Psalm 91:14 NKJV
14
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
Why He Delivers Those Who Set Their Love on Him
My Notes
In this verse, the Lord is speaking of David, and he says, “because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.” This is the assurance that we all seek, and here we see that when David sought the Lord to be his refuge and his fortress, to run to him in times of trouble and trust that the Lord would deliver him. It’s further proof that God is always watching for us, similar to the Father in the story of the Prodigal son; he was watching and when he saw his son coming home, “he ran” to where he was. That’s what God will do for us if we run toward Him, even though He is God Almighty, the creator of everything, our provider, our redeemer, our healer, our salvation. He loves us and watches for us to come to ourselves and realize how much we are loved. And then when we do and we look for the Lord, He is there, waiting and ready to take us in His arms.
Psalm 91:14 emphasizes God’s promise to protect those who genuinely love Him. The verse highlights that divine deliverance is not based on personal merit but rather on a heartfelt commitment to God. The commentaries below note that loving God involves a conscious choice and active engagement in building a relationship with Him. This relationship brings about blessings, security, and peace, as God acknowledges those who recognize His name and attributes. The verse reflects on the joy of being honored by God when one chooses to trust and adore Him, reinforcing the importance of sincere devotion and knowledge of the Lord.
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
Here we have the Lord himself speaking of his own chosen one.
“Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him.” Not because he deserves to be thus kept, but because with all his imperfections, he does love his God; therefore, not the angels of God only, but the God of angels himself will come to his rescue in all perilous times, and will effectually deliver him. When the heart is enamored of the Lord, all taken up with him, and intensely attached to him, the Lord will recognize the sacred flame and preserve the man who bears it in his bosom. It is love,—love set upon God, which is the distinguishing mark of those whom the Lord secures from ill.
“I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.” The man has known the attributes of God so as to trust in him, and then by experience has arrived at a yet deeper knowledge, this shall be regarded by the Lord as a pledge of his grace, and he will set the owner of it above danger or fear, where he shall dwell in peace and joy. None abide in intimate fellowship with God unless they possess a warm affection towards God, and an intelligent trust in him; these gifts of grace are precious in Jehovah’s eyes, and wherever he sees them, he smiles upon them. How elevated is the standing which the Lord gives to the believer? We ought to covet it right earnestly. If we climb on high it may be dangerous, but if God sets us there, it is glorious. (Spurgeon)
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Enduring Word
Because he has set his love upon Me: These last three verses are set in the first person as God speaks promise and blessing over His people. He speaks specifically over those who set their love upon Him. It has been wonderfully noted that the last words of this psalm are not spoken by God’s people, but to God’s people. (Guzik)
i. He has set his love upon Me: This “…is used elsewhere in contexts of setting one’s heart on somebody or on some enterprise. As man’s commitment to God, it comes only here.” (Kidner)
ii. To set one’s love upon God means to do it by choice. He does not wait for the feeling of love to come, but simply chooses to think and act toward God in ways that express and build love. This would include:
· Spending time with God.
· Listening to God.
· Reading what God has written to us.
· Speaking to God.
· Thinking of God in unoccupied moments.
· Adoring God.
· Speaking of God to others.
· Giving to God and making glad sacrifices to Him and for Him. (Guzik)
iii. Our present culture often thinks of love as something that happens to people, not something chosen. The phrase because he has set his love on Me reminds us that a significant aspect of love is indeed a choice, and this describes in part the love we should give unto God. (Guzik)
Therefore I will deliver Him: The promises and principles stated previously in this psalm are repeated again, but this time from the perspective of God Himself. God will protect His beloved and set him on high, and do it because he has known My name, having a real relationship with God. (Guzik)
i. “There are blessings that some believers miss out on, simply because they are always fretting and do not trust God as they should. Here, the psalmist quotes God as saying that the blessings are for those who love God and acknowledge his name (verse 14), call upon him (verse 15), and seek satisfaction in what he alone can provide.” (Boice)
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Albert Barnes
Because he hath set his love upon me – Has become attached to me; has united himself with me; is my friend. The Hebrew word expresses the strongest attachment, and is equivalent to our expression – “to fall in love.” It refers here to the fact that God is the object of supreme affection on the part of his people; and it also here implies, that this springs from their hearts; that they have seen such beauty in his character, and have such strong desire for him, that their hearts go out in warm affection toward him.
Therefore will I deliver him – I will save him from trouble and from danger.
I will set him on high – By acknowledging him as my own, and treating him accordingly.
