Fatal Blows
I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and I did not turn back until they were consumed. I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet. Psalm 18:37-38 NASB
I shattered them – What enemies must you pursue? What opponents must you utterly defeat? What must be crushed so that it will never rise again? If you’re like me, it’s unlikely to be some alien carrying a weapon. If you’re like me, the enemy that must be conquered resides in your own house. It is the beast within.
We would be glad to take up arms against an invading army. How much easier it would be to spot the attackers if they were on the other side of the trench! We would know where to aim. But what do we do with that hideous force that seems to lurk in the shadows of our hearts? How we do “thrust them through” (ESV)? David may have had the Philistines in mind, but I suspect David also knew a different kind of combatant. ‘emhatsem (“I smashed them”) cannot apply only to those whose swords and shields stand before us. What we really need to conquer is the power that oppresses us when all the external foes have been extinguished.
If we read this verse out of context, it might seem as though the battle is up to us. We must pursue. We must not turn back. We must shatter and smash. And in a sense, this is true. But the prior ten verses make it clear that David’s power to overcome is the power of YHVH working through him. David states, “You rescue, You are the Rock, You make me strong, You train me, You give me shield and sword.” The battle is not mine alone. But we often think it is. The yetzer ha’ra cleverly convinces us that we are acceptable to YHVH after we have persevered. Of course, that always spells defeat and we are left convicted by our collapse, convinced that we will never be enough to overcome this enemy within. We try our best, but his tactics always outwit us, his strength is always just a bit more than we can vanquish, his ruthlessness more severe than we anticipated. We are ambushed by our own assumptions. Those earliest parental models that sometimes left us feeling we could never be enough become the fodder of growing despair. The strategy of the yetzer ha’ra is self-protection and that means giving up the fight. It is easier to retreat than endure.
But God presses us. He presses us into battle in spite of our reluctance. He presses us toward visions of righteousness, victory and peace in spite of our distortions. He presses and presses and presses—until the form fits the mold—until we come to realize that we were powerless on our own, that we can only shatter the enemy when we have replaced the weapon of our choice with the sword of His choosing. Oh, we still have to cut and slice. We still have to shed some blood (perhaps even our own). But “I smashed them” isn’t a statement of personal achievement. It is a statement of dependent victory, of His reinforcements, my energy and your encouragement. ‘emhatsem—ah, it feels so good!
Topical Index: I shattered them, ‘emhatsem, victory, Psalm 18:37-38
What to do when my enemy is ‘me’?
Well, that is a misunderstanding, first of all. I started out in life protecting, feeding, nurturing and defending an imposter in my nest. A cowbird had managed to come along and flip out who I truly was and substitute a fake ‘me’ in that place. An amazing sleight of hand! That false sense of identity; that splintered, isolated orphan fighting for its ‘existence’ ( and there is no such thing as existence ‘on my own’) – that REBEL – has to be ruthlessly hunted down and identified; caught and dragged before my Father and crucified before all heaven (and I need a lot of help doing it, too!). I must be regenerated – I must begin again in my (re-connected) identity before the chaos (fracture) is going to cease.
That shadow self that was foisted onto me from the other side of the false matrix – which is that pagan mother from the bowels of apostasy and rebellion – must be annihilated and replaced with my true genetics from my true Father in heaven. My real identity – my true spiritual genetics – does not originate from this planet, but I am not made out of stardust, either. My very breath must come from heaven if I am to live here on earth. The battle is to beat back to my true starting point. That ‘me’ was not really me. Time to start over.
Enemy Mine
~I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and I did not turn back until they were consumed. I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet. ~ (Psalm 18:37-38)
A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” (Psalm 110.1)
Enemies without, enemies within!..
Pogo “prophesied?” “We have met the enemy – and he is us.”
May I “fast-forward” a few millennia? “It is written..” (that’s how we roll)
Paul’s turn to “prophecy:”
~ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus (who is the) Christ ~ (1 Corinthians 15.57)
and again..
~ Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ*, and makes manifest the fragrance of His knowledge by us in every place ~ (2 Corinthians 2.14)
Who are our enemies? ~ For our struggle is NOT against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places ~
Who you “think” might be your enemy is not. There is a “force” behind him or her, just as there is a “force” behind (and in) you! I want so bad to say, “Use the force, Luke!” – but I’ll refrain! Lol! That “force” is real, not CGI, not digital, not celluloid, not “artificial,” but very, very real. As real as God is Himself, “real.”
