playing for us tonight. Blessing as always. Psalm 91, take a look at verse one here tonight. Psalm 91. We'll take a look at verse one here this evening. When you find your place, you can stand with me and we'll read the word of God together here tonight. Psalm 91 verse one. I just want to bring you three things out of this verse here tonight that I pray be a blessing to you and to help you in your Christian life. Psalm 91 verse 1, the Bible says, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Let's read it one more time. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Let's pray. Father, we come to you tonight. Lord, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your blessings. Lord, we thank you for the singing tonight. Lord, I pray that we have honored you in everything we've done thus far. Lord, I pray you'd help us this evening as we preach. And Lord, as I stand here and open up your word, God, we have now read it. You said it would not return void. And so, Lord, I pray that it would find its lodge in place in our hearts tonight, and it would do that which you need it to do in our lives, to help mold us and change us and transform us into the men and women of God that you need us to be. Lord, to equip us for this time and this hour, and Lord, to be able to help us to stand in the day. Lord, I pray that you'd bless the evening, and Lord, just help me as I preach, and Lord, just pray that you'd just give us a good evening. This we ask in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Here in Psalm 91, there in verse 1, we can see that the psalmist begins by speaking of dwelling, speaking of a secret place, abiding in the shadow of the Almighty. I entitled this message tonight, Looking for Shade. Looking for Shade. I don't know about you, but I know that there's been times in my life whether I've been outside working or just outside doing various activities that it gets hot under the sun at times and we begin to look for places to go to find some relief and I'm sure you just like me have been outside and it's been hot and been working as I said or doing something and you said you know what I need to take a break And whenever you went to go take a break, you didn't look for a place outside that was still under the sun, if at all possible. You began to look around for a place that was shaded, a shady spot, especially during the summer when things are difficult and sometimes out in the sun and things are hard. And so you look for a shaded place. And so tonight I've entitled this message, Looking for Shade. Interestingly, as we think about looking for shade, we can make some comparisons to what shade is here tonight, but in all reality, the shade that we're looking for is really a little different than what we would think of the shade being, and I want to go through that tonight and showing you what that is. But here tonight, we see, the Bible says, we get into our very first The Bible says, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. The very first thing I want us to see here tonight is I want us to see the dwelling. The Bible says first, He that dwelleth in the secret place. Now when we look for shade, we're looking for a place of shade because number one, it is something that brings us rest and it brings us comfort. Whenever it's been difficult out in the day and working and doing different things We're looking for something to bring us rest and we're looking for something to help us rejuvenate us so to speak Because we have an essence been out in the world and and have been bearing the brunt of the heat of the day and we're looking for a place where we can go to find some rest and find some comfort. I don't know about you, but maybe you've been driving down the road sometime, maybe passing by some farms out in the country, and as you've been driving through, maybe perhaps during the summertime and you've looked out and you've seen cattle, maybe perhaps that had been out in the field at one point, But now here it is, the heat of the day, and now they all seem to be gathered underneath this one tree that's given out as much shade as it possibly could. And I'm sure you, like me, have seen that. And I tell you, if an animal knows that it needs some shade from time to time, surely God's people would know that we would need the same thing. Amen? If the beast of the field has enough sense to get up underneath the shade, then surely man who is the zenith of God's creation and the most intelligent of all of His creation should know that we need some shade from time to time. And so we see here tonight, we see the dwelling place. The Bible says, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. So we see that this dwelling place provides a place of comfort. It provides a place of rest. But also understanding that in this truth of dwelling that we see there in verse 1, it's not just a place that it says that it is just really nice to just frequent from time to time, but really, it is a place where we need to dwell. And the Bible and so on if there's something that we dwell in that has the idea of something that really Some place where we live that is in essence really a place that we would call home And I don't know about you, but I like the idea of calling Calling a place called home dwelling as close to God as possible and so we can see here in the Excuse me. You know how my throat gets from time to time. The Bible shows us here, there in verse 1, that the dwelling place, that we need to dwell in this secret place of the Most High. And I like the idea of knowing that the place that I dwell, the place that I call home is as close to God as it can possibly be. Here we see that this place, this dwelling place, as close to God as it can be, is a place of rest and a place of comfort. But also we can see that it is a place where we can go A place where we can go to escape the heat. And as I said, you know just as well as I do, that sometimes throughout the day, especially on some hot summer days, when you can be outside and it seems like the heat of the day and