#DailyDevotion Who Can We Turn To For Help? The LORD, The God Of Israel.
Psalm 17 10They are given over to arrogance, their mouths talk proudly. 11They track me down and then gather around me looking determined to throw me to the ground. 12Each is like a lion longing for prey, like a young lion lying in his hiding place.
You ever have someone that is just after you. They are jealous or fearful of you because of some insecurity of their own and they are seeking to tear you down to lift themselves up. Such people are usually given over to arrogance and their mouths talk proudly. They talk a lot about what they have done and what they have achieved. If they are particularly bad, they may even threaten you with their ability to harm you, but they would never do it publicly as that wouldn’t make them look good and be able to cast you as the bad guy.
Such people may track you down and look for ways to cast you down. In today’s terms we might call them abusers. They look for prey and hide under the cloak of niceness to everyone else. Hopefully you are able to escape their sphere of influence, though it isn’t always easy because of a job, a vocation, or even a marriage. It seems David was in this type of situation with Saul, though David was at times able to distance himself and get away from Saul’s reach. Jesus even suffered this under the hands of the Pharisees, Scribes and Priests to the point of death. He knows what you are going through. As One who knows what you are going through you can call upon him as David does here.
13Rise, O LORD, oppose him to his face, put him down on his knees, with Your sword save me from the wicked, 14with Your hand from men, O LORD, from men whose fulfillments are only in this life.
Some people we are just powerless over it seems. We need to turn to the LORD for help as David does. David does not take up his hand against Saul but leaves it up to God. He looks to God to oppose Saul and bring him to his knees. People like this live only for this world. They do not see judgment day coming. They do not look for the world to come nor do they believe in it. Whatever it takes to please them is how they live. We call upon the LORD Jesus Christ to use the sword of his mouth to save us from such wicked people. Certainly our LORD Jesus Christ is a God of means and he will send us help when we call upon him. For David, it was the ungodly Philistines who ultimately got rid of Saul. For us it may be the police, the courts, or maybe someone whom our enemy mistakenly thinks he can bully around and they take them out. You never know how our LORD will save us. But I believe if we put our trust in him, he will most certainly do it.
As for those You treasure — fill their stomachs; may their sons be satisfied and leave what they have left to their infants. 15With righteousness I will see Your face, and be satisfied, when I awake, by seeing You.
Finally a prayer to the LORD to take care of our worldly needs. Jesus himself tells us to pray for daily bread. Then there is the spiritual we pray for. We pray to see the face of our LORD Jesus Christ and be satisfied as we awake from death at the resurrection. We live not just for this world but the world to come.
Lord Jesus Christ, deliver us from our enemies. Grant us patience to endure. Provide for our every need of body and soul. In your name we pray. Amen.