"The Lord is my Rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." (Psalm 18:2)
How may one experience the ample security which these words set forth? All can see that the man who is able to truthfully describe his position in such language could not ask to be in a safer place. How then can we get into it?
Notice that it is the Lord himself who is a rock and a fortress. Whoever then possesses the Lord, has, in Him, the shelter from all evil. This is true of every good thing offered to men by the Gospel. Not one blessing can be had apart from the Lord, and the Lord cannot be received without receiving every spiritual blessing." (Ephesians 1:3)
[God] has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
We should not conclude from this that it is a very difficult thing to get a blessing from the Lord, since it is just as hard to get a single blessing as it is to get the fullness of God. Let us view the matter on the right side, and rejoice that it is just as simple and easy to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be kept from falling as it is to get the single blessing which we have often proved it so easy to seek and find. When we might just as well have all that God has to give, it is dishonoring to Him to be content with so little. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." (Colossians 1:19)
And He in whom the fullness dwells is a free gift to sinners. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," (John 3:16) and, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)
There is a deep and wonderful significance in the words we read so often, and so unthinkingly, "I am the Lord your God." (Exodus 6:7)
But is the Lord ours in a practical way, so that we may really benefit by the fullness that dwells in Him? Is He not inaccessible for all practical purposes, by reason of His being in heaven while we are on the earth? No. "Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)" (Romans 10:6-7)
Why are we forbidden to say this in our heart? Because right there is Christ himself, the living Word of God. "The Word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart." (Romans 10:8)
So let your mouth and heart agree to it, so that you may not deny Christ, but confess Him. "If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." (Romans 10:9) "Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." (Proverbs 4:23) "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34) "Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, ... For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." (Matthew 15:18-19)
Now if Christ live in the heart, and a man be willing to be a witness to that fact, it is evident that the fountain will send forth pure waters. The issues of the life will be the issues of Christ's life. "We shall be saved by His life." (Romans 5:10) "For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:10)
In the same way, God, as our Rock, is brought into the life. We do not need, when we realize the necessity of protection, to go somewhere to find the fortress. We are already safe inside, for God himself is the fortress, and "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
The only thing that can endanger us is to forget that we are in the fortress, and so be deceived into trying to find the protection in some other place. "Of the Rock that begat you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God that formed you." (Deuteronomy 32:18)
The man who knows that God is his fortress will abide in Him, and so have his mind at rest, in spite of all the foes that vainly rage outside. "In You, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion. ... Be my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: You have given commandment to save me; for You are my rock and my fortress. ... I am as a wonder unto many; but You are my strong refuge." (Psalm 71:1,3,7)
This is not true of a favored few only, God has given commandment to save all men, but many will not yield obedience. He is a rock to all, but some only stumble over it, through unbelief, and to them it becomes a rock of offense. It is available for all as a refuge. "Lord, You have been our dwelling-place in all generations." (Psalm 90:1) "He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God,in Him will I trust." (Psalm 91:1-2)
We are not to limit these statements by saying that they are spiritual, for this fact does not limit them at all. It gives them the widest possible scope. Men have thought that they could have spiritual blessings without these affecting their temporal condition and circumstances for good, but this was because they did not understand the real nature of the spiritual blessings. "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you." (Romans 8:11)
Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, such liberty as Christ had by the Spirit, and, by the Spirit, He had such superabundance of liberty that He was not merely free himself, but He went about delivering the captives, opening the prisons, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.
So we, when we experience the spiritual security that comes by dwelling in the fortress, are delivered at the same time from physical evil. "A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. ... There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling." (Psalm 91:7,10)
This is because God is the dwelling himself. "Because you have made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, your habitation." (Psalm 91:9)
But if the Lord has been our dwelling-place in all generations, how is it that evils befall us? Because we choose them, and God will always respect our choice. It is true we do not want death, but we want the sin which, when it is finished, brings forth death.
When we are willing that the Lord shall make an end of sin, root as well as branch, He will do it speedily. His command is, "Abide in me." (John 15:4,7)
And this abiding in Him, which secures us from spiritual enemies, will give us the same safety that Christ himself, our dwelling-place, enjoys against every form of evil. "He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He." (Deuteronomy 32:4)--Present Truth, March 30, 1899--Psalm 18:2.