Many things come against us as we live each day of our lives. We hear of wars and rumours of possible wars. Countries push the boundaries and threaten the livelihood of its people. Politicians squabble in parliament and refuse to see eye to eye. Most places we look, there is unrest and tensions. Everyone seems intent to be better than anyone else.
In our personal lives, tensions may come against us; our own family may all of a sudden have a major problem. Our working life may take a nasty turn and the bank manager may not be our friend of the month. In addition to this, our neighbours may all of a sudden decide they are going to move and new neighbours with a reputation of being a major, problem family, may move in. To top all of this, the dog and cat may have to see the vet, giving us a bill the size of the national debt and our child may come home from school giving us the news that they have been excluded. Problems and more problems piling up against us until we're at screaming pitch and in danger of having a nervous breakdown.
In our text today, King David outlines how he handled the many problems and attacks that came his way. He says, 'Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident.' David had learnt the benefits of living by faith and placing God first in his life. He may have blown a few things - after all, he was a human like us. But, nevertheless, God was his mainstay; the stronghold of his life.
Jerry Vine writes:
'Psalm 27 is a psalm written by David clearly at a very difficult time. He describes the wicked coming against him and an army encamping around him and a war rising up against him, yet his heart was not afraid. He had learned through the years that the God who cared for him in the past would continue to care for him in the present moment. And the troubles of today would strengthen him for the troubles of tomorrow. The same is true for us.'
(Strengthened by Trouble - Copyright 2018 Jerry Vine, The Vines Epository Bible)
David strengthened himself in the fact that, what he had been through in the past, he had survived because God was with him. This gave him the confidence to know - without doubt - that God would not let him down, He would be with him, again and again. He had no need to worry. And neither do we! God is the same God who rescued King David and He will rescue us when we get into any particular problem - if we call on Him. That's the secret. Romans 10:15 says:
'For whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.'
If we don't call on Him, how can we expect Him to come and rescue us? Strangely enough, whenever we are going through problems, one of the last things we do, is call on Him for help. This is probably because we are so absorbed in what is happening to us, that our focus is stolen from us, with the shock of it all. Ask yourself, who would steal your focus? Who is the thief? Who steals our faith? Yes, you're right, it's the devil and he will do all he can to take your mind off Jesus so that you come down with a crash. King David, knew better. He focused on his past victories; on the many times that God had performed amazing rescue acts for him and he knew God would never let him down.
And this is the same for us. In times of trouble, we need to seek the giver - God. Just a thought here, we need to seek the giver, not the gift. It's no use having the gift if the giver is not present in our lives. Seek God - the giver, and then He will give you the rest.
Now have a good day with the Stronghold of your life - Jesus.
Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard
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