King David knew the Lord, and knew Him as must all of us, through His Word.  We need protection from the maligners.  “Sticks and stone may break our bones,” but words can wound so deep that we never recover.

How is it that children learn to mock and berate others before they can read and write?  What parent hasn’t had to instruct and lovingly compel a child to cast off cruel remarks, teasing, “put-downs”?

Yet how many parents teach their children what to do with spiritual maligning? Here within these few verses is the key that turns in the lock: maligners plunder with words, but the words of the Lord are “flawless,” and they will keep us safe.

Below are a few all-too-recognizable jabs at the human heart.  Let’s pray together today for those we love who have fallen victim.

“Your life is worthless.”

“I have made you to be a nation of kings and priests.” (Revelation 1:6)

“No one understands you or could ever really love you.”

“I know your going out and your coming in; I have loved you with an everlasting love.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

“With this fall, you will never rise again.”

“It is to his own master he will stand or fall, and he will stand, for I am able to make him stand.” (Romans 14:4)

“Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,
    I will now arise,” says the Lord.

LORD, WE NEED YOU TO ARISE TO THE DEFENCE OF THOSE WE LOVE, THOSE MIRED IN LIES AND RECRIMINATIONS, BUT HELP US, TOO, TO RISE UP AND PROCLAIM THE TRUTH THEY DON’T YET BELIEVE.
    “I will protect them from those who malign them.”
⁶ And the words of the Lord are flawless,
    like silver purified in a crucible,
    like gold refined seven times.

  NOTHING PROTECTS LIKE THE TRUTH!  WE WILL SPEAK IT AND PRAY IT FOR THOSE WE LOVE, EVEN FOR THOSE MOST DESPERATELY LOST.

⁷ You, Lord, will keep the needy safe
    and will protect us forever from the wicked,
⁸ who freely strut about
    when what is vile is honored by the human race.  

 WE SEE THE VILENESS AROUND US; OPEN OUR EYES TO SEE AND PROCLAIM YOUR TRUTH CONCERNING THE WEAK AND THE NEEDY, MALIGNED AND FAINTING.

Scheherazade, Sophie Anderson, by permission, Wikipedia

(a note: many of the instances I found of words used to wound or damage were too awful to publish)

Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore;
    those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.

King David must have spent hours and hours in bitterness of heart, cast off, hunted, fleeing the wrath of a king and his armies, hiding out, a prey to mortal wickedness. When we talk, or even THINK, like this, we repent of such negativity, yet we certainly do feel like this sometimes.  Startlingly, when we confront the works of darkness, it’s simply true.

Who among us has not known someone caught in a net of deceit, shot at from the shadows and hit, wounded, left dying?  No wholesome or truthful thoughts in their minds.

For them, for ___________________ and __________________ we care deeply.  May the Lord silence those who boast of prevailing over those for whom pray!

Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore;
    those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.

TRULY, IT SEEMS SO AT TIMES, FATHER, BUT YOUR LOVE IS UNFAILING, YOUR WORD IS TRUE, AND BY IT WE LIVE AND PRAY.  WE BRING BEFORE YOU THOSE YOU HAVE GIVEN TO US TO CARE ABOUT, LOST IN LIES AND WASTED IN WOUNDS PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL.

² Everyone lies to their neighbor;
    they flatter with their lips
    but harbor deception in their hearts.

NOT FOR OURSELVES TODAY, BUT FOR THOSE SUFFERING FROM LIES AND DECEPTIONS, WE PRAY.  WE LIFT UP TO YOU DEAR ONES WHO’VE BEEN CAUGHT IN THE NET OF DECEIT AND DESTRUCTION, LIED TO CONTINUALLY.

³ May the Lord silence all flattering lips
    and every boastful tongue—
⁴ those who say,
    “By our tongues we will prevail;
    our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”

YOU, O LORD! YOU ARE LORD OVER THOSE WHO LORD THEIR WICKEDNESS OVER THE ONES WE LOVE.  IN YOUR MIGHTY POWER AND BEAUTIFUL GRACE, FREE THOSE FOR WHOM WE PRAY, FATHER!

The Beguiling of Merlin, Edward Burne-Jones, by Permission, Wikipedia

¹ In the Lord I take refuge.
    How then can you say to me:
    “Flee like a bird to your mountain.
² For look, the wicked bend their bows;
    they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
    at the upright in heart.

             Lord God!  Have mercy!

Have we not all known people, men, women, and children, about whom we have said, “He was a great kid!”  “She was a loving wife and mother!”  “He was a terrific dad!” … and then … spiritual disaster!

The wicked bent their bows and set their arrows to the strings.  They shot from the shadows, the shadows of hearts with tiny fears, flickering doubts, smoldering unforgiveness.

