Trivia:
Happy Tuesday, you guessed right when you chose Chicago as the origin of the deep dish pizza. Way to go.
Here's another brain teaser. How long is as fortnight? 1 week; a week-end over night; or 2 weeks. Make your guess.
Challenge:
Psalm 18:1-14 "I love you Lord; you are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.
I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and He saved me from my enemies.
The ropes of death entangled me; floods of destruction swept over me. The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path. But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
Yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from His sanctuary; my cry to Him reached His ears.
Then the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the mountains shook; they quaked because of His anger. Smoke poured from His nostrils; fierce flames leaped from His mouth. Glowing coals blazed forth from Him. He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath His feet. Mounted on a mighty engel in being, He flew, soaring on the wings of the wind. He shrouded himself in darkness, veiling his approach with dark rain clouds. Thick clouds shielded the brightness around Him and rained down hail and burning coals.
The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded amid the hail and burning coals. He shot His arrows and scattered His enemies; great bolts of lightening flashed, and they were confused.
These verses are descriptive of God's presence and power much like Exodus 19:16; Deuteronomy 33:2; Judges 4,5; Micah 1:3,4; Habakkuk 3; Revelation 19.
David records here several words emphasizing God's stability and security, "God is my rock, fortress... Savior, and protector.
Then in verse 3 he speaks of Yahweh being worthy of praise for His power and care for His children.
Verse 10 David speaks of God mounting a cherub, like a chariot and flying with the force of the combined, wind, rain, lightening, thunder, and hail. Then He thunders from heaven with such force that the enemies of David find themselves in absolute confusion. The force of His power causes the enemy to change course, from attacking him to retreating from him.
Have you ever experienced a time when the evils of Satan's influences seem overwhelming and impossible to defeat? I think we all have been faced with seeming impossible odds. David here is reminding us in verse 3 when "we call on the Lord"; or verse 6 "he cried out to the Lord ... for help. He heard me ... then He acted in mighty power".
Oh, I have experienced His presence and deliverance a number of times throughout my life. One particular time a man had been molesting his step daughter, and she came forward in a youth meeting that I had been speaking at, she came forward to receive forgiveness & salvation. As she spoke of this devestating struggle to the youth pastors wife, she asked her to pray for her and to help her with this problem. The youth pastor & wife of the church took her to a man in their church who was a police officer for direction in how to handle this matter.
I was staying in the youth pastors home so was waiting at the church for their return. Much later this girls mother came to the church and pleaded for me to pick up some clothes for her daughter at her house. In order to give her time to find a safe place to move to. I knocked on the door of her house, and somehow this step father realized that he had been found out.
He was about six foot six, he instantly met me at the door and grabbed me by the throat and forced me into the corner, with a loaded gun in hand ready to shoot me. When suddenly the police broke into the front door and stopped the man and ultimately arrested him. Once he grabbed me, I had cried out to God and before I could respond the Lord had already answered my prayer.
This was probably the most intense event I had faced but there are many other times that Jesus met my prayers with an answer.
SO GO WITH GOD my dear one and He just like in David's life and throughout our lives will meet our need. Sometimes instantly and other times over a long period of time, but always in His perfect time He will respond. Can you see why David began his Psalm with the words, "I love you, Lord; you are my strength."
2 weeks