ARE YOU A LIVING AS A CHILD OF THE KING?
For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.
He made my feet like the feet of
a deer
and set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You have given me the shield of your
salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great.
You gave a wide place for my steps
under me,
and my feet did not slip.
I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were
consumed.
I thrust them through, so that they were
not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
For you equipped me with strength for the
battle;
you made those who rise against me sink
under me.
You made my enemies turn their backs
to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
They cried for help, but there was none to
save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not
answer them.
I beat them fine as dust before the
wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the
streets.
David, all through this psalm, has reminded
us of the necessity to go through trials well: to trust faithfully, even while
we do not see the end of our difficulty, to rejoice in the work that God is
doing in us, and to ultimately come closer to God.
Is it worth it? Can God really come
through? Is God going to give me the necessary strength? Am I going to fall
apart? I feel like giving up now, but will I make it?
In our section today, David reminds us that
when we trust the LORD, we are trusting the only true God! He is the all-powerful,
all-knowing, omnipresent God of the universe. He is the creator and sustainer
of all. He is the rock where we have planted our feet.
He does not reveal our future to us because
He wants us to trust Him today. He does not give us strength for tomorrow
because we do not need it yet. He wants us close, secure in His arms.
David reminds us that God equips us with
the strength we need. He gives us the
strength and the knowledge through His Word to go through our trials well! Even
though the path seems slippery, He will keep us from falling. We are not going
to be submerged, for God knows how to keep us above ground. Our wise God has
our best in mind. His plan is not for us to fail; His plan is for Him to
triumph in us.
God is the One who prepares us. Dear friends,
in His Word, in faithful believers who walk beside us, in the local church we
find the strength to go through the hard times of life. God is strong enough to
shield and protect us through the trial, and gentle enough to care about what
we need in order to go through the trial well.
God is there to make our way stable, to
help us engage our enemies in a godly way. God’s intention is to display His
glory. Our enemies and the people who are watching us go through the trial are
going to be surprised at God’s work in us, if we remain faithful.
Victory in trial is for God to be exalted
and for God’s purposes to be achieved. Do we trust God enough to accept and desire
the outcome that He wants?
God has saved us, and He has planned
eternity for us. His enemies will be defeated. In due time, God will show His
strength. In the meanwhile, He is giving us the necessary strength to go
through our storms!
Psalm 18:43-48
You delivered me from strife with the
people;
you made me the head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.
As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
Foreigners lost heart
and came trembling out of their
fortresses.
The Lord lives, and blessed be my
rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me,
who delivered me from my enemies;
yes, you exalted me above those who
rose against me;
you rescued me from the man of
violence.
David saw God give him deliverance and
allow him to defeat his enemies. David never forgot that it was God who did it.
The Lord lives, and blessed be my
rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
Shouldn’t this be our song today? Are we acknowledging
with our lives that God is alive and in control? Does our demeanor proclaim a
loving and powerful God who deserves our worship? Or are we losing sight of the
fact that we are saved children of the God of the universe? God has only one
kind of children: the ones He loves, for whom His Son died, and whom He is
intently and carefully guiding through the difficulties of life, to mature and
cause to become like His wonderful Son, Whom He has loved from eternity past
and will love forever and ever.
If you are feeling like an ignored child? Then
you are believing a lie! Allowing your thoughts to guide you into untruths will
only produce ingratitude and sin! May we live as children of God, worthy of the
name we bear!
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