My soul shall rejoice in the Lord; It shall exult in His salvation

Psalm 35:1-16 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Prayer for Rescue from Enemies.

A Psalm of David.

Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
Fight against those who fight against me.
² Take hold of buckler and shield
And rise up for my help.
³ Draw also the spear and the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me;
Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
⁴ Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life;
Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me.
⁵ Let them be like chaff before the wind,
With the angel of the Lord driving them on.
⁶ Let their way be dark and slippery,
With the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
⁷ For without cause they hid their net for me;
Without cause they dug a pit for my soul.
⁸ Let destruction come upon him unawares,
And let the net which he hid catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall.

⁹ And my soul shall rejoice in the Lord;
It shall exult in His salvation.
¹⁰ All my bones will say, “Lord, who is like You,
Who delivers the afflicted from him who is too strong for him,
And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?”
¹¹ Malicious witnesses rise up;
They ask me of things that I do not know.
¹² They repay me evil for good,
To the bereavement of my soul.
¹³ But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting,
And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.
¹⁴ I went about as though it were my friend or brother;
I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother.
¹⁵ But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered themselves together;
The smiters whom I did not know gathered together against me,
They slandered me without ceasing.
¹⁶ Like godless jesters at a feast,
They gnashed at me with their teeth.

Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; Fight against those who fight against me. There is a peace that comes when we entrust our battles to God. He says: 'Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.' (Deuteronomy 32:35) God is a righteous and trust worthy judge and He will bring out justice in all things. It may seem that those who are not walking righteously prosper, but God sees all and He says,” their calamity is near.”  In Psalm 37 David says: Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers. ² For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb….. The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth. ¹³ The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming.

 It can be difficult to wait and trust in the Lord’s timing. Life here on earth seems so short and the days so fleeting, that it is difficult to wait patiently for the Lord. Our culture has become one of instant gratification. We want what we want and we want it now. God sees things through His eternal perspective. He says:  For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.(Jeremiah 29:11-13)   We need to realize that in the scheme of eternity, even a lifetime of suffering and difficulty is but a twinkling.

In Psalm 37, the psalmist advises us: Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
⁸ Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. ⁹ For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.

Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. When we do try to take matters into our own hands more often than not we create more problems than solutions.  Many times in scripture the Israelites were given  a battle plan from the Lord. It usually required them to wait on His timing. Often it meant waiting until the situation looked completely hopeless. That really is when God comes through. When there is nowhere else to turn and when there is no one else who can provide the victory, God comes through. It may be 11:59:59, but God is always on time. Just as God said to Paul:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) He will give us the grace to walk through the difficulties we face and His power, His deliverance will show forth on our behalf as we wait and trust, as we like Paul say: Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  

It is okay for us to cry out to God, asking Him to deliver us. It is okay for us to point out the difficulties we face and to ask God to come against those who come against us. But we should always remember that in truth,  our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12) When we cry out to God for deliverance we should always know that our battles, our difficulties come from these “spiritual forces of wickedness”, we should pray against these and even for the most vile people we should pray that God delivers them and reveals Himself to them. After all, God is: not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.(2 Peter 3:9)

Proverbs 25:21-22 says: If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; ²² For you will heap burning coals on his head, And the Lord will reward you.    Those burning coals are not to bring about his death, but to burn away what is unholy and evil, that through your act of love and compassion your enemy will see the Lord.

The Lord will reward you and like the psalmist you can say:  And my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; It shall exult in His salvation.   All my bones will say, “Lord, who is like You, Who delivers the afflicted from him who is too strong for him, And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?”

This is my prayer:  There is none like You O Lord. Whether like the psalmist I face difficulties at the hands of other people, or I face times of lack, I will say: Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places.(Habakkuk 3:17-19)   Thank You Lord, my rock, my deliverer  and my redeemer.     Amen