By Toni Ford
Don’t you love how the Lord redirects us?
Over this past week, I’ve mulled over the story of Jesus walking with the two men on the road to Emmaus and had even come close to completing my column for this week regarding that story.
Then on Thursday morning as I was praying for a friend who recently received a daunting medical diagnosis, the Lord took me to Psalm 3, where I began praying this psalm over my friend. All throughout the day, the Lord continued to take me back to this psalm and reflect on what I had read earlier in the morning. I then realized that for whatever reason, the Lord was redirecting me to share on Psalm 3 rather than what I had originally planned. When the Lord redirects me like this, I usually do not understand all the reasons why. One thing I am sure about, however, is that He has a plan, and His plan always involves blessing or loving someone else as a result. Maybe you yourself, have recently received some disheartening news or someone you know is facing some tough challenges ahead, I am confident that the Lord wants to minister and encourage you today through His Word. My prayer is that as you continue reading, you would experience the presence of the Lord beside you in a way you have never experienced His presence before.
Psalm 3 was written as a prayer from David to God early in the morning. The back story to this psalm comes from 2 Samuel 15: 12-23. David’s son Absalom had been working for years to build up enough support to take over the kingdom from his father in Jerusalem. Absalom had wandered far from God and decided that he would make a better king than his father David, to the point of wanting to kill his father just so he could become the new king of Israel. Not only were David’s enemies increasing around him, but people were beginning to say, “The king is beyond help.”
Some of you might feel this same way, as if you are beyond help because of the news you just received, or the life challenges you are facing. Can I tell you some good news? NOTHING is beyond God’s help! Mark 10:27 tells us, “Jesus looked at them and replied, “With people it is impossible, but not with God – God makes all things possible!”
David begins his prayer to God by stating the threatening condition he was facing but quickly turns his attention to God’s promises and begins declaring his faith in the God he knew personally. As you continue to read, praying these same truths over your own life, may you sense the presence of the Lord, knowing that He is fulfilling these same pro-mises in your life just as he did in David’s life over 2,000 years ago.
God is your shield. Psalm 3:1-3 says, “O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me. So many are saying, ‘God will never rescue him!’ But you, O Lord, are a shield around me.” I always love the “But you’s” in Scripture, because they bring such hope in desperate times! We know that a shield protects us from harm and Israel’s kings were referred to as a “shield” because they protected the Nation of Israel. As king over Israel, David had experienced God as the shield protecting Israel as a nation. Now, David needed God as his personal shield. He was confident that God would now serve as his very own personal shield, protecting his own life from his enemies. Remember today that God is your shield and your protection, surrounding you with His love and care.
God holds my head high. Psalm 3:3 says, “You are my glory, the one who holds my head high.” Although David’s situation was frightening and very discouraging, he knew God would lift up his head and restore him back to his throne. David knew the promises from God’s Word and knew God well enough to know that God would not forsake him. Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.” Remember God’s promises, know that He does not lie and that He wants to restore what you have lost!
God is my place of rest. Psalm 3: 5-6 says, “I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me. I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side.” The next morning when David awoke, his first thought was of the Lord and how He had protected him during the night. This was a sign to David that the Lord was with him and would see him through this crisis. David went on to affirm that he would not be afraid if ten thousand enemies came against him because he knew that God could and would still make him victorious! David had faith that God would go before him and defeat the army of Absalom, to which God did defeat Absalom and He restored David to his place as king over Israel.
Dear Lord, today I pray for each person reading this column. Regardless of what they are encountering in life, may they know that You alone are their shield, their protector. You, Oh Lord will give them rest, and You are the lifter of their heads, restoring all that has been lost. We thank You for Your promises to us and most of all thank You for Your presence in our lives.
If you would like me to join you in prayer please e-mail me at tonif77@gmail.com.
I would love to pray for you!