~ You are the One who hears prayers ~ (Psalm 65.2) God hears and answers our prayers and prayer changes things. Prayer changes people! If people are our problem, we pray for them. If “I’ am the problem, prayer transforms the pray-er (the one who prays!). We are (commanded!) to “pray without ceasing!” And.. (btw) if we make this our practice, then we will certainly “rejoice evermore!”
Not only did our Savior pray, but He has commanded (in the strongest language possible) for us to pray also. – “And when you pray.. say.. “Our Father..” What an invitation! What a declaration of blessed relationship is ours to enjoy!
Yes, ~ Behold, (take a good, long look) what great love our (prodigal) Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! ~ Ask, and you will receive.. Seek, and you will find.. Knock, and it shall be opened (revealed) unto you.
Yes, we are to “covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet.. I (Paul) will show unto you a more excellent way.. a way of surpassing excellence” Yes, Paul? What weapon may we wield against our enemies?
Our Savior’s own words are? “But I say unto you – “love your enemies!”
Why is this so? it is because “Love never fails!” – and God is love. Try a little tenderness! A soft answer turns away wrath!
Friend, remember! We too, were once “enemies!” Paul, formerly known as Saul, certainly was! But something, (or was it Someone) got a hold of this man and radically, dramatically “changed” him! What we need is for that same “Someone” to deliver and to transform, (to save and to sanctify) us!
The Enemy Within
~ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ~(Romans 7.24)
Uhh, Paul, whose very Name is “YHWH is salvation?”
Have we forgotten the angelic announcement already?
~ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, (a Deliverer) who is Christ the LORD ~
Yes, (Hallelujah!) “Jesus saves!” (completely!)
He has. He does. He will. Amen.
John Wesley knew Him, and left for us the legacy of these inspired words –
(He, being dead, yet speaketh!)
O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!
My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy Name.
Jesus! the Name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.
He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.
He speaks, and, listening to His voice,
New life the dead receive,
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
The humble poor believe.
Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.
In Christ your Head, you then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your Heaven below,
And own that Love is heaven.
Glory to God, and praise and love
Be ever, ever given,
By saints below and saints above,
The church in Earth and Heaven.
On this glad day the glorious Sun
of Righteousness arose;
On my benighted soul He shone
And filled it with repose.
Sudden expired the legal strife,
’Twas then I ceased to grieve;
My second, real, and living life
I then began to live.
Then with my heart I first believed,
Believed with faith divine,
Power with the Holy Ghost received
To call the Savior mine!
I felt my LORD’s atoning blood
close to my soul applied;
Me, me He loved, the Son of God,
For me, — for me He died!
I found and owned His promise true,
ascertained of my part,
My pardon passed in Heaven I knew
when written on my heart.
Look unto Him, ye nations, own
your God, ye fallen race;
Look, and be saved through faith alone,
be justified by grace.
See all your sins on Jesus laid:
The Lamb of God was slain,
His soul was once an offering made
for every soul of man.
Awake from guilty nature’s sleep,
and Christ shall give you light,
Cast all your sins into the deep,
and wash the Æthiop white.
Harlots and publicans and thieves
in holy triumph join!
Saved is the sinner that believes
from crimes as great as mine.
Murderers and all ye hellish crew
in holy triumph join!
Believe the Savior died for you;
For me the Savior died.
With me, your Chief, ye then shall know,
shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your Heaven below,
and own that Love is Heaven.
~ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! ~ (Romans 5.8)
Now Reconciled and Rightly Related
~ And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight! ~ (Colossians 1.21)
“Do I not destroy My enemies when I make them My friends?”
What the hell, Carl? Might this be better suited for you own blog?
My sentiments, exactly, Michael, though not quite the same way. LOL!
Shalom.
What the . . . ?
“The strategy of the yetzer ha’ra is self-protection and that means giving up the fight. It is easier to retreat than endure.” Sigh, my personal witness to such attitudes of some folks. They have no fight in them, allowing others to continue to oppress, disrespect and control them.
“But God presses us. He presses us into battle in spite of our reluctance. He presses us toward visions of righteousness, victory and peace in spite of our distortions. He presses and presses and presses—until the form fits the mold—until we come to realize that we were powerless on our own..” Until we seek His righteousness, His authority/rule over us. HalleluYAH!
YES, we first need to see/acknowledge the flaws and ugliness in our own lives, but to wipe them out, and not to ignore, nor cover them up with a false front. That enemy within MUST be destroyed entirely!
Thank you, Skip!