Psalm 54 - God Is My Help

"Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me."  (Psalm 54:4 NIV) That is a fact.  I am not ashamed to say it.  In fact, I will proclaim it.

I remember as a much younger person, after I had finally turned around and began trusting in the Lord to be my helper, there were those who accused me of using "church" as a crutch.  I was a little offended at the time because the accusation was really being used to attack me by people who claimed to care about me. If felt hurtful. According to these "arrogant" friends, it was for my own good that I would quit using God as a "crutch" and stand on my own two feet. Well, today, I have no qualms in saying; without the Lord's help, I would fall.  God is my help.  The Lord is the one who sustains me.

I would have never made it through all those early years if God had not been with me.  I will praise the name of the LORD, for it is good! Thanks be to God, for He delivers us from all our troubles.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Psalm 3 - Prayer of Protection

David prays for deliverance from his enemies.  He is confident that the LORD will deliver him.

A confession that I often hear is that someone feels guilty for praying that their enemies be stopped in their tracks, no matter what that entails.  They feel guilty about this kind of prayer.  As we read through Psalms, we're going to find that David, God's chosen, prays this type of prayer quite a bit.

There are a lot of foes that will try to put an end to the work of the LORD through His servants.  It is, I think, quite appropriate to pray for protection that His work be continued through us. 

One thing that I would remind us all of, though, is that even as we might be praying that our enemies might be stopped, they may well be praying that we be stopped in our tracks, as well.  And... God may answer.  None of us are without sin.  Ask yourself, who really is the enemy of the LORD here?  Is it I or those who oppose me?

May God deliver and continue to sustain us both night and day. May His blessing be upon His people.

God's Peace - Pr. J