This I know, that God is for me.

Psalm 56 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Supplication for Deliverance and Grateful Trust in God.

Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me;                                                 Fighting all day long he oppresses me.
² My foes have trampled upon me all day long,
For they are many who fight proudly against me.
³ When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.
⁴ In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?
⁵ All day long they distort my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
⁶ They attack, they lurk,
They watch my steps,
As they have waited to take my life.
⁷ Because of wickedness, cast them forth,
In anger put down the peoples, O God!

⁸ You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
⁹ Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call;
This I know, that God is for me.
¹⁰ In God, whose word I praise,
In the Lord, whose word I praise,
¹¹ In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
¹² Your vows are binding upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to You.
¹³ For You have delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling,
So that I may walk before God In the light of the living.

Have you ever felt like the psalmist who says:   man has trampled upon me;                        Fighting all day long he oppresses me. My foes have trampled upon me all day long,
For they are many who fight proudly against me… All day long they distort my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil. They attack, they lurk, They watch my steps,
As they have waited to take my life.    It may not be that they would actually kill you or even cause you physical harm, but they trample your reputation. They lurk and look for you to make a misstep and they distort your words. They proudly and arrogantly mock and seek your demise. The psalmist has answers for us when we are oppressed. First we need, like him to know and to say:   Be gracious to me, O God… This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, In the Lord, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.   God is for us. Do you know that? Do you believe it?   What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? (Romans 8:31)  The psalmist says:  In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?   He says:  Your vows are binding upon me, O God.  The psalmist said he praised God’s word. He knew and understood and even more he stood on the vows and the promises of God to him and for him. If we know and believe, if we walk in and stand under the promises of God, what His words for us are; what power do the words of people really have against us. Jeremiah 29:11 says:  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.     If God’s plans are for good, to give us hope, can the evil plans of man really do us harm?   

The psalmist says:  You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?   Isaiah 53:3-6 says:  He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.     Even more than storing them in a bottle or recording them in a book, Jesus bore everything that would come against us on the cross. In John 19:30, He said: “It is finished!”  In John 16:33 He says:   “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  Everything that would raise itself against us has already been defeated. Jesus has overcome through the finished work of the cross.  

What can man do to me?  Your vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to You. For You have delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living. Even in dark times, I will walk in Your light. Even if men should hate me, I will walk in Your love. Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; I will put my trust in You and I will not be afraid.   Amen.