January 27, 2022

LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!

Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him."

But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.

I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain.

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.

I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.

Arise, LORD! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.

From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. 

Psalm 3

Devotional

Like so many others, there have been those times when I felt “the world was against me.” Sometimes I felt that way for a few moments and other times for a day or so.  There have even been a couple of times through the years when I felt that way for a week or longer. 

In his book My American Journey, Colin Powell reveals something that Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger once shared on Air Force One: “This is a lonely life. You make real enemies and few friends. It exhausts a man in body and spirit. I try to serve the President as faithfully as my strength permits. But gratitude does not always come easily to him or his wife” (314-315). This observation was not a criticism of the President but more an honest admission that things do not always go as smoothly as one would like. 

David felt about as low as a human can when his son Absalom launched a coup against him. I can almost hear David groaning, “Nobody loves me; everybody hates me.” 

Despite the circumstances, however, David did not place his hope, his emotional state, his outlook on life on the people who let him down. David’s hope was in God and in God alone. Yes, he spit out anger against those who were hurting him. But even more, he dug deep and placed his hope for deliverance in God. 

For Reflection

Think about a time when you felt “the world was against you.” What did you believe about God at that time?

What can you do today to strengthen your trust that God will always care for you? (Hint: read the Scripture regularly!)

Prayer

God of deliverance, when things mount up and make me feel as if the world is against me, grant that I may trust in You above all else. Give me the Holy Spirit to fill me and comfort me and convince me to trust in You. In Jesus’s name, Amen.