My Own Worse Enemy
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Psalms 18:2-3
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
The first thing I thought of as I read these verses is that all too often, I am my own worse enemy! I bet I don’t need to elaborate too much for you to relate to my statement, either. I sabotage myself in so many ways, I can’t even list them! I run ahead of God, around God, and even after God has done His work in my life, I still often feel compelled to meddle.
Fortunately for us (me), God is a rock and a fortress. He protects us from ourselves as well as the harmful and hurtful influences in our lives. Sometimes I find myself absolutely breathless from all the running around and planning and organizing and frantic activity that I absolutely must be in the midst of. Then God steps in and allows me to breathe; to rest in Him; to be my refuge from the frenetic activity of my day and my life.
It’s difficult to have our Christian hearts and our Christian values in charge of our lives when we’re in that state. I find myself snapping at people and sighing a lot and feeling generally irritated with the world. I am so grateful I worship a God who is bigger than the biggest drama I can become embroiled in. I rejoice that God steps in to deliver me from my own turmoil just at the point I’m feeling an impending meltdown. And I am blessed that He is a God who answers lovingly when I call upon Him.
With a majority of people in the world living as I have described (I’m pretty sure I’m right about that), it’s no wonder there are so many social issues and even wars. If we would all just turn to God to set the tone and pace for our lives, we would be much more patient, kind, understanding and loving – with ourselves as well as the other humans here on planet Earth.
My prayer today is that you join me in praising the God who is more than worthy of our praise. And that you call upon Him to be your deliverer, your rock, and your shield.
Mary
