Warfare Psalms
Psalm 27:5b-10
Learning to pray the Psalms has great value when you’re going through something rough. David’s experiences as a warrior-king certainly prove that when we read these next few verses. Not only will God spiritually, and sometimes physically, hide or conceal him from his enemies, He’ll also lift him up so high they can’t reach him. David revealed his knowledge that The Rock gives him a position in the world. He stands there in authority above his enemies who surround him, with his head held high; that’s the lower story.
Our upper story is that we have one enemy: Satan. Yes, he may take some shots and hit some marks, but in the end we’re the victorious ones: we are Nike people. We are overcomers. These warfare Psalms remind us how to fight our battles and give us strategies to defeat him every time.
At His sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.
Psalms 27:6b
Our everyday battles aren’t usually physical, they’re mainly spiritual, and praise is a great weapon because it encourages us and Satan hates it. David offered sacrifices to the Lord with shouts of joy, singing, and music even when he undoubtedly didn’t feel like it. That makes it a sacrifice. When we rise above our emotions, standing on the The Rock of our faith, declaring His character and benefits of believing in Him, we’re winning the war. Praise and worship brings joy, confidence, and peace back into our spirits and as David shows us, leads us back into prayer.
David asks for grace, undeserved favor, as He obeys and seeks the ‘face of God’. What does that look like? For me it’s my quiet, devotional time with God when I can be honest and discuss the hard stuff in my life. It’s acknowledging my impotence and His power to change my circumstances. It’s humbling myself by openly asking for forgiveness, mercy, and grace when I’ve blown it. David made a lot of mistakes as king, he fell into sin many times, and this Psalm shows us we can come back to God every time. The LORD is his Helper, his Rescuer, and will always take him back.
We have something David didn’t have: we have the Holy Spirit living in us. David asks God not to be mad at him, abandon him, or forsake him; we know the Spirit of Christ will never do that. He lives in us. People will let you down, even our parents as David wrote (vs. 10), but he is confident his LORD will give him another chance. Repentance is a powerful thing, and a forgiving God is our assurance He’ll never let us down. He may use the time of trouble to teach us, draw us back to Himself, and show us the power of prayer, however, it’s always so that we’ll experience the ‘good life’ or the ‘higher life’ in Him. Warfare Psalms always lead us back to Him.
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