Guard, Hide and Protect

Posted on by korgrocker

“Guard me as you would guard your own eyes. Hide me in the shadow of your wings. Protect me from wicked people who attack me, from murderous enemies who surround me. They are without pity. Listen to their boasting! They track me down and surround me, watching for the chance to throw me to the ground. They are like hungry lions, eager to tear me apart— like young lions hiding in ambush.”
Psalm 17:8-12 NLT

Five verses this morning, all focused on David’s prayer for God’s protection in the face of his attackers. But we get the sense that these are not foreign nations, attacking David and his people. These enemies of his seem intent on causing David harm personally, and he describes them as being wicked, murderous, pitiless, boasters, and like hungry lions, “eager to tear [him] apart”. 

The Amplified version of the Bible translates Psalm 17:8 as, “Keep me [in Your affectionate care, protect me] as the apple of Your eye; Hide me in the [protective] shadow of Your wings”. The phrase, “as the apple of your eye” is a lovely expression of love and care that conjures up a picture of how much the Lord thought of David, and the dictionary definition refers to something or someone that one cherishes above all others. It signifies a person who holds a special place in someone’s heart. That was what the Lord thought of David. During a conversation between the prophet Samuel and King Saul, Samuel said to him, “But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command” (1 Samuel 13:14). 

The NLT version of the Bible interprets Psalm 17:8 from a different perspective. We all know what happens when something is heading for our eyes. A reflex action results as we endeavour to protect our eyes from damage. And so David is once again praying for God’s protection from people around him, probably his own people, who are verbally and physically guilty of assaulting him. It may have been during the rebellion of David’s son Absalom and we read in 2 Samuel 15:13, “A messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell David, “All Israel has joined Absalom in a conspiracy against you!””. Sad days for David, when even his own son became one of those people intent on overthrowing his reign in Israel. 

But today, we pilgrims may or may not have people around us intent on doing us harm, to our reputations, to our relationships, even to our families. But even if not we always need God’s protection from our enemies in heavenly places, those spiritual beings that propagate evil and wickedness throughout the world. There are many, of course, in our societies who fail to understand and recognise the spiritual realm. They have an internal impression, perhaps, of there being something in another dimension, with feelings that emerge during a funeral, or when they walk past a church building. They briefly pause but shrug off any thoughts of God or the devil, as irrelevant to their lives. The devil and his minions are unconcerned about such people, and instead focus their malignant attacks on the children of God, who believe in the Creator of all. The attacks can be subtle, as they were with Eve in the Garden – “surely God didn’t say …”. He introduces doubts into our minds. He seeks to divert us from our faith. He introduces error so imperceptibly and so slowly that the unwary amongst us fail to recognise the danger. But we pilgrims have all of God’s weapons at our disposal and through prayer, through reading the Bible, through fellowship with other Christians – in fact, we have all the resources we need to thwart the attacks of the enemy. With God on our side, guarding our hearts and minds, hiding us under His wings, we have all the protection we need.

We pray, “deliver us from evil” in the Lord’s prayer, and God will answer that prayer, as we are obedient to whatever He says and directs. So a sinful thought or image emerges in our minds and we immediately shut it down in our thinking. A TV programme attracts our eyes and we immediately reach for the off button on the remote. A media report promotes a particular belief and we immediately look elsewhere, back to God. As children of God we live in a different Kingdom, one in which the devil and his angels cannot enter. There is no sin and wickedness there. Yes, we have to live in the kingdom of the world for a while, but in all that we avoid being tarnished by its wickedness. Jesus prayed for His disciples, and for us by association, in John 17, “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold” (John 17:9-12). We pilgrims are protected by “the power of [His] Name”. as the song says, “There is power in the name of Jesus”, and indeed there is.

We find in Mark 3:11, “And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!”” Any inhabitants of the kingdom of darkness had no choice but to obey Jesus. Even His name was enough to cause them to flee from Him. But it wasn’t just Jesus who had the power. We read from Luke 10:17, “When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!””

The Lord will protect us. Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:3, “But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.” It says that in the Bible, folks, so when we feel under attack and exposed in a place we would rather not be, we look up and see the One who guards, hides and protects us. He will never let us down.

Father God. What can we say but a big thank You, to the One who loves and cares for us, each and every day. Amen.


The Lord My Protector

Posted on by korgrocker

“I come to you for protection, O Lord my God. Save me from my persecutors—rescue me! If you don’t, they will maul me like a lion, tearing me to pieces with no one to rescue me.”
Psalm 7:1-2 NLT

The introduction to this Psalm seems to be focussed on someone called “Cush the Benjamite”. Perhaps David had been having some problems with him, whoever he was, but we don’t find mention of him anywhere else in the Bible. David again was writing about problems he was having with people around him, a recurring theme in the previous few Psalms. David prayed that God would save him from his “persecutors”, so presumably this man Cush was their ringleader. 

What was there about David that caused him to spend so much time anxious and worried, even physically sick, because of those who didn’t like him and who he perceived, rightly or wrongly, as wanting to do him harm? In Psalm 7:2, one of today’s verses, he even compared the attacks of these people as being like a mauling from a wild animal. Today, with our propensity to label people, we might assign a name to David’s reaction to others as being a “social anxiety disorder”. Perhaps he was very insecure, afraid of what others thought of him. And yet this was the rising royal star of whom songs were sung, “This was their song: “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”” (1 Samuel 18:7). Fearless in battle, giant killer, musician, God-worshiper – all these terms were used about David, and yet here he was, so much apparently going for him, but praying to God for relief from his persecutors.

