David was a bit rattled and afraid for his life. Who did he seek? He went to the One whom he knew could help him. His God. He prayed asking God to hide him from the evildoers.
We do not have King Saul and his soldiers chasing us. Our enemies are not always so bold and identifiable. I am thinking about THE enemy and his warriors who create havoc and disruption in our lives. Granted, there are people who attempt to create problems for us. But, it is the enemies we cannot see, that catch us off guard. They go about with the sole purpose of creating unrest and fear. They encircle us with confusion in our day to day lives. Their goal is to keep us unsettled. To stalk us with trouble.
A change is coming. Maybe, we need to move from our home. A change in employment. A divorce is coming. We find ourself without the energy to carry out our normal day to day tasks. Illness or injury comes.
The goal of our enemies, when these situations come, is to get us to begin thinking and posing questions to ourselves. Doubting God is there with us. We may even begin to see ourselves in unfavorable ways. It might go something like this. What are we going to do? How will we find somewhere to live? What if we can’t afford what we find? How can this be happening? I will never find a better job. No one will ever love me again. Or maybe we hear a small voice telling us we are lazy. We are tired. We are worthless. We can’t do this. Nothing is going right. We have all had these thoughts before. This is the equivalent of David’s enemy laying snares to get him. We start to feel defeated and afraid. Fearful.
But, our God will shoot down those thoughts with arrows.
~Thought For Today~
All of it, every bit of trouble in this broken world, began in the garden. Things were going well for Adam and Eve. Then the enemy showed up. He had a voice. He was convincing. He started them questioning what they knew about God. What God had told Adam. They listened to that soothing voice of a liar. They reacted. Their reaction was not according to what God said but what the enemy said. Suddenly they are hiding from God. The enemy won that fight. If we listen to the voice of criticism coming from our enemy, the road ahead will be hard. He spoke lies that totally changed the course of their life. We do not want to allow that voice to control our destiny.
We must do the exact same thing that David did. Lift our voice to our mighty God in prayer. Identify what is coming against us. God already knows what is happening but He wants to hear our voice ask Him to fight for us. Put our mind and body at rest. We should be listening only to the voice of our God. He will never tell us we are helpless, lazy, unlovable, worthless, doomed for failure. He will tell us we are His beloved, His cherished one. The one He sent His Son to die for. Children of the King. That is who we are!
~Scripture For Today~
Psalms 64:1-7
64 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; Preserve my life from dread of the enemy. 2 Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, From the tumult of those who do iniquity, 3 Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, 4 To shoot from concealment at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. 5 They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, “Who can see them?” 6 They devise injustices, saying, “We are ready with a well-conceived plot”; For the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep. 7 But God will shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they will be wounded. (NASB)
Genesis 3:9-
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (NASB)
~Prayer For Today~
Hello Father! We pray that we are able to distinguish the voice that we hear. We know Your voice. Your voice is not the voice of failure. It is the voice of victory in Jesus. Let us rise above whatever comes against us to defeat and bring fear. Your word assures us You will fight for us. Forgive us of our sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
©2015 Kathy Ledbetter. All Rights Reserved.