Psalm 118:1-14
This is the last of the praise psalms that we began with Psalm 111. The psalmist in today’s reading offers praise and thanksgiving for Israel’s victory over her enemies. But which set of victories? Was it their deliverance from Egypt and from their enemies as they did battle in the Wilderness? Or was it King David defeating the neighboring nations – or perhaps his internal enemies (Saul’s or Absalom’s supporters)? Or was it the post-Exile victories over those nations and people who interfered with the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple? It could be any one of those, or even of other kings (e.g., Hezekiah) and their battles with the neighboring nations. We don’t know. It hardly matters to us thousands of years later which history we need to recall. What we see from the writer is praise and deliverance from those difficulties.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? (v. 6) That last sentence in this verse is one of my favorite lines of Scripture. However, for me it’s hard to relate to enemies around me. I think of my M.A. advisor who twice was not supportive of my proposed Thesis topics, but who then (truly) went blind the night before I was going to ask him to read my Thesis that he had never approved. (A different faculty member was assigned to me, and he approved and signed off.) I think of faculty who voted against my tenure at Texas A&M – a major blow for which I sought psychiatric help for the only time in my career. A few years later one person apologized to me for his wrong vote – that one person whose negative vote had hurt the most and for whom I had sought counseling. I think of my colleagues at EKU who denied me promotion (and $$!) for two or three years running. But then I was granted a Fulbright Scholarship, and how could they possibly deny me again? That’s about as far as I can go in thinking about worldly enemies. And truly, What can man do to me? The Lord was at work in each of those situations, and I was delivered from each of those difficulties – never in short order, but always eventually.
Sorry for this long recounting, but just as I suggested a few days back that each of you begin to document miracles in your life, I would today suggest that you look back to those most major difficulties that you have encountered and ask how the Lord has brought you through them. Then begin to make a second list of those deliverances. It is truly important for us to regularly look back at how God has been at work in our lives. We need those “strength points” when we run into new adversities. The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?