The wicked shot from the shadows and hit the mark, and those we have known and loved as children, cohorts, friends, congregants have fallen and some, unable to rise.

The wicked have arrows, but we have shields and swords.  Now we wield them!

“In the Lord I take refuge”, AND FATHER GOD, WE BRING THOSE WE LOVE INTO THE SHELTER OF YOUR SALVATION.  WE CAN’T SAVE THEM, BUT YOU CAN!
    How then can you say to me:
    “Flee like a bird to your mountain.”  THIS ONE _______________ AND THAT ONE ______________________ HAVE FLED FROM GRACE AND FROM THE TRUTH OF YOUR UNFAILING LOVE.  WE BRING THEM IN OUR HEARTS AND IN OUR PRAYERS.  WE LIFT UP OUR VOICES!  WE WILL NOT DESERT THEM!

“For look, the wicked bend their bows;
    they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
    at the upright in heart.”  THE WICKED LIE IN WAIT ALL DAY AND NIGHT, BUT WE ARE LEARNING TO BE WATCHFUL, JUST AS YOU SAID WE MUST, LORD, AND WE HAVE COMMITTED OUR SOULS TO CARE DEEPLY AND WITH FERVENCY OF INTERCESSION AND PLEADING ON THEIR BEHALF. 

SOME SAY, “THEY HAVE A FREE WILL.  THEY SHOULD REPENT AND TURN.”  WE SAY, IF THEIR WILLS WERE TRULY FREE, THEY WOULD HAVE TURNED ALREADY!  SET _______________________ AT LIBERTY TO CONFESS AND REPENT AND RECONSIDER AND RETURN, IN JESUS NAME!!  AMEN.

Cave painting, Battle Between Archers, Source, Pacheco, by permission, Wikipedia

In the Lord I take refuge.

You have just read the first verse of Psalm 11.  “In the Lord I take refuge.”  I’ve singled it out today that, in its utter simplicity we may pray with vehement fervency for those we love who have no refuge for their souls.

When we think of those we love, our Dear and Desperate Little Friends, those for whom we have been praying, we know that, could they but hide their hearts in Jesus Christ, they could and would heal and be revived.

Some of us are praying for loved ones who are greatly oppressed by others, even incarcerated.  Some of us are praying for those who, in their own woundedness and pride, do a lot of the oppressing.  Still we love them, and we care deeply about their immortal souls.  In us they have a friend who sees better than they do that God is love and that all they need, all joy and peace and forgiveness and newness of life are in Him.

All for whom we pray have this in common: they have an enemy of their souls, ready to snatch them from all knowledge of mercy and truth.  But they, our D.L.F.s, have us, and we have faith in God.

Nothing shall be impossible to the one who believes.  Elizabeth said that of Mary, and she should know.   How can we want good for those who are weak and frightened and without hope, and our prayers be unanswered?  Do they disregard God more than we have regard for their souls, their spiritual and emotional well-being?

With our prayers today, let’s answer that question!

“The Favorite” Georgios Jakobides, 1890, Wikipedia, by permission

Do, Father!  Do strengthen the hearts of those we love.  Strengthen our own.

I remember ________________________ today, wounded, disappointed, fainting.

In Your mercy and by Your grace, give us the strength of joy in Christ Jesus.  Give us the ennobling of a righteousness not our own.  Give to __________________ to look for the very last time at their own unworthiness and see Yours, in the sacrifice of Your Son.

Your steadfast love is for us and for them, and Your unwavering desire that men should know You and appropriate Your merciful judgment is here and now.  It is revealed here and now, that God was in the world in His Son, reconciling us to Himself.   (2 Corinthians 5:19)

¹⁷ O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you will strengthen ________________’s heart; you will incline your ear
¹⁸ to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, YOU HEAR AND YOU SEE THE OPPRESSION THAT HAS WOUNDED AND TERRORIZED ____________________ (MY FRIEND, MY CHILD, MY SPOUSE, MY NATION;)

 May men, who are of the earth, strike terror no more,AND MAY THOSE WHO OPPRESS SPIRITUALLY BE TURNED BACK AND PUT TO SHAME, ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD. 

(Psalm 35:4)

¹⁷ O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
¹⁸ to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. (Psalm 10:17, 18, ESV)

Crying Eye, muffintop04, Jordan, by permission, Wikipedia

We say again, and we will keep in mind, that it is not easy for any of us to properly assess our victimhood.  For some, the mention of the word is the end of the conversation, because they aren’t buying, and that’s a good thing, unless we fail to realize what the devil is selling to those you love, and sometimes to us if we’re not really careful.  For others, there are devils in every door post.  Which is it to be?  Which is the proper mindset?  Are our Dear and Desperate Little Friends under siege, afflicted, oppressed … or merely the makers of bad choices?

