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Psalms are important to Christians, as they concern Jesus Christ and what He fulfilled. Luke 24:44, “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” So, before we apply the verses of this Psalm as Words of Life, how did our Lord apply them to His life?

Immediately we are drawn to His temptation in the wilderness as recorded in the gospels of Matthew Ch. 4 and Luke Ch. 4. Satan challenged Him as the Son of God to jump from the pinnacle of the temple to prove Psalm 91:11-12, that angels would protect Him. Yet it appears He rejects these words, “Get thee behind me Satan!” Are the verses erroneous? No, they are not. In our faith we state our belief in the Bible as the word of God, both Old and New testaments.

A valuable lesson in understanding the Bible and its truth is given here. Our Lord did not reject Psalm 91:11-12. He has shown to us the need to read the full psalm, and other psalms and scripture. He has shown us that we need to be very careful with doctrines based on single verses of the Bible, as this is exactly what Satan tried. Our Lord’s response was to recall Deuteronomy 6:16 that we should not test God.

The need to understand the context of a biblical verse, its overall meaning in God’s plan for the world and for us requires expanding our reading around those verses. In the same temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness this is made clear by another of our Lord’s responses “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”. Not a few words taken in isolation.

When reading all of Psalm 91 we see it is not encouraging us to live recklessly or claiming that our lives will be a bed of roses without any troubles. It outlines a way of life that will put us in God’s hands in many ways: angel’s protection, delivering us from enemies, strengthening us in tribulation, providing us a refuge, taking away fear. This way of life includes: v1 attendance in the temple (Church), v2 confession or testifying of our Faith, v9 Godly living, v14 to love and know God’s ways, and v15 always to pray.

Jesus our Lord applied this psalm to His life. He knew angels could and would protect Him, but only if He followed this way of life. They would not protect Him if He jumped from a tower to test God, but after His 40 day battle with Satan they came and ministered unto Him. He would not call upon angels if it was not God’s plan. When arrested and taken away to suffer and die on the cross He did not call upon legions of angels which were at His disposal (Matt 26:53). He knew the following days needed prayer and maintaining His righteous life until death. By doing this God would give him strength, take away fear, and overcome the enemies He faced. He knew the angels would be there when He arose on the third day, and to witness His ascension to the Heavenly throne.

Every day of our lives we benefit from these mercies of God, by Grace, often unawares. Miracles, prevented   harm and death, strength to continue are given to us freely if we follow the way of life outlined in Psalm 91.