How long will I have to suffer under this oppression, my Lord?
(Psalms 56:1-4 ESV) '1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; 2 my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?'
Scripture Thoughts:
King David is attributed with writing this Psalm. David, at this time, was under attack from the Philistines. The circumstances surrounding him seem grim at best. David is praying to the Lord to be gracious to him because he is being trampled by man. His enemies are attacking him all day long and doing it proudly (with no shame, they are happy to oppress him). As he goes through this hardship, he tells God that he will not be afraid and put all of his trust in Him. David also says that he puts his praise in the Word of God, which is why David has his hope. Because he has this hope and trust in God, he understands mortal men cannot do him any harm.
David is definitely walking through a difficult season in his life, just like so many of us. It would seem that his enemy is right there next to him on a daily basis. When we are going through a hardship where we have oppressors, these oppressors misuse their authority to cause us harm. This can bring a great deal of discouragement and fear into our lives. This is what David was feeling; hard not to feel this way when you are personally experiencing this type of beatdown in your life. Instead of David surrendering to this type of oppression and hardship, he brings it before God. Then he proceeds to tell God the problem, but he also tells God how much He trusts in Him to deliver him from the hand of his enemies. This is a great example of how we are supposed to be when coming under attack from our enemies.
If more of us truly submitted our troubles and hardships to the Lord, we would have a lot more deliverance in our lives regarding the attacks we have to deal with. Unfortunately, we tend to avenge ourselves when we have enemies in our lives. We don't give it to the Lord because we want it addressed right now. When we do it this way, we also have the ability to suffer from the consequences of our actions. For example, your enemy keeps trying to get you to fight, so you decide to fight. Cops show up and arrest everybody. What did you do differently than your enemy? Nothing, that is why you are under arrest with the same charges that your enemy has. When you let God take control, God will make it so that you are not bothered again by this person. If we allow God to do it His way and not step in the way, His solution will be perfect. Amen.
My Thoughts
Some enemies have too much power for us to just take on by ourselves. We also must remember we are not to retaliate or take vengeance into our own hands because vengeance belongs to God and God alone. (Romans 12:19 ESV) 'Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Therefore we are to come to God in prayer and submit our concerns to Him and then allow God to do what He is going to do. Our portion in this type of scenario is to submit ourselves (actions) to God and His Word and then trust that the Lord will solve this problem in our life. If the Lord has us do something, we must make sure we act upon it in obedience to His Word.
Challenge:
Challenge yourself to pray and read God's Word on a daily basis. As you understand more, start acting out on what it says. Then you will truly see the blessing of the Word of God in your life.
Prayer:
Ask your Heavenly Father to help you to understand His Word and give you the wisdom and understanding needed to act upon it.
Action:
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Take Care Family,
Pastor Charles
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