the sun that bears down upon you just seems to zap away all the strength that you may have. The world is in essence the same way. And we spend a lot of time outside of the shade of God. What we see is that we see that the world has a way of zapping the strength of our life. How many have ever heard it said, you know, you've been outside all day, maybe even perhaps, maybe you was working, as I said, maybe you were at the beach, or whatever it is, and you was outside all day long, and it seemed like it's only 3 o'clock. or four o'clock, but yet you come inside and you just feel totally exhausted. And the reason why is because when you're outside all day long, that sun seems to just drain the energy out of you. And whenever we're out in the world, the very same thing really happens to us in our life. The world really has a way of draining the energy out of us. It has a way of draining, in essence, almost life out of us. And so us making sure that we are dwelling in a place that is under the shade of God is extremely important. Because if not, what will happen is, is we'll find ourselves constantly drained day in and day out. And as I said, If the beast of the field understands and has enough sense to know that it needs to be under the shade from time to time, then surely God's people would understand that that is a place where we should dwell as well. And so here we see the dwelling place is a place that offers a place of rest and comfort, but also we see that it offers a place of escape. from the heat of the day. God, the Bible says, is our refuge. He is our high tower, our shield, our buckler, that He is all of these things in our life. But not only do we see that He is this dwelling place, do we find an escape from the heat, but as a place where we find strength to continue. strength to continue to press forward. I don't know about you, but I've worked in construction in my life, I've worked in landscaping in my life, been outside, outdoors most of my life and doing various types of work. And I can tell you this, that whenever you're in the heat of the day, there's nothing like finding that shaded place that you can sit up underneath so that eventually, when you know that when your lunch breaks over, that you can get up and you can feel rested because the heat of the sun hasn't been bearing down upon you. And the same way it is with life. We find this dwelling place in the Lord that provides a shade for us because it keeps us from the heat of this world. It keeps us from the trying times that we face out here in this world, but also helps us to revitalize. It helps us to rejuvenate ourselves whenever we feel run down and weary and wore out. by the heat of the day, we can find a solace and a refuge and a rest and a revitalization underneath the shade of God. And so we can see the dwelling place here tonight. We can see that it offers a place of rest and comfort, a place that is an escape from the heat, a place that is where we can find the strength to continue to press forward. What else do we see? Well, I think one of the things that we also see here tonight is not only a dwelling place, but I think we can also see it as a place of deference. A place of deference. I want you to notice, the Bible says, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, And of course we understand that this dwelling place that we find, this dwelling place that we have, is not just underneath anyone, but it is in the Most High, the secret place. The idea of that dwelling place, that alone place that we can get with God. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I like that phrase when it says there, shall abide under, because that speaks not only of a dwelling, but it actually speaks of the position of our dwelling, which is a deference. And you say, well, what is a deference of? Well, the Bible says that we shall When we dwell in that seeker place, we shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Listen, if we're going to be under something, it is best to be under the shadow of God. It is best to be under the presence of God. What we see here is a heart of humility. We see here a man that is not too prideful to admit, to understand, that knows that he can't face the world and the heat of the day on his own. that he needs that secret place, that he needs that shadow place of life that'll give him that rest, that'll give him that comfort, that'll give him what he needs as he continues to try to press forward in life. And so we can see that the Bible says that he that dwelleth He that dwelleth in the secret place abides under the shadow of the Almighty." In other words, this man is seeing that God is above him and that he is not above God. This man has a heart of humility and understanding that God is above all things and that he is under God. And listen, if we're going to be under anything, may it be that we be under God. And the Bible shows us here that in this dwelling place, in this secret place, that it is under the shadow of the Almighty. So understanding today that our dwelling place is so important. That we have a dwelling place that is in fellowship with God. A dwelling place that we are, in essence, we can call it almost like our prayer closet even. Well, that seeker place where we get along with God and commune with Him and we read His Word and we study and we just We found that place where it's just us and God and we get along together in that secret place. The holy of holy place, if that's what we would want to call it. And the Bible says that He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under. And so we see that the deference there of humility, understanding that God is in control, understanding that God is the authority. And so what we want to do is, is we want to abide under Him. We want to make sure that we're not abiding under anything else or anybody else. We want to make sure that we are abiding under Him because He is the authority. He is the ruler of all there is. He is the just judge of the earth. and He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and