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Psalm 144:2

Psalm 144:2 Fortress, stronghold, deliverer, shield and refuge! Well, if any verse could sum up the influence of the living God in the lives of those who trust in Him, this is it. Look at the different metaphors that are used here; following verse 1 where David calls Him, “my rock”, he now speaks of the Lord being a “loving God, my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge.” This is a verse that makes us feel safe, doesn’t it? Surely if the Lord can come up trumps carrying all of these titles, then we are secure indeed.  Our God is not a distant deity who casually watches our progress in life, He is a tangible and emotional Being and those who truly know Him can boast that they are loved by Him. All the gods of history and that are worshipped by men and women today tend to be distant and unapproachable, our God is near to us, so much so that we feel loved by Him. Because He is so immense and powerful, then we can claim His protection and care, David...
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Psalm 144:1

Psalm 144:1 The Lord my rock The collection of 8 Psalms that we have been studying are all written by David and they start and end with songs of praise (Psalm 138 and psalm 145). The songs in between all berate the wicked and the enemies of David and of the Lord. David is not credited with authorship of any of the remaining songs in the Psalms. (146-150) As we have previously reflected, David’s entire life had been one of warfare and trouble, in this He reflects the journey of all who trust in the Lord God and who seek to walk the paths of righteousness. We are no different, I cannot name one day when I have not been engaged in warfare, can you?   V1        In this opening verse David sets the tone of what is to follow, he clearly acknowledges the battle that rages around him and lets it be known where his strength and security are found; it is in his rock, the Lord. when all else fails, there is only one place or one person who remains stabl...
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Psalm 143:12

Psalm 143:12 Silence my enemies It’s not difficult to identify David’s enemies and his foes, for history records the facts and tells us their names. In the case of the Israelites, their kings and their prophets, their enemies were always men and women with names, who lived and breathed on this planet and whose lives ran parallel with the righteous.  The identification of enemies for those who follow the Lord Jesus is not so easy, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, “ Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Ephesians 6:12. So, we are fighting against forces that we cannot see, or hear or touch, these are nameless enemies who do their work in the shadows but who often make themselves known through other human beings!  There are some clues here as to who is on the enemy’s payroll. Their language and behaviour betray t...
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Psalm 143:11

Psalm 143:11 For Your name's sake David here draws parallels between the honour that is given to the Lord’s name and his own personal circumstances! Is this a bargaining tool? The inference is that if all goes well for David then the Lord’s name will be uplifted and exalted, if things go badly then God will be blamed! Perhaps those of us who claim to believe in the Lord and to worship Him should take note; we are constantly under scrutiny and are God’s representatives on earth, whatever happens to us gives people cause to make judgements about Him! That makes us a reflection of His glory, and we should live our lives accordingly. David now appeals to the righteousness of God, if He is fair and just, and favours those who love and obey Him, then let it be seen in experience so that the watching observers will conclude that the Lord acts fairly and correctly for the righteous because He is righteous. If David is delivered from his troubles and freed from his captors, he will be able ...
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Psalm 143:10

Psalm 143:10 You are my God Wow! This is a prayer for us all isn’t it? Here we are, vulnerable, weak and anxious human beings living on a planet that is teeming with others like us, most of whom have no intention of serving the God who created them. In the midst of this mayhem, if we are to make any progress on the journey of faith, the first declaration we need to make is this one,  “You are my God.  There are no other comparable gods, I will serve no other being or cause, this is it, I declare that  “You are my God.”   Let’s do it right now – loudly! If that is so then surely the next heart cry must be,  “Teach me to do Your will.”  Or, as Jesus put it when praying in the Garden of Gethsemane,  “Yet Not my will but Yours be done,”  Luke 22:42. If we aim to be like Jesus, and many believers do, then this must be our overriding refrain. It’s one thing to make such declarations but having done so we might step back and ask, “Now what?” And Dav...
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Psalm 143:9

Psalm 143:9 You are my hiding place For many casual readers of this Psalm, the idea of  “hiding themselves in the Lord”  would sound very odd indeed! How do we do this and what does it mean? We can hide ourselves in a castle or a secure building or a forest or even in a crowd, in other words, we feel secure because of what is around us and we are less vulnerable to being discovered by our pursuers. If, like David, we believe in the omnipresence of God then He cannot be escaped from, He is always there and wherever we go His presence is with us. What a comfort, what a joy! For those who believe in Jesus Christ and who are true children of God there is more to this spiritual security. Paul, in his letters, often refers to our being “in Christ”. Talking about castles and secure places, take note of these words from Ephesians 2: 19—22.  “ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,   but fellow citizens   with God’s people and also members of his house...
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Psalm 143:8

Psalm 143:8 To You I entrust my life The verse before us suggests that much of this Psalm was written during the dark hours of the night; we can imagine David huddled in a shadowy corner of somewhere like Adullum’s Cave, with just a candle or an oil lamp to provide some illumination and thus he poured out his troubled thoughts to the Lord.  There is a ray of hope! Maybe, in the morning there will be reason to believe that something has changed, that a prophet or a visitor will appear with some good news. What David wants to hear above all else, Is that the Lord still loves him and will always love him. Let’s never be in doubt about this, the Word of God promises that we will always be protected and loved by our heavenly Father, perhaps we do not value enough His promises, promises that David did not discover in the Torah!  Two years ago, I had a catastrophic heart attack and that was a scary experience, especially the night-time flight in a rescue helicopter. 4 Months ago, I h...
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