Psalm 140:4

Psalm 140:4

There's always a battle

This is a personal plea for the Lord’s protection, and like David, we need to pray for our own security before we can pray for the safety and defence of our families, friends, churches, even our nation. In David’s world the threat was physical and tangible, his enemies at the time he prayed really did want to physically hurt him, and they devised all sorts of devious plans to cause harm to him and to his reputation. If we read his life story in the books of Samuel, we will see that David faced enemies and persecution almost every day of his life.

There’s no doubt that true disciples of Jesus Christ suffer for their faith. It is not a popular thing to be a Christian and to wear that badge of honour with pride. We will always be misunderstood, treated with contempt by some and mistrust by others. Our faith will seem to them to be a pointless fantasy, based on scientifically and historically proven fables. They may like us, but they treat our beliefs with disdain and contempt. 

There is another group of beings who are really angered by our insistence that there is a God to whom we are all accountable; talk of repentance and spiritual renewal brings out the worst in some of these and they will certainly devise ways to trip us up. Let’s be honest, the most vicious enemy of every follower of Yeshua is the Satan and his demonic hordes. Every day that we walk by faith, every time we speak out about our Lord, every hour we spend in prayer or Bible meditation, every event that we attend where God is glorified and praises are sung, prompts anger and revenge in the corridors of hell. Praise God, He protects us and guards us from the hands of our enemies, but they will still be devising ways to trip our feet. Let’s keep ourselves beyond reproach, let’s keep our eyes on the Lord and let’s be armed with the Word of God when the arrows fly towards us. 

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