What can we pilgrims learn from these Psalms? From David’s pen flowed verse after verse asking God for protection, for healing, for rescue from enemies, and, as we read today, safety from his “persecutors”. David of course was doing the right thing by bringing his concerns to God. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you“, but David, long before Peter wrote anything, knew that his Lord cared for him. But that didn’t stop him descending into the pits of worry and anxiety when the going got tough. We pilgrims won’t be immune from the cares of this world either. There will be times when we have to take a stand on an issue that will not win us any friends. It is not inconceivable that we may even have to stand in a court of law defending our actions over an important issue where the secular laws contradict God’s higher laws. Sometimes being a Christian will mean swimming against the tide of public opinion, but there is one factor that will sustain us through the hard times, and that is our status as children of God. We are citizens of God’s Kingdom, and it is to Him that we are accountable. 

The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 118:7, “The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”. Sounds good to our ears, but there will be times when we succumb to our humanity and worry about what other people are saying about us. Pilgrims remain close to God, “trying to live at peace with everyone”, and weathering the storms of life as and when problems emerge. We stand firm, because God is on our side. He will protect our souls until the glorious day when we pass through the gates of Heaven into His presence.

Father God. You know the pain and distress that comes from living in this evil world, but, as Jesus said, You have overcome the world. Thank You that we have security in You, this day and forever. Amen. 

Grief and Tears

Posted on by korgrocker

“I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. My vision is blurred by grief; my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies.”
Psalm 6:6-7 NLT

David is in a desperate place, sobbing, weeping and grieving. David is irreconcilable, and all because of his enemies. They could have been his physical enemies, both inside and outside of Israel. They could have been the forces of the enemy, the devil, playing havoc with his mind. But whatever they were, they were so real to David that he was spending the night crying when he should have been sleeping. 

David was not in an unique place, because his experience is not uncommon. In the dark hours there are times when a problem we are facing into becomes so pressing, so hopeless, that we plunge into depressive depths and, even if not openly, we weep inside, lying awake as the waves of despair flood over us. And isn’t it strange, that a problem being faced by one person is something minor and insignificant to another. Whatever our stations in life, there is always a problem that could be facing us, one with the potential to reduce us to weeping and sobbing. 

There was a time when the Jews, exiled to Babylon, far away from home, did a lot of weeping. But Jeremiah the prophet had some encouraging Godly words for them, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope”(Jeremiah 29:11). And that is what afflicts so many people – a lack of hope. Many people think that the life they lead is hopeless and futile and they try to dull the pain by turning to some other remedy, like alcohol or drugs. For a time their pain and distress will be alleviated, but it will still be there in the morning. Others become so hopeless and depressed that they finally decide to take their own lives. 

Paul wrote to the Romans the following words, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). Sadly, so many people will never turn to the “Source of hope” for a solution to their distress. But Paul’s prayer provides such a different picture to the one generated by the weeping David. God is hope and as we trust in Him, the power of the Holy Spirit will provide the solution to our problems.

Dear Heavenly Father. Only You can open doors to people locked in a place of hopelessness, weeping and sobbing. As we face into distressful situations like David, please help us as we turn to You, the Source of hope. Amen.

No More Wine

Posted on by korgrocker

“The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.””
John 2:3-4 NLT

There are many Christians who have a problem with Jesus turning water into wine. Mankind’s association with fermented beverages has had good and bad outcomes over the years and to think that the Messiah Himself was at a party where wine was being drunk doesn’t sit easily with them. There is an attempt by some to associate the wine with the Holy Spirit and spiritualise the occasion but this was just a simple celebration at the wedding of a Jewish couple and one of the commodities had run out. A disaster for the host, having the potential to bring down the curtain on an otherwise happy event and leaving his standing in the community trashed.

Mary, Jesus’ mother, came to Him with the news that the wine had run out. Was that with the knowledge that she thought Jesus could fix the problem? Or was it just a comment in a conversation? It wasn’t as though there was a shop somewhere that sold the quantities of wine that would be needed. But Jesus knew what Mary was hinting at. He saw straight through her to discern that she expected Him to perform a miracle. Jesus responded, “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” and, “My time has not yet come.” Right from that day when the angel Gabriel visited Mary, then a young teenager, with the news that she would bear a child, the Son of God, she knew that Jesus was destined for great things. She watched Him grow up. She, better than most, knew who He was. And perhaps she saw the beginnings of His ministry following His baptism and time in the desert being tempted. She heard about the words John the Baptist had declared about Him, the Lamb of God, and some men were starting to follow Him. All signs that Mary probably associated with the emergence of the Messiah into Jewish society. So Mary was there right at the beginning of Jesus’ life-changing mission, with the faith to see a miracle.

The message for us pilgrims is that God cares for us right where we are. He is not just going to bless us in a church pew or at an altar rail. There is that passage about how God cares in Matthew 10:29-31, “What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows”. We are all valuable to God and He cared for those people at the wedding. So whatever we are going through today, we can be confident that our Heavenly Father is right in the middle of it. He will stand with us and support us when needed – we just have to reach out to Him and feel His loving kindness flood over us. It doesn’t matter where it is. It could be a palace or a prison cell. An office desk or a supermarket. Wherever we are God is with us.

Dear Father God. We are so grateful that You will never leave us and that You care for us for always. Amen.