I don’t think there is one proper mindset until we recognize that, just as the Scripture tells us, “… we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  So then, there is a battle.  We take part.

• We wrestle
• Not against flesh and blood
• We wrestle against principalities
• We wrestle against powers
• We wrestle against the rulers of darkness of this world
• We wrestle against spiritual wickedness
• We must wrestle in high places.

A false step, a bad decision, a string of them, can happen and can lead to ruin, but some are perverted and destroyed before they are old enough to side-step the danger.  Abandonment, cruelty, isolation, deeply wounding criticism or reviling, these can damage a child before he’s ten years old, and he can embrace wickedness though fear, resentment, loneliness, rejection, false guilt, unforgiveness, and much more.

Whose fault?  It makes no difference whose fault if we can help through our deep caring and our fervent prayers.  Then counseling and help can come.  Perhaps we can speak words of wisdom, words powerful to heal, perhaps someone else will speak.  O Lord, send Your Word and heal them and deliver them from their destructions!  We pray for children and parents, governments and peoples, husbands and wives; we pray against their enemies and their effect.

Even if we ourselves were the perpetrators, there’s no time to wallow in the mire.  With a nod to the Doors, let our love become a funeral pyre for the carcasses of our failures.  We’re not failing now!  We are praying and we are trusting and we are filled with hope.  We are supposed to be.

In the Psalms, David’s enemies are flesh and blood, but his fight, like ours, is for a kingdom and for the glory of God.  It is, like ours, ordained of God.  It is, like ours, a real life-and-death battle that must be won.  His fight, like the Israelites’ passage through the wilderness, is a twice-told tale; he conquered those who fought against the God of Israel, and he won for our instruction.

We fight.  You in your place, me in mine.  Quietly, unobserved, but watching and waiting and above all, hoping.  How MANY do you know today who are under siege, locked away, even tormented?

Why does the wicked man revile God? 

WHY DO WICKED SPIRITS SEEM TO GET AWAY WITH TORMENTING SO MANY PEOPLE IN OUR TIME?
    Why does he say to himself,
    “He won’t call me to account”?

THERE ARE PLENTY OF WICKED PEOPLE OUT THERE, AND PLENTY OF US HAVE DONE OR SAID WICKED THINGS AT TIMES, BUT WE PRAY AGAINST THOSE THAT INCITE WICKEDNESS, EMISSARIES OF DARKNESS THAT PREY UPON WEAKNESS AND WOUNDEDNESS.  CALL THEM TO ACCOUNT, FATHER!  SAVE THE VERY ONES THEY HAVE TROUBLED!

¹⁴ But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless. 

WE SO DO NOT WANT TO THINK OF OURSELVES AS “VICTIMS,” WE DO SO WANT TO RISE ABOVE OPPRESSIONS, BUT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE TRIED AND FAILED, FOR ____________ and __________ WHO THINK ALL THEIR WRONG AND ALL THEIR FAILURE WAS SELF-INDUCED OR ALL THE FAULT OF OTHERS, FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT SEE THE TREACHEROUS ONES THAT WERE LYING IN WAIT AND SHOOTING AT THEM FROM THEIR HIDING PLACES, FOR THEM WE PRAY.
¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked man;
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.

 YES, LORD! THOSE WHO MOST NEED TO BE SET FREE FROM BONDAGE ARE OFTEN THOSE WHO OFFER NO RESISTANCE TO THEIR CAPTORS.  THEY NEARLY CANNOT WHEN THEY FEEL THEY ARE MERELY WICKED THEMSELVES, OR THAT THE WICKEDNESS OF OTHERS IS MORE POWERFUL THAN YOUR LOVE.  MAKE IT RIGHT, LORD.  IN YOUR LIGHT, LET THEM SEE LIGHT AND REPENT AND BE MADE CLEAN IN YOUR SON.  LET THEIR ENEMIES BE PUT TO SHAME!

Person Wearing Sanbenito Hat of Shame During Spanish Inquisition

Goya, by Permission, Wikipedia, death of the artist

The power of this prayer is not in the description of those whose aim it is to bring down their prey.  No.  Look at the last verse.

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.

When we begin to see those we love as more helpless than evil or stubborn or faithless, we’re getting somewhere.  Evilis the bloodthirsty desire to destroy what God has brought forth, to abort what God has begun in a life – or the life itself.  Even the mother who aborts her own child, what led her to that decision? Fear.  Lies.  Pride. Confusion.

Fear of rejection.  Fear of failure.  Fear of lack.

Lies about God’s faithfulness.  Lies about the worth and the sanctity of life, living and unborn.

Pride in our sin, trying to make two wrongs into a right.  The pride of independence and of having all things, even life and death, our way.

Confusion.  What to do? How to go on?  Who will help me?  Will I be marginalized … the Word of God says He will help us when morning comes, and never, no not ever, will He forsake us.

