Psalm 17
Psalm 17:6-15
6 I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. ~ Why is it so humbling to ask for help? Why does it take a meltdown before I admit I need him? And why is it so difficult to believe once I do indeed call on him, that my requests will be heard? In my most vulnerable states he has let me lie before him a broken and ashamed mess. He has heard, he has listened, and he has assured me that his answer is to come…
7 Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. ~ More than ever I am reminded daily of the inarguable presence of Satan in my life. How is it that my enemy knows me just as well as my Savior? I feel the devil constantly contemplating my next slip up. Some days I sense him packing my suitcase, as he’s so sure his next temptation will make me walk away from my God forever. But I have been reassured over and over again of the holy security I can take in Jesus. Of the shield of armor he places upon me. Of the sacrifice his great love poured on me, so that I may take that refuge in him, so that I may fight my enemy.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings ~ so often I feel alone. Not just mentally or emotionally, but physically…longing for the touch of love…an embrace of comfort that desires the closeness of me. Whether in an earthly relationship or not, I think we all find ourselves questioning personal worth and wondering if anyone wishes to cover me with their warmth, to hide me in their shadow. He does. He always will. Even in…Especially in our most worthless moments.
9 from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. 10 They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. 11 They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground. 12 They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a great lion crouching in cover. ~ With an unwavering relentlessness, he sees my weaknesses; my deepest weaknesses. Those that I may not recognize myself. Those that make me forsake my King. How does he see the depths of my soul? The ugly, interwoven details…the very features my Lord created in me to be beautiful and perfect…he exploits! He saturates with repulsiveness. Worst of all, he permeates my mind with lies, and numbs my heart, and poisons my lips with empty promises of an unforgiving world that entrenches me in its hopelessness and shatters the reflection I see in the mirror.
13 Rise up, O LORD, confront them, bring them down; rescue me from the wicked by your sword. ~ And I just get to a point where I have to decide: is my God big enough? Is he big enough to fight this battle for me? I know I’m not used to asking others to fight battles for me, I’m the general in my own war, right? Can I get myself out of this one? Or is Satan’s grip on my soul just simply too strong? At some point I realize, there is no choice. My God is the only one who can fight this battle for me.
14 a. O LORD, by your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life. ~ So quickly I forget the promise I accepted when I was saved. The promise of life eternal…LIFE ETERNAL…alongside JESUS! Why do I forget? That is the promise I LIVE for. The promise I awake to each morning, and the promise I lay down to each night. Surrounded…and so easily held captive by men whose reward is in this life. I just want to ask myself: what are you doing! Why have you fallen into this trap again? And I realize the greatest temptation in my life…my greatest opportunity to fall from my Lord and turn to the enemy, is in the empty promises of everything this earthly world tries to be; it exists in every person I try to please, in every promotion I pursue, in every monetary raise I hope to receive, in every hour I invest in the bottom line. These are the dangerous hungers of my earthly flesh, Lord. And who am I, to doubt that you can conquer them?
14 b. You still the hunger of those you cherish; their sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children. ~ Lord, be still the hungers of my earthly flesh. And you said…they are still, my child. Wow. That’s you, God. That’s you. You still those hungers. The deepest, sharpest hunger pains I have ever known…they simply cease and desist at your command.
15 And I—in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. ~ Sometimes it feels like a bad dream. Satan sneaks up behind us, and like the unannounced destruction of a deadly cyclone, damage has been done and life is not as it was before. As the clouds part and the dust settles, remnants of the bad dream remain; for it wasn’t a dream at all. But we learn from our choices, we find maturity in the results of our decisions; we know more intimately the intentions and the strategies of our enemies, and once again we stumble upon a familiar answer as the last hopeless bad dream we found ourselves in: “lift your eyes.”
