I shall not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

Psalm 56 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Be gracious to me, God, for a man has trampled upon me;
^[Fighting all day long he oppresses me.
² My enemies 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 mortals 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 their wickedness, will there be an escape for them?
In anger make the peoples fall down, God!

⁸ You have taken account of my miseries;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
⁹ Then my enemies will turn back on 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 mankind do to me?
¹² Your vows are binding upon me, God;
I will render thanksgiving offerings to You.
¹³ For You have saved my soul from death,
^[Indeed my feet from stumbling,
So that I may walk before God
In the light of the living.

The psalmist says:  Be gracious to me, God, for a man has trampled upon me; Fighting all day long he oppresses me. My enemies have trampled upon me all day long, For they are many who fight proudly against me. When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?  For us, we no longer need to trust only in what God will do. His grace for us has been fully revealed in Christ. We need only to trust in what He has already done. Mere mortals cannot harm us, because through Christ we have become immortal. 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 says: When this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?”  Even death, the worst that mere mortals can do to us has no lasting power over us. Colossians 2:13-15 says: He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.  Not only can mere mortals not harm, He has disarmed all authorities of evil that are against us through the cross. In John 19:30, on the cross, Jesus said: “It is finished!”

The psalmist says:  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. Because of their wickedness, will there be an escape for them? In anger make the peoples fall down, God! You have taken account of my miseries; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?  In Matthew 24:9-14 Jesus says:  “Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”  God is aware of the injustice we face in the world. He takes account of our miseries. We live in a time when surely we can see that lawlessness has increased. Evil is celebrated and good is called evil. In Isaiah 5:20 God says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! We need to endure to the end, knowing that Jesus has already won the victory. 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.” Along with enduring to the end, we need to preach the gospel of the kingdom in the whole world as a testimony to the nations. We don’t need to travel over seas to reach the nations. The word that is translated nations, is the Greek word ethnos, from which we get the English word ethnic. We all have the nations in our neighborhoods, our work places and in our social media friends list.

The psalmist says:  My enemies will turn back on the day when I call; 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. What can mankind do to me? Your vows are binding upon me, God; I will render thanksgiving offerings to You. For You have saved my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living.  Romans 8:31-39 says:  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Just as it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. In You I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can mankind do to me? Your vows are binding upon me, God; I will render thanksgiving offerings to You. For You have saved my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living. Amen.