so placing ourselves in this with a heart of humility and making sure that we understand that God is above and that we are beneath and that we have this humility in our hearts and minds that we will abide under Him. And so we can see the dwelling place, but then we see the deference to where we understand that we are going to have a humble heart and completely bring ourselves under His power. But then we also see there in the text, the Bible says, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Not only do we see the dwelling, not only do we see the deference, but we also see the draping. You say, well, what is the draping? Well, when we look at the text here, and as I said, we've been talking about a shadow. When we think about this, if God is light, then how can God cast a shadow? How can God cast darkness? if He is light. And so what I want us to see here tonight is, as I said in the very beginning, we think about being under a shadow, which is under some darkness, which is under some shade. And that's the idea that we can see to look at to understand. But now as we come to the end of this verse, I want us to bring this truth together so that we can really see what's going on. When the Bible says in that last part of that verse, to be under the shadow of the Almighty, we're not talking about a shadow in the sense that we would see a shadow here tonight. We're not talking about a shadow in essence where the light is shining upon me and my body is casting a shadow on the ground. We're not talking about that type of shadow. Because listen, in God, as the Bible says, there is no darkness. So how can God cast a shadow? And so the whole idea is this. Now stay with me as I bring this in. The Hebrew phrase or the Hebrew words for the idea of the cast of shadow here has the idea of, if not the shadow as we would see it, as we would think of it in the normal sense, but the idea of something that is to drape around, or to envelop, or to be a shield, or something that would be a buffer, so to speak. Something that in essence that would surround. And so when we read this text, understand, The Bible says, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the surrounding, under the drapery, under the presence, under the envelope, so to speak, under the buffering, under the protectiveness of God. And so we don't see God casting a shadow in essence, but we see the Lord in essence showing us that whenever we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, what happens is we find ourselves in a place where we are completely surrounded, completely enveloped by the power and presence of God. And God doesn't cast a shadow upon our life, but He does surround us. We get in that secret place with God. And He envelops us and He surrounds us. He becomes that protectiveness in our life that shields us from everything that's on the outside. God's not shedding darkness upon our life. God is shedding His power. God is shedding His wisdom. God is enveloping us with His presence. And I don't know about you, but let me ask you this here tonight. Have you ever spent some time with God, and you tried to get in that secret place, and it was almost like, listen, whether you were driving down the road, or whether you was at the house, or maybe perhaps you was at work, and you shot some prayers up to the Lord, and you were just looking for the presence of God that day for whatever reason, and you were just praying and spending time with God, and it seemed like you just walked right into that secret place, and it's like God just, it's almost like the presence of God just fell down around you and just enveloped you and surrounded you. And you know that God's always present. You know that God's always there. But for whatever reason, in that moment, it seemed like that His presence and His surrounding and that His power was even more predominant, maybe perhaps at that moment, than it has been maybe at other times. The Bible shows us here in the text that He that dwells in the secret place When we desire to spend some time with God, whenever we desire to take a break from the world, from the heat of the day, and the things that compass us and surround us about, and the things that drain our strength, and drain our energy, and steal our rest and steal our comfort. When we're looking for an escape from the day, the Bible says that he that dwells in that secret place will find himself totally submitted under the power of God. And whenever he does that, when he decides to come to that secret place, totally submitting himself to an almighty God in heaven, that the God of heaven will surround his life. The God of heaven will surround in essence his soul. Let us envelop His Spirit in His grace and mercy and love and understanding. And it's in that place where we feel the presence of God just completely surrounded all around us. The Bible says in that text, we shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. So we can see the dwelling place is important, but we can also see the idea that we defer ourselves to God, and understand that God is the authority. We put ourselves under Him, and so we submit to Him, we defer our ambitions, we defer our desires, we defer our will, we defer all these things, to an Almighty God. And then what happens is we find ourselves completely draped, surrounded, and engulfed, and we find ourselves enveloped, in essence, in the presence of God. God does not cast a shadow upon people, but one of the things that God does cast upon us is His love, and His longsuffering, and His mercy and grace, and His divine wisdom and understanding. And so listen, when we're in life, and we're out here in the world, and things are difficult, and things are hard, and man, it's getting hot, listen, I can tell you this, when we find ourselves submitting to God and saying, okay, Lord, I'm going to come in from the heat, and I'm not going to stay out there no longer, but God, I'm going to... I'm gonna come in, and I'm gonna submit myself to you, and I'm gonna spend time with you, and I'm gonna