A Devotional Thought from Psalm 18:39–43
Psalm 18:39–43
39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle:
Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies;
That I might destroy them that hate me.
41 They cried, but there was none to save them:
Even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind:
I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people;
And thou hast made me the head of the heathen:
A people whom I have not known shall serve me.
As I did my various readings, one phrase seemed to pop out at me. Here it is
Psalm 18:43 “Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people…”
In the case of the Psalmist, we know from the title of Psalm 18 that these words were written when the Lord preserved him from jealous king Saul. The king had a bounty on the head of David. The nation of Israel also had threats surrounding them seeking their destruction but also conflict within. David was able by God’s hand to survive almost innumerable perils so he says,
“Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people…”
I can’t exactly compare the situation of the Psalmist to myself or most others I know. We probably do not have a bounty on our head, nobody is trying to kill us specifically. I do have one or two that hate my guts but they have yet to attempt to sneak poison into my food. I haven’t seen a red dot on my forehead when I see my reflection in the window, which is a nice thought.
While we are not exactly in David’s situation, we do however have “strivings of the people” that surround us. The “strivings” of some at our workplace to get a better position or knock down the inter company competition is extremely tiring. There is the constant political “strivings” that dominate our social media and news. There are terrorists that hate our nation and want our collective destruction and we can’t seem to hide from their attempts at intimidation.
In some ways, our situation is worse than David. How? He didn’t hear about the bad news all the time. He remained blissfully unaware of many dangers he faced. We have reminders wherever we go, whenever we pick up our phone.
David didn’t have constant bad news coming from his cell phone. Did ya ever think of that?
Our greatest need today is for peace, internal peace. So, the question of the day is can God deliver us from “the strivings of the people” too?
I believe that he can and will. Here is how he will do it.
Isaiah 26:3
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on thee:
Because he trusteth in thee.
In my morning prayers today, I tearfully thanked God for this blog. It has forced me to read and study more than I ever have. Most importantly, it has made me stay focused on my God. I told my Lord that the blog has been my lifeline because in spite of the many times I have lost perspective, my daily time with him has kept me alive and the possibility of conveying a blessing to others has given me purpose.
In my time with him I find peace.
Let’s make sure that we turn to our Lord and keep our mind focused on him through his Word and prayer so we too can pray,
“Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people…”
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