These are the words of one who had known almost more than any other man of the shafts of unkindness, and the arrows of death, and the cruel torments of life. None, probably, save only David's Son, ever equalled David in the degree in which he had passed through all the sympathies of our common nature. And this is his testimony, that in the midst of all there is a "place," a "secret place," as deep in its secrecy as God is high in His omnipotence, shadowed over by the hand of God.
I. What is meant by the secret place? The secret of the whole of the Old Testament is the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore to the mind of David i.e.,in its first intention the expression, "the secret place of the Most High," would certainly connect itself with Christ.
II. The Psalmist designates the man who "dwells" in the secret place. It is a beautiful idea the man who has his home in Christ. It is to have Jesus all round us our covering, our beauty, our defence, our rest.
III. Every promise has in it the dignity and the security of prophecy. "He shall abide." The image assures us of two things: (1) safety; (2) peace. He who refreshes himself in Christ has a refuge to which he can return again and again, and it is always there. It is the same "yesterday, today, and for ever."
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,9th series, p. 134.
References: Psalms 91:1. J. N. Norton, Every Sunday, p. 257. Psalms 91:1; Psalms 91:2. R. S. Candlish, The Gospel of Forgiveness, p. 227. Psalms 91:2. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1297. Psalms 91:3. Ibid., vol. iii., No. 124.Psalms 91:4. Ibid.,vol. xv., No. 902.Psalms 91:11. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xv., p. 143; J. H. Keble, Sermons for Saints' Days,p. 372.