Rescue me from my
enemies, O God. Protect me from those
who have come to destroy me. Rescue
me from these criminals; save me from these murderers. They have set an ambush for me. Fierce enemies are out there waiting, Lord,
though I have not sinned or offended them. I have done nothing wrong, yet they
prepare to attack me. Wake up! See what
is happening and help me! O Lord God
of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, wake up and punish those hostile
nations. Show no mercy to wicked
traitors. Psalm 59:1-5
King David seems just a little paranoid (OK…a LOT
paranoid). He cries out to God for
rescue from the “enemies” who are coming after him to destroy, to murder by
ambush…fierce enemies!
David even tries to be God’s alarm clock…wake up, wake up, God…RING….RING….RING!
To be tormented by an enemy face-to-face is bad enough,
but the faceless enemy in the night that keeps you awake is the border of
madness. As a boy, tending his father’s
sheep in the wilderness, David had plenty of encounters with ferocious beasts –
lions, and bears. As a youth he stood
before the gathered armies of two great nations, facing a giant of a warrior
(Goliath). David and his sling faced the
taunting sneers of this towering, grizzly, battle-hardened war machine with
only a sling and a few small stones, and he gave no ground. Fast forward a few decades and now King David
is a heap of shivering night sweats, fearing enemies he can’t see. The mind of a warrior king, can be chained
like any of us. Fear cannot read your
resume’.
But that fear, as genuine, or imagined as it can be, has
the potential to be the greatest teacher at any stage of life. David’s imprecatory plea that God might wake-up
and clean house of these enemies, is uttered in the wake of fear and
faith. His fear awakens his own fight-or-flight
response, but his faith holds it in check, calling-out for protection and
justice to the only One who can give it.
And the result is what David’s son, Solomon, who watched his Dad’s faith
growing up, would write later, the calmness of an untroubled soul:
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to
eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:2
This is full cycle for anyone who lies awake, fretting
over what might happen. We awaken to our
fears, face them like the Goliath that threatens, and offer the outcome to the
hand of He who loves us best. After
that, there’s nothing left to do but enjoy a good night’s rest.
And that is precisely what David did, his untroubled soul
resting in the night, and rejoicing in the morning!
But as for me, I
will sing about your power. Each morning
I will sing with joy about your unfailing love.
For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for
you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love. Psalm 59:16-17
For You Today
My friend and mentor from seminary days was
Dr. Charles Graham. One of his favorite
expressions of faith which overcomes worry was:
If something bad is going to happen…that will be a bad event;
Worrying is a second bad event;
One bad event is
enough!
[1] Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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