Isaiah 51:6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
Psalm 121
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
6 I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. ~ Why is it so humbling to ask for help? Why does it take a meltdown before I admit I need him? And why is it so difficult to believe once I do indeed call on him, that my requests will be heard? In my most vulnerable states he has let me lie before him a broken and ashamed mess. He has heard, he has listened, and he has assured me that his answer is to come…
7 Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. ~ More than ever I am reminded daily of the inarguable presence of Satan in my life. How is it that my enemy knows me just as well as my Savior? I feel the devil constantly contemplating my next slip up. Some days I sense him packing my suitcase, as he’s so sure his next temptation will make me walk away from my God forever. But I have been reassured over and over again of the holy security I can take in Jesus. Of the shield of armor he places upon me. Of the sacrifice his great love poured on me, so that I may take that refuge in him, so that I may fight my enemy.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings ~ so often I feel alone. Not just mentally or emotionally, but physically…longing for the touch of love…an embrace of comfort that desires the closeness of me. Whether in an earthly relationship or not, I think we all find ourselves questioning personal worth and wondering if anyone wishes to cover me with their warmth, to hide me in their shadow. He does. He always will. Even in…Especially in our most worthless moments.
9 from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. 10 They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. 11 They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground. 12 They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a great lion crouching in cover. ~ With an unwavering relentlessness, he sees my weaknesses; my deepest weaknesses. Those that I may not recognize myself. Those that make me forsake my King. How does he see the depths of my soul? The ugly, interwoven details…the very features my Lord created in me to be beautiful and perfect…he exploits! He saturates with repulsiveness. Worst of all, he permeates my mind with lies, and numbs my heart, and poisons my lips with empty promises of an unforgiving world that entrenches me in its hopelessness and shatters the reflection I see in the mirror.
13 Rise up, O LORD, confront them, bring them down; rescue me from the wicked by your sword. ~ And I just get to a point where I have to decide: is my God big enough? Is he big enough to fight this battle for me? I know I’m not used to asking others to fight battles for me, I’m the general in my own war, right? Can I get myself out of this one? Or is Satan’s grip on my soul just simply too strong? At some point I realize, there is no choice. My God is the only one who can fight this battle for me.
14 a. O LORD, by your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life. ~ So quickly I forget the promise I accepted when I was saved. The promise of life eternal…LIFE ETERNAL…alongside JESUS! Why do I forget? That is the promise I LIVE for. The promise I awake to each morning, and the promise I lay down to each night. Surrounded…and so easily held captive by men whose reward is in this life. I just want to ask myself: what are you doing! Why have you fallen into this trap again? And I realize the greatest temptation in my life…my greatest opportunity to fall from my Lord and turn to the enemy, is in the empty promises of everything this earthly world tries to be; it exists in every person I try to please, in every promotion I pursue, in every monetary raise I hope to receive, in every hour I invest in the bottom line. These are the dangerous hungers of my earthly flesh, Lord. And who am I, to doubt that you can conquer them?
14 b. You still the hunger of those you cherish; their sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children. ~ Lord, be still the hungers of my earthly flesh. And you said…they are still, my child. Wow. That’s you, God. That’s you. You still those hungers. The deepest, sharpest hunger pains I have ever known…they simply cease and desist at your command.
15 And I—in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. ~ Sometimes it feels like a bad dream. Satan sneaks up behind us, and like the unannounced destruction of a deadly cyclone, damage has been done and life is not as it was before. As the clouds part and the dust settles, remnants of the bad dream remain; for it wasn’t a dream at all. But we learn from our choices, we find maturity in the results of our decisions; we know more intimately the intentions and the strategies of our enemies, and once again we stumble upon a familiar answer as the last hopeless bad dream we found ourselves in: “lift your eyes.”
Isaiah 51:6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
Psalm 121
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
posted by the way I see it... at 10:36 PM
3 Comments:
the way that you wrote this is amazing... taking a psalm verse by verse and adding your own thoughts. I feel like I might try this some time with psalms that are meaningful to me to help me work through my real thoughts and emotions, but all the while being guided by truth. you have inspired me.
Who needs David?!
I meant because now we have YOU! =)
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