Wow.
There were so many directions to take this Morning Devotion based on the daily Bible reading for today.
I was led to address a particularly challenging passage in Psalm 35:11-16 that deals with random inequity we face if we’re acting in a Christlike manner.
We’ve all experienced this at one time or another. You might be encountering this test of faith just now.
I’m talking about the “rubber meets the road” circumstance when the Holy Spirit convicts you toward intercessory prayer on behalf of people who don’t like you and have even caused you much grief in one way or another.
It could involve a mean-spirited co-worker who becomes ill and misses work for several weeks.
It could involve a gossiping classmate who has turned some of your friends against you but now needs you to turn on the prayers.
It could involve a family member who resents your relationship with Mom and/or Dad and looks for ways to erode their love for you.
It might even involve a church member who snips at you because her “pinkie pal” friend at church is spending more time with you and now the member feels insecure.
However the darts fly our way, our call as believers is to send God’s way our prayers for blessing in the troubled persons’ lives.
Remember what Jesus said… it’s easy to intercede for those who like us and try to bless us. But for enemies? Not so.
King David offered a textbook example of how our attitude should be regarding prayers for troublesome people, regardless of their attitudes toward us.
“They repay me evil for good and leave me like one bereaved.
“Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting.
“When my prayers returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother.
“I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother.
“But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.
“They slandered me without ceasing.” (vv. 12-15)
To pray as fervently for your attacker as you would for your own brother or even your mother?
That’s an incredible display of humble faith.
There’s one reason that David could do this — he was a man after God’s heart.
Let’s seek after the heart of God and we’ll gain the strength to pray for good to enter the lives of those who want the opposite for us.
As always, I love you
Martin
