I should have been ready for this. I should have known that the enemy of my soul would not sit still when God is moving mightily in His anointed ones. I should have seen it coming.
Why? So many wonderful things happening through the Holy Spirit. The body of Christ around us is experiencing amazing times with God. The Tiara Ladies retreat was drenched in God's love with the Holy Spirit bringing new freedom to the ladies there. My marriage has been renewed and refreshed.
And most recently, God has given me a clear purpose statement "to cast hope for a purposeful future". I am thrilled that God uses who He created me to be to touch lives.
To top it off our pastor even preached a sermon that told us that with anointing comes attack. I should have been ready.
I should have been ready.
But today I woke with a sense of dread instead of hope. My first inclinations were indeed to seek God, but my heart lacked hope and my mind was being wooed into a dark place. But I went to the Word--it wasn't easy--I wanted to zone out, run to a mind numbing activity--I wanted to hide--not "abide in the shadow of the Almighty". I knew that truth was what I needed and thank God the Holy Spirit drew me--not an emotional yahoo kind of way--but a gentle calling--faint but there. I didn't leap into God's arms as I love to do, but dragging my feet I landed in Psalm 18.
Here's what I found in Psalm 18
David is surrounded by His enemies, his hope was shaken but what does he do? He declares that God is worthy to be praised and has already rescued him.
I love You, O Lord, my strength.”
2 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.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.
David declares that he is already saved from his enemies!!!!! that seems a bit weird when reading the next verses
The cords of death encompassed me,
And the torrents of ungodliness terrified me.
5 The cords of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
Wow! He is in the midst of a hopeless situation and yet he has already declared God's rescue.
But here is the key to his rescue. He knew Who to call on, he knew that God had already rescued him--he knew he just needed to call out to Him. God was there waiting for the call.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice out of His temple,
And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.
And what happened? God came not in a gentle way to rescue but like a super hero (but way, way better).
Then the earth shook and quaked;
And the foundations of the mountains were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.
8 Smoke went up out of His nostrils,
And fire from His mouth devoured;
Coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With thick darkness under His feet.
10 He rode upon a cherub and flew;
And He sped upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him,
Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
12 From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
And the Most High uttered His voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
14 He sent out His arrows, and scattered them,
And lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them.
15 Then the channels of water appeared,
And the foundations of the world were laid bare
At Your rebuke, O Lord,
At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
Wowzer!!!!!! Is that amazing or what? The great God of the universe heard and flew out of the temple to rescue his beloved.
Our God is waiting to rescue us, to defeat my enemy of hopelessness. He is waiting to rescue you too!
He sent from on high, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my stay.
19 He brought me forth also into a broad place;
He rescued me, because He delighted in me.
He brought me out of the waters that were drowning me because He delighted in me. He was delighted that I called out to Him for rescue. He was waiting for that trust--the trust that I knew He would and had already done it!
20 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me
The next few verses talk about being rescued because of his (David's) righteousness. The good news is that as a believer we are made righteous and holy through the blood of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:2 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
I am made righteous, I am delivered, I am rescued because God delights in me. You are too!
There He is--there's my Rock. He was there all along.