Pray for those you love today, those confused, those endangered by pride and wounded for lack of strengthening humility.

FATHER, FORCES OF DARKNESS HAVE LIED TO _____________________.  THE DEVIL HAS WOUNDED _____________________ WITH TORRENTS OF UNTRUTH.

His mouth is full of lies and threats;
    trouble and evil are under his tongue.
⁸ He lies in wait near the villages;
    from ambush he murders the innocent.

FROM THE INNOCENCE OF YOUTH, FROM THE WISDOM OF SCRIPTURE, ________________ HAS BEEN AMBUSHED AND DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO ESCAPE.
His (the enemy’s) eyes watch in secret for his victims;
⁹     like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
    he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

VICTIMIZED, WATCHED IN SECRET UNTIL LONELINESS OR BITTERNESS OR SELF-PRESERVATION BECAME A TRAP. ___________________ CRUSHED WITH THOSE HEARTBREAKING CONDITIONS, NOW FALLEN OR TOTTERING.
¹⁰ His victims are crushed, they collapse;
    they fall under his strength.
¹¹ He says to himself, “God will never notice;
    he covers his face and never sees.”

HIS ENEMIES THINK YOU DON’T NOTICE; THEY THINK YOU DON’T SEE.  YOU DO, AND YOU SHOWED ME.  MY FRIEND, MY CHILD, MY SPOUSE IS CAUGHT AND WOUNDED – I SEE BECAUSE YOU SHOWED ME, AND FOR THEM I PRAY!

¹² Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.  SAVE TO THE UTTERMOST, O LORD!  THAT’S WHAT YOU DO, AND THAT IS WHAT WE NEED.

His mouth is full of lies and threats;
    trouble and evil are under his tongue.
⁸ He lies in wait near the villages;
    from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
⁹     like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
    he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
¹⁰ His victims are crushed, they collapse;
    they fall under his strength.
¹¹ He says to himself, “God will never notice;
    he covers his face and never sees.”

¹² Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.

Child running and falling

Jamie Campbell, by permission, Wikipedia

We are praying for the lost, the desperate, even the rich and powerful desperate ones whose lives touch upon ours, whether close at hand or in seats of power.  Let’s choose someone today whose life demonstrates this boastfulness, this spurning of the majesty of God, and pray for all we’re worth, and while we do, let’s remember one another, that our own residual arrogances would melt into gratitude and humble trust in the God who saves.

It strikes me how wonderful it is that, if one considered top Republican leaders to be the boastful, scheming ones, prayer would be the best antidote.  If one considered top Democratic or Socialist leaders to be the boastful, scheming ones, prayer would be the best solution.

Brilliant.  Simple, too. What’s more, we would not have to be torn asunder as a nation and in our families.  Psalm 10:1-6 …

Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
    Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?  FATHER, WE KNOW YOU ARE NEAR, WE KNOW YOU NEVER LEAVE US OR FORSAKE US, BUT IT’S SO HARD TO SEE SO MANY CARRYING OUT SUCH WICKED WORKS, KNOWING THAT YOU HAVE THE POWER TO UNDO THEM AND THEIR TERRORS.

² In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
    who are caught in the schemes he devises.  THEY ENSLAVE THE WEAK WITH FALSE PROMISES AND LIES ABOUT YOUR NATURE, LORD, AND WE KNOW YOU SEE IT.
³ He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
    he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
⁴ In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
    in all his thoughts there is no room for God.  THERE ARE THOSE, TOO, WHO CLAIM TO KNOW YOU, CLAIM TO HAVE RESPECT FOR YOUR WAYS AND YOUR TRUTH, BUT YOU KNOW THE TRUTH, LORD.  WE WANT THAT TRUTH, WHEREVER IT TAKES US.
⁵ His ways are always prosperous;
    your laws are rejected by him;
    he sneers at all his enemies.
⁶ He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”
    He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”  EVEN FOR THE WORST OF THE WORST, WHOEVER THEY MAY BE IN YOUR SIGHT, THE HYPOCRITAL AND DECEITFUL, THE LIARS, AND THOSE WHO SEEK TO DESTROY, WE DO NOT WISH TO SEE THEM HUMILIATED BEFORE YOU.  MAY GRACE COME TO US IN THIS HOUR, THAT WICKEDNESS WILL BE CAST OFF, THAT LIARS WILL BECOME TRUE, THAT DECEPTIONS WILL BE UNCOVERED, AND THAT YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL BE THE ONLY RIGHTEOUSNESS WE OWN, IN OUR NATION, IN OUR FAMILIES, AND IN OUR TIME.

Matt Wade photo, U.S. Capitol Rotunda, from behind statue of George Washington

Matt Wade, by permission, Wikipedia, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/