Whittaker Chambers & Psalm 91

Chambers Testifying at HUACWhen Whittaker Chambers was making his testimony against Alger Hiss, his former associate in the communist underground, the stress of the situation was sometimes overwhelming. But encouragement can come in many forms. In his classic autobiography Witness, he remarks on one of those means of encouragement:

In those days, came the first of a series of letters that I was to receive throughout the Hiss Case. They came almost weekly and, in the depths of the Case, sometimes twice a week. After Hiss’s conviction, they came at longer intervals and at last stopped.

They were never signed. They were written in an angular hand and contained just three words: “The ninety-first Psalm.”

That Psalm, therefore, became a source of strength for Chambers. What did it contain? Here are some excerpts:

PrayerHe who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!”

For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day; . . . A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. . . .

For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. . . .

“Because he has loved Me [says the Lord], therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.

“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.

“With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.”

Those words are not for Whittaker Chambers only. They were given by God to provide strength and assurance for all who trust in Him. May they be real in your life if you are experiencing any trouble this day. He will be with you; He will rescue you.