Prayer for Deliverance and Guidance.
A Psalm of David.
143 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
Give ear to my supplications!
Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness!
2 And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is righteous.
3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.
4 Therefore my spirit [a]is overwhelmed within me;
My heart is [b]appalled within me.5 I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your doings;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to You;
My soul longs for You, as a [c]parched land. [d]Selah.7 Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails;
Do not hide Your face from me,
Or I will become like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning;
For I trust in You;
Teach me the way in which I should walk;
For to You I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies;
[e]I take refuge in You.10 Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level [f]ground.
11 For the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me.
In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
12 And in Your lovingkindness, [g]cut off my enemies
And destroy all those who afflict my soul,
For I am Your servant.
There is something beneath the surface that I’ve alluded to recently, and it’s been on my mind more and more with this election season. I’ve even heard it in sermons of late, and this psalm brings it up once again, even if it isn’t obvious. Over and over, David speaks of his enemies: “the enemy has persecuted my soul…” and “Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies;” and “cut off my enemies…”
I’m not 100% certain that even David made this distinction, but it was there in his life nonetheless. King Saul tried to pin him to a wall with a javelin and chased him all over the country, and yet what drove him to the madness? On several occasions, evil spirits egged him on, though there’s an odd tidbit in 1 Samuel 18. One of those evil spirits was “from God”, which at the very least indicates that God was the ultimate authority in all things and had the final say in whether that spirit was allowed to bother Saul–and it was.
I won’t delve into the why at this point, as God only knows, and there is something more applicable for us here. That is something illustrated in our current leadership. Often we hear (of certain prominent leaders), “are they really the one(s) in charge?” A rhetorical question typically, and the answer is “no”. Yet in my mind, and I think many others also, I picture other people “pulling the strings” when that is likely not the case.
Multiple times David says his soul is persecuted and in trouble, and no man can afflict the soul. As Paul aptly noted, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood… but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” There’s no ballot box to vote them out of power, there is no physical weapon that can decimate them. In fact, we have very little power against them on our own (if any).
Rather, like David, we must call upon God for deliverance. After all, He is the ultimate authority and still has the final say. Better still, the same Spirit of God that David called upon to “lead him on level ground.” dwells inside the heart of everyone who believes on God and calls upon His name. It’s really not a fair fight, but we focus too much on the physical and neglect the spiritual battle that rages on around us.
It starts with me, and with you, remembering the true battle, and calling upon God. Seek his face, humble yourself, pray, meditate on His word, turn from your own wicked way, and see what God can do in your life and the lives of those around you. It isn’t complicated, but boy is it sure hard to keep doing. God help us all to keep our eyes fixed on You, each and every day.