Prayer – Lord, I want to serve You and be kind to others…to
treat others as I want to be treated. Open my eyes to see how You see others—even
someone I might consider as my enemy.
I said to the LORD, "You are my God!"
Listen, O LORD, to my cries for mercy! O Sovereign LORD, the strong one who
rescued me, you protected me on the day of battle. LORD, do not let evil people
have their way. Do not let their evil schemes succeed, or they will become
proud.
Let my enemies be destroyed by the very evil they
have planned for me. Let burning coals fall down on their heads. Let them be
thrown into the fire or into watery pits from which they can't escape. Don't
let liars prosper here in our land. Cause great disasters to fall on the
violent. But I know the LORD will help those they persecute; he will give
justice to the poor. Surely righteous people are praising your name; the godly
will live in your presence. Psalm 140:1-13
Meditate on God’s word and listen.
Once again, David is seeking God to rescue
him from his enemies. Since he was continually asking God for help, life must
have been tough for him—but he found his strength, hope, and salvation in the Lord.
I think he is pretty brutal asking God to heap burning coals on the
heads and have them thrown into the fire or into watery pits from which they
can’t escape. To me that sounds pretty harsh. What about Jesus teaching in
His Sermon on the Mount?
"You
have heard the law that says, 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. But I
say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way,
you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his
sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the
unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for
that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your
friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you
are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew
5:43-48
Of course, David lived long well before Jesus—but we have
Jesus’ teaching—so that is what we should follow. No wish for heaping coals or
drowning of your “enemies.” Love your enemies…as in love your neighbor
as yourself.
Take it to the Lord in prayer. Prayer is the beginning point
for all problems, praises, and for everything. That is just what David was
doing when he was asking God to rescue and protect him from his enemies.
Praying. David actually provided us with a good example of what to do and say.
God always listens…we just have to pray. In praying, we are in a relationship
with our God. God, in whom we can rely on to help us with our problems and to
share our joys and sorrows.
Verse of Salvation ~ O GOD the Lord, the strength of my
salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. Psalm 140:7 KJV
Memory Verse of the Week ~ "But forget
all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do
something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a
pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19
© 2022 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Authorized Version or King James Version (KJV), 1611, 1769.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
Available as e-books or paperbacks at Amazon.com
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