Spears and Fears
O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying of my soul,
“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the Lord,
and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah
5 I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
7 Arise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people! Selah
Spears and Fears
This is a Psalm, a lament, penned by David who was king, but certainly made his share of mistakes. 1 Samuel 13 tells us, David was still a man after God’s own heart, even with all his imperfections. So why would David in 2 Samuel 17, a strong, wise King, want to run from a thrown and hide in a cave and shirk his kingly duties? Why would a man on God’s side need to cry out in desperation in Psalm 3 for God to be his shield when he literally had a king’s army to defend him?
In 2 Samuel, Absalom, David’s son, believes his ideas and skill would be better off used to lead the people of God than David’s. 2 Samuel 15:6 says that “Absalom stole the hearts of the men” and then sought to end David’s life.
From the strongest to the weakest of us, our hearts can be deceitful, and hurtful Jeremiah 17:9. It also implies our hearts can be deceived and hurt. This Psalm can remind us that the hearts of man can become arrows and spears when they are stolen by other people and the only defense we have against them is not trying to come to our own defense, nor expecting others too. Only the Lord can shield us against such attacks and only the Lord can keep our hearts by being stolen by others fears.
When we look to judge people on their outward appearance or by the Facebook posts, we may intentionally or unknowingly seek to steal other’s hearts like Absalom does. We are called to do something different. We are called to go and seek to know the person’s heart. God looks at the heart, not the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16). We can’t resolve our own hurting hearts nor any other by setting up a complaint booth at the kings gate (2 Samuel 15) and telling people you have better answers and will give more security to hurting and broken hearts. What we can do is go to the person we are having differences with so we can know and see their heart. The trick here is we have to be willing to do this and be willing to open our heart. The Psalmist says to God, “test my heart” (Psalm 26: 2). I know there can be some test anxiety here, but if we will trust God in this process we will score a 100% every time and find the answer is always peace.
When we disagree with someone, we can either seek to steal hearts of others and try to align them with our own to turn them against the person we disagree with or we can pursue a heart that beats in rhythm with our Lord Jesus Christ so he steals the fear from our own heart. Whether your heart has become a spear or your heart is fleeing under attack in fear, step back, and let Christ have your heart. Give him your fears, your anxiety. Remember how he has defended you faithfully before. As we do “God will direct your heart into the love of God and steadfastness of Christ”(2 Thessalonians. 3).
Lord forgive us when our hearts become spears and when our hearts drive us to caves in fear. Thank you for being our shield. Thank you for not looking at us on the outside but for loving us so personally that you seek to know our very hearts. I am in love with you and when I trust you I can trust what you are doing in the hearts of others so that I won’t seek to try to steal hearts away from you. “You oh Lord are a shield!” A-men
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