He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. (Psalm 18:14-19)
Oh, to be able to imprint these words and all this truth upon the hearts of our Desperate Little Friends! Sometimes, we need to make sure they are imprinted on our own!
Were we to list the points of truth in these six verses, it would be a life teaching! We have enemies! Our God rescues us from them! They are too powerful for us! He is too powerful for them! They draw no quarter … He delights in us!
When we are sad, when we feel confused, when we have been ensnared … none of these realities become unreal, in fact.
Why are we so tested upon this earth? Probably we are tested because we can fail our tests, or when not, because others need to see the faithfulness of God. If I am to become a surgeon of skill and renown, able to help thousands, I must be tested until I no longer sever the wrong artery or carve away the mistaken brain tissue! It is not an easy thing to know God, but it is a good thing that I am tested until I do.
We think of Joseph. He was tested until he was able to say, This is of God! All your sin and wrong-doing only resulted in the glory of God to save us all. His brothers were privileged to see through Joseph the God of their fathers whom they knew not. Through Joseph, the mercies of God changed their lives.
Let us cry out and be rescued this very day, and on behalf of those we love. They are not just unruly, unfriendly, unkind; they are unbelieving in places that wound them more than they wound us! God will rescue us and them and bring us together into spacious places of forgiveness, grace, revelation, and hope.
Painting of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dream
Adrian Guignet, by permission, age of painting, Wikipedia
Marketplace Monastics 