December Three, Psalm Three

The heading in the NASB is "Morning Prayer of Trust in God"
sounds like a good way to start this day...
actually the day started about one hour and two cups of coffee ago, I have visited Chris, Wanderer, and Arthur here in Cyber space, read a nice e-mail from my sister and good emergent friend Matt, and soon I will be taking my eldest son "to town" to apply for some jobs. He really needs a job, and for people like him, jobs can be very hard to find. Those of you who know, know why, those who don't know don't have to know...anyway
Back to Psalm Three:
Ahh, it's a good old song - Thou Oh Lord are a shield about me, and the lifter of my head.
But it starts out talking about "Adversaries". Do I have adversaries? I think its important to remember Ephesians 6:12. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, powers, forces of the Dark Side...
Luke, don't listen to him, he's not really your father, not really.
Sorry about that Sci Fi moment
Back to the Psalm
"I pray to you and you answer from your sacred hill." Switched translations there - I'm in the CEV now. There's snow on my mountian. Nice.
David ends this one pretty violently. "Break my enemies jaws and shatter their teeth, because you protect and bless your people." Doesn't sound much better in the more traditional version.
"For thou hast smitten all my enemies on the cheek, Thou hast shattered the teeth of the wicked." I wouldn't pray that concerning anyone I know. I don't really have any enemies - except for the ones mentioned in Ephesians. I've been hurt, and I'm sad, and some people have been just plain mean to me. When I drive into town, I might stop to say hi to my grandkids. I've gone from having them every weekend to 5 minutes a week if I am lucky. I'd like to pray that prayer over the people that have caused this current heart breaking situtation. For a while there I felt something pretty close to hate concerning them. Then we have the accusers to deal with, but that hasn't been as bad as we expected. And there is the rather painful on going debate over theology and doctrine, which I can't seem to avoid - like gum on the bottom of my shoe, or worse, it gets pretty stinky in here sometimes. But I can't blame them...not any of them.
They are not the enemy. We do not contend against flesh and blood. I don't want to contend against anyone or anything. I want to sing - Thou, Oh LORD are a shield about me, My glory and the One who lifts my head...Thy blessings are upon Thy people.