter, that secret place where no one can touch us and nothing can harm us. And, although that place is spiritual rather than physical, it is even more than a physical shelter or hiding place. The Lord Himself is impregnable.
You see, this is not just the hiding place of any god or higher power. This is the hiding place of the Most High God, a term found dozens of times in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms (starting in Ps. 7:17) and Daniel (where the one true God is contrasted with the false gods of the nations, starting in Dan. 3:26). As it is expressed in the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:11 (NIV), “Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”
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