You have saved my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling.

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.

David lived about a thousand years before Jesus was born. He seems though to have an understanding of what Jesus says in John 15:18-25: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also. But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. The one who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘They hated Me for no reason.’”  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? 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? Then 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. 

We too need to put our trust in God. We need to recognize that through Christ we have eternal life, our souls have been saved from death. As the psalmist says in Psalm 23:4, Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  Death is merely a shadow. It holds no lasting power over us. Moreover, not only has God taken account of our difficulties and struggles, in John 16:33 Jesus 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.”  Through Him, we also overcome. Romans 8:28-29 says: We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  That we are hated and persecuted like Jesus should actually be counted as a privilege and even a blessing. God does not cause the difficulties in our lives, but He will cause them to work for our good, conforming us to the image of Christ, His Son. 

It is not just that we may be hated by the world as Jesus was, but also, Jesus understands our struggles and temptations. Hebrews 4:15-16 says:  We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. On the cross, in John 19:30, Jesus said: “It is finished!” Everything that we need, every victory over the tribulation of the world, has already been fully accomplished by Christ. It is already finished in heaven. When we pray as Jesus taught us to pray saying: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven, we are asking to see the realities of heaven manifested in the situations and circumstances of earth. We are asking for the finished work of the cross to be evident on earth just as it already is in heaven.

Romans 8:31-39 says:  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen. Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. I will put my trust in You. I will render thanksgiving offerings to You. For You have saved my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling. Amen.