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The first of these Psalms opens with the glorious words :
` LORD, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God' (Psa. 90:1,2).
This is a great, unalterable doctrinal fact. It extends beyond
the possibilities of human experience, for it goes back to the
beginning of creation, and concerns the very Being of God.
Doctrine is essential, for without it we cannot build or grow, but
it is one thing to subscribe to the `doctrine' of Psalm 90 - the
children who fell in the wilderness probably believed its truth -
and quite another to enter into the truth experimentally. It is this
kind of difference that we find when we compare the opening of
Psalm 90 with Psalm 91. The latter does not take us back to a
time before the creation, but deals with the immediate present :
` He that dwelleth 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' (Psa. 91:1,2).
`Dwell', `abide', `say', `my', `trust'.
This is clearly
experimental truth.
The same note is again evident in verses 9 and 10.
` Because thou hast made the LORD, Which is my refuge, even the Most
High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague
come nigh thy dwelling (tent)' (Psa. 91:9,10).
The change of person may be accounted for if we regard
Moses as addressing Joshua in the first place, and through him
all who `wholly follow' the Lord (Deut. 1:36).