spend some time with you in prayer, and not only am I gonna pray, but I'm gonna open up my word, God, and let you speak to my heart, because listen, a conversation takes two people, right? When I pray, I talk to God. When I read the Bible, He talks to me. That's a two-way conversation. Listen, we got a lot of people today, they're saying, They're doing a lot of praying, but they're not reading God's Word and letting God speak to them. And so what happens, it becomes a one-way conversation. Listen, a conversation consists of two people. And so we want to pray, but we also want to read God's Word, let God speak to us through His Word, And we spend time with the Lord and God says, listen, you come to me from the heat of the day. You come to me and abide under me and what's going to happen is, and you submit to me. And what you're going to find is, is when the devil's running after you and the world's running after you. and you're in the heat of the day and you're tired and you're weary and you wore out you find yourself coming to me spending some time with me and what I'm going to do is I'm going to surround you with love and I'm going to surround you with grace and mercy I'm going to surround you with power from heaven I'm going to surround you with my presence and you're going to know that there's One God in heaven that loves and cares about you. Notice what verse 2 is. At the very end of that statement there in verse 1, notice what he says there in verse 2, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge. You know why? because whenever he experiences the love of God completely enveloped and surrounded him, whenever he experiences the drapery of God as he abides under the loving care and understanding and grace and mercy of God, as he abides up underneath that, he is renewed in his strength, just as it is when a man is out in the world and he's looking for a place to go, he's looking for a shady place, It is in that shady place where he finds rest and comfort. Well, the Bible uses that as an understanding of what we can see with God. God is over us, and when we submit ourselves to Him, and we come to Him, and we come into that secret place, what we find is not the shadow of God, because God doesn't cast a shadow, but what we find is the love of God that refreshes us. We found the strength of God that refreshes us. We found the knowledge and the wisdom of God that refreshes us. Because, listen, we're going to have to get out from underneath that shade again. And we're going to have to walk back out in that world. And whenever we do, listen, it's going to get hard and it's going to get heated. But God says, listen, make sure you don't forget, you can always abide under the shadow of the Almighty. You could always come back to this dwelling place. And so my Christian friend, I'm just trying to get you to see tonight that listen, the world can be a difficult place at times, but we can come to God and God says, listen, you dwell in me. You defer yourself to my power and authority. You submit yourself to me, and I will drape around you my love and grace. And there in verse two, the psalmist says, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. My God and Him will I trust. You say, well, how could he say that there in verse two because of all that he witnesses there in verse one? As he dwells under the shadow of the Almighty of God, as he basks in God's glory, as he basks himself in the majesty and the glory and the power of God, he in essence says, listen, my God, this is my God and He is my fortress. This is my God, and He is my Lord. He is my refuge. Listen, there is no refuge like Him. There is no fortress like Him. And this is the fortress I choose, and this is the God that I have. And so he is able to say what he says in verse two, because he first found the dwelling place, his dwelling in the secret place of God. He spent time with the Lord, even the busyness of the day. He knew he needed rest, just like Psalm 23. Though I walk through the valley's shadow of death, thou wilt feel no evil, for thou art with me. And the Bible shows us that he leads the sheep by the still waters, and that he takes them by the green pastures. And the Bible says in John chapter 10, the Lord Jesus said, he says, I'm the door, and all those that come in, listen, they will have life and have abundantly, and they shall have I have a pasture. I have a place for them that I can provide for them, all at their knees as they escape this world. And so the Bible shows us here in verses 1 and 2, we see the dwelling, we see the deference, but then we also see the drapery. I don't know about you, but I like the idea of being completely draped by God. I like the idea of knowing that the power of God is overshadowing my life. The presence of God is draping down around me as a protective shield, as a refuge, as a fortress from the heat of the day, so that the enemy, listen, as the enemy approaches, in order for him to get to me, he's gonna have to come to the pavilion of God first. And so we can see here in the text, he's in verse two, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. Why? because the dwelling that He chose. It's so important that we choose the right dwelling place, because if our dwelling place isn't in the secret place with God, then how are we going to find the power that we need? How are we going to find the love that we need, the mercy and the grace and all these things that we need in the day? We live in a world today where lots of people are finding a dwelling place, but it's not in the secret place of God. They're finding it out here in this world and finding their dwelling place for many people out here in this world, especially for the lost crowd and perhaps even some for God's people. They have now found their secret place where they fellowship and where they dwell in the things of the world and the pleasures of the world. But it only lasts, as the Bible says, the pleasures of the world only last for a season. And so these things, they're here for a little while, but then they're