In God I Trust

Psalms 56:1-7 NIV

“Be merciful to me, my God,

    for my enemies are in hot pursuit;

    all day long they press their attack.

My adversaries pursue me all day long;

    in their pride many are attacking me.

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

    In God, whose word I praise—

in God I trust and am not afraid.

    What can mere mortals do to me?

“All day long they twist my words;

    all their schemes are for my ruin.

They conspire, they lurk,

    they watch my steps,

    hoping to take my life.

Because of their wickedness do not let them escape;

    in your anger, God, bring the nations down.”

As believers in Jesus Christ in America today, what are some of the ways in which our physical enemies are attacking us, and I am not speaking of enemies of physical wars in nations against nations, but of other people, including some others who profess faith in Jesus Christ. How are we, as followers of Christ, being attacked? What are those who oppose us doing against us that would be considered a frontal attack against us personally, and against what we believe in and stand for?

They might refuse and reject what we share with them, and they might reject us personally, and they might speak evil against us to other people, or to us personally, and they may turn against us and verbally oppose us. They may just gossip against us, take our words out of context, give other people a false impression of us and of what we are sharing, or they may slander us and make up things against us and put words in our mouths which we did not say. For they want other people to hate us as they hate us. 

But if we are serving the Lord, and if we are speaking the truth of God’s Word, in love, then truly they are going against God, against Jesus Christ. He is the one they are resisting. He is the one they are rejecting and opposing and speaking evil against. For how we treat other Christians is how we treat Jesus Christ. If by our words we are attempting to lead them to repentance and to obedient walks of faith in our Lord, but then they resist us and turn against us, then it is God who they are turning against.

For some people, when faced with the reality of who they are and of what they need to do to be conformed to the likeness of Christ will resist the idea that they must change and become like Jesus. They may not mind making minor adjustments to their lifestyles, but some of them will hold on for dear life to their addictive sinful practices and will refuse to let go. Or they will keep making the same excuses for why they are still in the same spiritual condition as they have been in and will refuse to move forward.

Psalms 56:8-13 NIV

“Record my misery;

    list my tears on your scroll—

    are they not in your record?

Then my enemies will turn back

    when I call for help.

    By this I will know that God is for me.

“In God, whose word I praise,

    in the Lord, whose word I praise—

in God I trust and am not afraid.

    What can man do to me?

“I am under vows to you, my God;

    I will present my thank offerings to you.

For you have delivered me from death

    and my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before God

    in the light of life.”

So, this is a call to God to see our suffering and our tears, and to come to our rescue and our defense, or to give us comfort and encouragement and hope and healing because of our enemies who are attacking us. And then we need to trust him with our situations and pray for courage and wisdom in knowing how to respond to unjust treatment. And we must not fear our enemies and what they may do to us or say about us falsely. For our God is with us and he will carry us through it all, and he has a purpose for it, too.

And then we need to continue in following the Lord in obedience and in surrender to his will in being his servants and witnesses regardless of how we are treated in return. For the Lord rescued us from our lives of sin and he gave us new lives in him now to be lived for his purposes and for his glory. And so we want to serve him with our lives, because we love him. For he delivered us from our sinful lifestyles so that we would walk worthy of the calling of God on our lives.

[Matt 10:37-38; Lu 9:62; Eph 4:1; Php 1:27; Col 1:10; 1 Thess 2:12]

No Less  

An Original Work / March 19, 2012

I can do no less than praise You,

Lord, for all You’ve done for me.

You died for my sins to save me,

So I would be set free.

I adore You! Lord, I praise You!

Jesus, Savior, King of kings!

You provided my redemption.

Your grace has pardoned me.

I can do no less than serve You. 

Lord, Your witness I would be,

Telling others of Your love,

And why You died on that tree.

Tell of how You gave of Your life,

So from sin we’d be set free,

So we could worship You forever,

And live eternally.

I can do no less than love You,

Lord, for You have first loved me.

You gave of Your life so willing,

Because You cared for me.

Turn from my sin! Obey freely!

Live for You each passing day.

Read Your word, and follow Your lead,

Lord, as I humbly pray. 

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