Because he hath known my name – He has known me; that is, he understands my true character, and has learned to love me. (Barnes)
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John Gill
Because he hath set his love upon me,…. These are the words of God himself; and, according to Aben Ezra, are directed to the angels, describing the good man, and making promises to him; and in this clause he is represented as one that had “set his love” upon the Lord, being first loved by the Lord, and having the grace of love wrought in his heart by him: the phrase denotes the strength of his affection to God, and the sincerity of it; its singularity, being placed alone on him, and the settlement and fixedness of it, so as nothing could separate from it: this the Lord takes great notice of, and is highly well pleased with: hence it follows,
therefore will I deliver him: from noisome diseases before mentioned, from all afflictions into which he comes, and from all the temptations of the evil one, so as that he shall not be hurt or destroyed by them:
I will set him on high; on the Rock Christ Jesus, that is higher than he, higher than the angels, higher than the heavens, and where he is now out of the reach of all his enemies, and will be set hereafter on high in heaven, among princes, inheriting the throne of glory; yea, even set upon the same throne with Christ himself:
because he hath known my name; himself, his being, and perfections; his Son, the Angel of his presence, in whom his name, nature, and perfections are; and his name as proclaimed in him, a God gracious and merciful; and this not merely notionally, but experimentally, and affectionately and fiducially; for such, that truly know him, love him, and trust in him; and these exalt him, and so are exalted and set on high by him.
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Matthew Henry
Some make this to be spoken to the angels as the reason of the charge given them concerning the saints, as if he had said, “Take care of them, for they are dear to me, and I have a tender concern for them.” And now, as before, we must observe,
To whom these promises do belong; they are described by three characters:-
(1.) They are such as know God’s name. His nature we cannot fully know; but by his name he has made himself known, and with that we must acquaint ourselves.
(2.) They are such as have set their love upon him; and those who rightly know him will love him, will place their love upon him as the only adequate object of it, will let out their love towards him with pleasure and enlargement, and will fix their love upon him with a resolution never to remove it to any rival.
(3.) They are such as call upon him, as by prayer keep up a constant correspondence with him, and in every difficult case refer themselves to him.
That he will, in due time, deliver them out of trouble: I will deliver him (v. 14 and again v. 15), denoting a double deliverance, living and dying, a deliverance in trouble and a deliverance out of trouble. If God proportions the degree and continuance of our troubles to our strength, if he keeps us from offending him in our troubles, and makes our death our discharge, at length, from all our troubles, then this promise is fulfilled. See Ps. 34:19; 2 Tim. 3:11; 4:18.
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Adam Clarke
Verse Psalms 91:14. Because he hath set his love upon me — Here, the Most High is introduced as confirming the word of his servant. He has fixed his love – his heart and soul- on me.
Therefore will I deliver him — I will save him in all troubles, temptations, and evils of every kind.
I will set him on high — I will place him out of the reach of all his enemies. I will honor and ennoble him, because he hath known my name – because he has loved, honored, and served me, and rendered me that worship which is my due. He has known me to be the God of infinite mercy and love.
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The Pulpit Commentaries
Because he hath set his love upon me (see Deuteronomy 7:7; Deuteronomy 10:15). “By a sudden and effective transition,” as Professor Cheyne remarks, “Jehovah becomes the speaker” of the concluding strophe. It is not enough that the faithful should encourage each other by their anticipations of God’s coming mercies; God himself now speaks by the mouth of his prophet, and makes promises in his own Person. I will deliver him. A ratification of Psalms 91:3, Psalms 91:7, Psalms 91:10-15. I will set him on high; i.e. “exalt him above his fellows”—”bring him to honor.” Because he hath known my Name. “Knowing God’s Name” is nearly equivalent to knowing him. It implies, besides knowledge, faith, and trust in the Almighty.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“Because he hath set his love upon me.” Vulgate. “Because he hath hoped in me.” Whatever is to be done, whatever is to be declined, whatever is to be endured, whatever is to be chosen, Thou O Lord art my hope. This is the only cause of all my promises, this the sole reason of my expectation. Let another pretend to merit, let him boast that he bears the burden and heat of the day, let him say that he fasts twice on the Sabbath, let him finally glory that he is not as other men; for me it is good to cleave unto God, to place my hope in the Lord God. Let others hope in other things, one in his knowledge of letters, another in his worldly wisdom, one in his nobility, one in his dignity, another in some other vanity, for thy sake I have made all things loss, and count them but dung; since Thou, Lord, art my hope.—Bernard, quoted by Le Blanc.
He does not say, Because he is without sin, because he has perfectly kept all my precepts, because he has merit and is worthy to be delivered and guarded. But he produces those qualities which are even found in the weak, the imperfect, and those still exposed to sin in the flesh, namely, adhesion, knowledge of his name, and prayer.—Musculus.
“I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.” There is a great deal of safety in the knowledge of God, in his attributes, and in his Christ. A man’s safety we see lies in his running to the tower (Pro 28:10); he runs and is safe. And it is the knowledge of this tower that sets a man a running to it. Hence, we find safety attributed to the knowledge of the Lord. “I will set him on high,” I will exalt him, and so he shall be safe. Why so? “Because he hath known my name;” for the knowing of God aright was that which made him run, and so he is exalted and set on high. Then a man is safe when he hath got this tower to be his tower, when he hath gotten God to be his God. Now, when we know God, we get him to be our God, and make this tower our tower, Jer 24:7, “I will give them an heart to know me, and I will be their God.“
—Jeremiah Dyke, in “The Righteous Man’s Tower,” 1639.
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Cross-References
Psalm 9:10 (ESV)
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Deuteronomy 10:15 (ESV)
15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.
Psalm 50:15 (ESV)
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
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Closing Thoughts
My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” And call understanding your nearest kin, Proverbs 7:1-4 NKJV
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