Psalm 3 New American Standard Bible 1995
Morning Prayer of Trust in God.
A Psalm of David, when [a]he fled from Absalom his son.
3 O Lord, how my adversaries have increased!
Many are rising up against me.
2 Many are saying [b]of my soul,
“There is no [c]deliverance for him in God.” [d]Selah.
3 But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
4 I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy [e]mountain. Selah.
5 [f]I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me round about.
7 Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!
For You [g]have smitten all my enemies on the [h]cheek;
You [i]have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
8 [j]Salvation belongs to the Lord;
Your blessing [k]be upon Your people! Selah.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
When Opposition Comes (and It Will)
Of all the things that are uncertain in this life, there is something we can be sure of—opposition.
Opposition will always come, in one form or another, and we won’t always be prepared for it.
In the work place, it may come as a challenge to our ideas or strategies.
In our families, it may be against our parenting styles, it may be a retaliation against our principles, it may be the children demanding their own bedtimes.
And in faith, as Jesus lived, opposition may come as a mockery or even a threat.
King David truly knew the severity of opposition and experienced it regularly throughout his reign. More than once, he fled into the mountains, fearing for his life. Frequently, he cried out to God over the extreme opposition he faced.
The title of Psalm 3 is “A Psalm of David When he fled from his son Absalom.”
“Many are my foes! Many are rising against me!”
David’s experiences with his adversaries were most likely far greater than anything we have experienced or will experience.
But no matter what, we can be sure of this: God is our Great Defender.
There is no greater defense than that of our Father in heaven.
And He urges us to allow Him to deal with our opposer instead of taking matters into our own hands.
Faith—Overcoming Evil
Romans 12:17-21 New American Standard Bible 1995
17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. [a]Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but [b]leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to jump into “defense” mode.
It can be difficult to let things roll off my back, especially when I feel wronged.
Yet, so often in my rehearsed plans of retaliation, I sense the gentle voice of the Spirit saying, “Peace…be still. Let Me go before you in this.”
It began as a peaceful march to protest the killing of George Floyd.
But as the darkness deepened, it became a dark night of riotous behavior.
Images of angry people smashing store fronts, of police cars ablaze, and of businesses going up in flames brought me to my knees in earnest prayer and disturbed my anxious sleep. What I saw was way beyond bad, frightening, evil.
In the morning I checked as much of the news as I could access by internet.
The rioters were gone, but they had left a disturbing mess: smashed windows, burned cars, rocks and bricks and vile graffiti, sad ruins in the heart of the city.
A reporter surveying the damage approached a young mother with two children.
He asked her, “Why are you here this morning?” She said, “We saw the news; we decided that this city needs someone to show the love of God.”
Others were there too—sweeping glass shards, trying to restore order to chaos.
The mom and her children, who were perhaps about 5 and 7 years old, were there with buckets, their brushes and soap, trying to erase stubborn graffiti.
To me, they sacrificed their time, they brought some light into the darkness, some of God’s love into a broken place where the evidence of evil was very real.
In that mother and her little ones, I saw the presence of the resurrected Jesus.
She and her children were being the church, Christ’s body—overcoming evil by doing good.
As I watched, my anger was transformed, replaced by warm and grateful tears welled up from within me in a prayer of thanks to God.
When we surrender our will to the Father, no matter how justified we feel, there will be an unexplainable peace that comes.
Surrendering all of our “fists-in-the-air” attitudes and plans of pay-back will always result in a better outcome—an outcome that is surrounded by certainty that reminds us, “God’s got this.”
The more we live out our faith in Christ, the more people will oppose what they don’t fully understand.
It’s a way of retaliating against something that challenges them in some way.
If you and I are actively living out our faith, walking in the fruit of the Spirit and showing God’s love, that will be a challenge for some.
And in that challenge, we may find ourselves greatly opposed.
Harsh words, divisive questions, and rude comments might be the ways in which people come against us.
But just as David, in Psalm 3, took those oppositions to the Lord, we, too, can release them to our Mighty Defender.
Psalm 3:3-6 New American Standard Bible 1995
3 But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
4 I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy [a]mountain. Selah.
5 [b]I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me round about.
For in the end, as David knew from vast measures and degrees of experience his whole life long, God, and only God, can right those wrongs of unjust opposition.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 121 New American Standard Bible 1995
The Lord the Keeper of Israel.
A Song of Ascents.
121 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will [a]protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The Lord will [b]guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 