“… The lovers of God will be glad, rejoicing in the Lord. They will be found in his glorious wrap-around presence, singing songs of praise to God!”
(Psalm 64:10)
During my prayer time this morning, I saw an image… There is a wall in front of me this morning. A dark wall and beyond it, an attack of fireballs, darts and arrows. (Yes, it sounds like a computer game!)
At first I was miffed at this wall that was blocking my progress, and the fireballs were big and easy to dodge, but every now and again, I would peak around the wall and get hit with an arrow.
As I was praying for people, and for my work, this irritating image kept coming back, and then a bunch of discussions I had with various people over the last week or so… followed by Psalm 64.
Psalm 64 is a song by King David about those scheming against him and How God delivers him. Suddenly and without warning, God steps in and creates a testimony!
So cool!
But it wasn’t a message about oppression and victory… I marked all the “glory” passages, all the victories at the end, and I marked all the evil, deceit, the wickedness, perverted justice and endless evil… but the message wasn’t there…
It was in verses 3 & 4, specifically this sentence: “… Their words are like poison-tipped arrows…” – poison-tipped arrows…
Poison, it just needs to lightly pierce you, and be inside your body. Then it flows, and rots and rakes through your body until it is everywhere.
Then it hit me… the wall was not inhibiting my progress, it was protecting me. The hits I took was from those little arrows, every time I tried to go around the wall… and those arrows were poisoning my thoughts, and my planning, and my speech, and my behaviour. Building up my hate and poisoning my being. The massive fireballs didn’t need to destroy me, the poison would do the job.
Watch out for poison-tipped arrows! Watch out for the “fiery darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6) and make sure your shield is strong and up! Because your shield doesn’t just protect you, it protects those behind you who are without a shield, or whose shields are down!
“But all the while God has his own fire-tipped arrows! Suddenly, without warning, they will be pierced and struck down.
Staggering backwards they will be destroyed by the very ones they spoke against. All who see this will view them with scorn.
Then all will stand awestruck over what God has done…!”
(Psalm 64:7-9)
