“Lord, have mercy on me. See how my enemies torment me. Snatch me back from the jaws of death. Save me so I can praise you publicly at Jerusalem’s gates, so I can rejoice that you have rescued me.
Psalm 9:13-14 NLT
The negative words in these two verses – torment, enemies, death – are countered and balanced by three more – mercy, save and praise. And in a nutshell, that sums up the amazing love and grace of our God. Every challenge and fiery dart from our enemy the devil is deflected by the mercy of God. We are not left unprotected on our own, powerless in the face of our enemy’s attacks. David prays for the Lord’s mercy in the face of hostile attacks so that he can once again praise God “publicly at Jerusalem’s gates” and “rejoice that [God] has rescued [him]”.
David’s picture is perhaps one of a capricious God, to whom a request has to be made to see if He would do something to help him. David appeals to God by presenting to Him his situation (as though God doesn’t already know) in the hope that David praising Him publicly would be enough to get Him to act. Of course, in our season of God’s grace, we know differently. We know a God who is so full of mercy that He wants to act on our behalf in the face of the devil’s attacks, if we let Him. He has provided all the resources we need to protect ourselves from our enemies and has promised to bring us home to Him one day. The rest is up to us.
David’s prayer is one that we would all do well to emulate in our own lives. How did we feel when we woke up this morning? What was on our minds? Were we struggling to get up and face the day, one perhaps we fear will be riddled with difficulties and negatives? Instead, our minds must realign themselves through God’s mercy so that we can praise God for His salvation and for rescuing our thoughts from the attacks of the enemy.
So as we lay in bed, the alarm having just gone off, the day full of real or imagined terrors, depression lapping at the fringes of our minds, we have a choice. God’s mercy is there for the taking and it will turn us around to start the day with praise and rejoicing, because He has already defeated the enemy that so often torments us. So instead of reaching for the news or social media reports on our phones or tablets, we instead must reach for the Good News that deflects the devil’s attacks. The writer to the Hebrews wrote this, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16). Whatever we have done, there is a place of forgiveness in God’s presence, and, once there, we will find the peace Paul wrote about in Philippians 4:7, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus”.
Dear God. Your mercy knows no bounds and we thank You for Your loving kindness, so freely available to Your children. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 