God Is My Rescuer

Friends, we are on Day 7 of our Psalms for the Summer devotionals, where we are working through the Book of Psalms, a chapter each day, for the months of May, June, and July. We pray they bring you hope and encouragement.  

Lord my God, I take refuge in you;

   save and deliver me from all who pursue me,

or they will tear me apart like a lion

   and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

- King David, Psalm 7:1-2

Have you ever felt completely alone, as if every enemy around you is waiting to tear you apart and rip you to pieces, and all hope seems lost?

I’ve been there. I vividly remember back to my freshman year of high school when I made the Junior Varsity baseball team. Our practices took place at a baseball field located a couple of miles from the school, so we would carpool to practice. One day, on the way to practice, my teammate (a sophomore) who drove us to practice, happened to mention to all of us that he did not yet have his driver’s license. Honestly, I did not know what to do with that information, but several days later my baseball coach happened to ask me (not sure why) how things were going with our carpool to practices. Before I could catch myself, I blurted out, “It is going okay, but did you know Joe does not have his driver’s license?” It was not my proudest moment (I don’t want to be a snitch), yet deep down I also felt it was the right thing to do. Talk about an internal conflict!

The next day at practice, before the coaches got out to the field, Joe grabbed me by the back of my shirt, dragged me out in front of the team, shoved me to the ground, and told them what I had done. I was the laughingstock of the entire team. I felt shame, hurt, and completely alone.

Fortunately, that was high school, and it has not negatively impacted my life (at least, not much), but obviously it marked me enough that I still recall all the details. It did not feel good to be attacked and, at least emotionally, “ripped to pieces with no one to rescue me.”

But God is my rescuer, and regardless of that incident, or any other situations and circumstances I face in life, I “take refuge in Him” and know that my value and my worth are wrapped up, not in my circumstances, not in who may or may not like me, but in who I am in Him. It is my Lord and my God who saves and delivers me daily and reminds me of WHOSE I am.

I pray that, whatever you are up against, or whatever enemies are attacking you and seeking to tear you to pieces, you will know that: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I [Jesus] have overcome the world” (John 16:33)

Lean on Jesus in every circumstance. Trust Him, for He is faithful. He will bring you peace in the storm, hope in your trials, and deliverance from your enemies. HE is our rescuer.

Pastor Ken

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