gone, and so then they... They pick up and they look for another dwelling place. They pick up and they look for something else that's going to provide them strength. They look for something else that's going to provide them the comfort and the rest that they need, and then that's gone. And then they look for something else, and then that's gone. look for something else and they're constantly moving and constantly wandering and constantly trying to find this place that can give them exactly what they need. But I'm thankful here tonight that my Bible shows me that when I come to God and in Him is my dwelling place, I don't have to look anywhere else. I don't have to go no further. Listen, you know why? Because there is no other place like the secret place of God. There is no other place. Listen, when we come to the dwelling place of God, and we spend some alone time with God in prayer, and reading God's Word, and whatever it is that we need to talk to God about, listen, whether it's five minutes, or ten minutes, or half an hour, or an hour, or all day, however long it is that you spend time with the Lord, There is no place, there is no dwelling, there is no strength, there is no power, there is no peace, there is no comfort that a man can receive outside of the greatness of the God that we serve. But we see that there's a lost and dying world, and as I said, And I would dare say even God's people today that have turned for whatever reason and gone back out into the world, that they're wandering and they're wandering and they're wandering from this place to the next, trying to find this place that can give them what they need, when the Bible shows us right here that He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Listen, when you come to God, there is no other place to go. There is no one like the Shepherd. There is nobody like the God that we serve. A God that can love and a God that can forgive and a God of mercy that's renewed every morning. A God of longsuffering that every single day, and when we confess our sin, that the Bible says that He is faithful and He is just. The Bible says He's ready to forgive us. If we confess our sins to Him, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. What other God is there that is like that? What other place can we go out here in this world that can offer us what God is offering us here tonight? Listen, the Bible shows us that He that dwells in that secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. We see the dwelling, we see the deference. God, I defer to You. The Bible says without Him we can do nothing, and so God, I have no strength, I have no power of my own. But God, I defer to You with a humble heart, understanding that You are God and I abide under You. We also see lastly there, as I said, the drapery. how God just drapes around us in our life. Not that God casts a shadow upon us because the Lord is light. But what He is, is a surrounding presence, an enveloping presence, a protective presence that keeps us from the heat of the day where we can find rest and we can find comfort. I'm thankful for the shadow of the Almighty. And I'm thankful that me along with this psalmist here can say that He is my refuge and my fortress. You notice there in verse 2, all of the places where He says, My. It is possessional. He is my refuge. He is my fortress. He is my God. And in Him will I trust. The psalmist knows that there in verse 2 that it is in the power of God. It is in the presence of God. It is under the shadow of the Almighty. It is in this secret place where he comes to realize that no matter what comes his way. Take a look at verse 3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He understands and knows that because He is in the secret place, because that is a place of His dwelling, because He defers to God in a heart of humility, and because God is draping around Him and enveloping His life and power and presence and grace and mercy and all these things, that He is able to find strength from the things of life, as He shows us there in verse 3. that He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, the one that is on the hunt, the noisome pestilence, the things that are out here in this world that seek to disease, and the things that are out in this world that seek to bite and to take pieces of us. And He says, what I'll do is I'll dwell in this secret place. So here tonight, if you feel like that you've had bites taken out of your life, and you feel like the snare, the fowler has put the snare out, laying the traps for you to come in, or the hunter is out there seeking you, then the Bible says we can dwell in the secret place. And in this secret place, we can find all that we need. a place of rest and comfort, escape from the heat of the day, and strength to continue on. Let us pray tonight. Father, we come to You this evening. We thank You, Lord, for Your goodness tonight. Lord, I pray this evening that if there's anybody here tonight that's looking for shade, Not that we're looking for a dark place to get in, but the God that we're looking for, we're looking to be surrounded, enveloped by Your presence and power. And God, that You would help us tonight, Lord, as we dwell in this secret place, as we get along with You in our hearts and minds, Lord, that You would give us what we need in life. Lord, I pray that You would help us tonight as we go throughout this week and folks go to work and face the different battles and challenges that they face every day. Lord, that You would help us all to see that we can dwell in that secret place and in that secret place we can find everything that we need from You. Now we too can say, like the psalmist says, that He's my refuge. He's my God. Lord, I pray that You'd help us this evening to find that tonight. Lord, I thank You for this opportunity to be able to speak tonight. And I pray You'd bless everyone this evening. Give us a good night. Bring us back to our next appointed time here on Sunday. And all this we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.