God Can Reach You

Psalm 18

Background
David wrote this Psalm when God gave him deliverance from all his enemies and also from Saul. David was a young man when he was anointed to be king by Samuel, but he did not immediately become a king! He was yet a shepherd boy and later, much later after a lot of running around and running away trying to save his life from Saul he would become the king of Israel at 30years of age.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Lesson
God knows how to rescue His people. People who are determined in being set apart for God their King. More than that God reaches out to people who cry out to Him, cling on to Him, completely lean on Him for their very existence. Such is our God who is a JUST God. His justice is beautiful and God is indignant daily, I love this verse I came upon from Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous Judge, yes, a God Who is indignant every day. It bothers God to see His children (the ones who acknowledge God as their Heavenly Father) in trouble. God cares about everything we are going through, He feels us, He knows us in His very being because we are living and moving and have our being in Him.

Conclusion
If you thought God does not know what you are going through, try calling upon God, ask for His forgiveness for the sins that has kept you apart from His presence and ask Him to bring His Justice to your situation, for HE KNOWS what you are going through even better that you do. He will not override the will of man. Unless you call upon Him and grant Him access to your life, yield to His work to set things right in your life in His ALL KNOWING way...He is waiting on your call to Him.

I love these verses from 2Peter2:4-9⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,^[a] putting them in chains of darkness^[b] to be held for judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; ⁶ if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; ⁷ and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless ⁸ (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— ⁹ if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment

Take heart my friend, God knows what trouble you are in and He is more than capable in fixing anything we have messed up. If only we would invite God into our lives and situations and ask Him to turn it around and then wait on Him as He instructs us on His protocols to get us out and help us land on clear ground, just as David did in this Psalm 18: 19 "He brought me out into a spacious place;" God will bring you out into a spacious place. Ask God to come and rescue you today!

God is ready to fight your battle

Background:Hezekiah has been recently threatened by the Assyrian king, to either give in to him and surrender or fight and die. Hezekiah has decided to fight, rather than to give in. Isaiah, God's prophet sent a reply to Hezekiah's request "6 Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.' "
Soon after this word had come from God, through Isaiah, the Assyrian commander had to withdraw from Jerusalem(Judah) because the Assyrian king had gone away for another battle to Lachish. Instead of going on to fight his enemy, Assyrian king Sennacherib sends a letter to Hezekiah threatening him and discouraging him from believing God for his victory.(2 Kings 19:10-13)
Hezekiah didn't budge from him faith but goes with that letter straight to God and says a beautiful prayer "14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD : "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
17 "It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands. 19 Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God."

Lessons I learnt

1. In despair turn to God-Hezekiah turned to God when the Assyrian commander came to threaten him with words. More often than not, the enemy works in our lives with negative words and negative suggestions, or luring temptations. The way to turn away from them is to turn to God.


2. God always has an answer for any situation, in His Word-The moment Hezekiah sent his men to ask Isaiah for the Lord's Word, they got their answer. God has our answers ready, if only we turn and go to His Word. There is one special request I have made to God and He sure did answer my situation through His Word. It made me glad.


3. Enemy will not let go easily-In our walk with God, sometimes when we've heard the Word of God and found an answer for our situation, things don't seem like they're changing the way God said it would, oreading about the way the Assyrian king did not immediately go away, but in fact sent him a letter, discouraging him to believe in God, trying to cause doubt in Hezekiah, thats the 1st attack our enemy the satan tries to put in our heart, when we have and we know God has directly given in our heart His Word.


4. Take it to the Lord in prayer-Thats what Hezekiah did with the threat letter he received from Assyrian king Sennacherib. He took it to God and prayed a simple prayer, surrendering all to God. Thats what we must do when the enemy sends waves of doubt and fear, and tries to say, God's Word won't work. This is the time we have to wait in order to see God's word at work in our lives. It's the only time the enemy can make his last attempt to defeat us. Hezekiah trusted God's Word over the enemy's word and he saw glorious victory in a battle he didnt even have to fight. "35 That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. "

Conclusion: The essence of it all, I realise, is to stand. Ephesians 6:10-15 "10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.". God didn't want us to fight alone, He just requires of us, to wear His armor, His protection from the enemy, and "stand". God didn't say to wear all that armor and fight, but to "stand". So while we're standing who's fighting? God is.

God Listens to us Seriously

Background: A lot of kings have changed since the time David was king, Israel and Judah have separated themselves after David passed away (they just wanted different kings). The Israelites have changed a lot. The recent kings, during the time Elisha has been the prophet, haven't shown any signs of devotion to the Living God like David did. During such a time the Bible records in 2 Kings 8:16-19 "16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king of Judah. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 18 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD. 19 Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever. " What caught my eyes is this "19 Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever. " Just that verse alone says so many things about our Lord God Almighty the Maker of heaven and earth.

Lessons I learnt

1. Our Lord's faithfulness surpasses our lifetime- Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. As we sow our lives in God and make every effort to love Him as He loved us, we can be rest assured our God will take care of our following generations. Isn't that (as we all have experienced Jesus as Lord of our lives know) the most beautiful and precious gift we could leave for our children, and their children's children. David has long gone, but God remembered His promise to David much much after he was gone.
2. Our God's Love endures forever- People may love you today, for whatever reason they have, even our loved ones may love us for whatever reason they have, but when the reason is gone, the love goes with it, but not with our Living Lord, our God's Love endures forever. When I gave a search in the Bible online for the phrase "love endures forever" I found sooooooooooo many references and most of them are from David. This man knew that he knew that He had found a love that never fades, a love that never gives up on him, a love that is forgiving, a love that restores, a love that heals, a love that comforts and a love that endures(meaning:To carry on through, despite hardships; undergo OR also To bear with tolerance) Isn't that so wonderful.
3. What God has promised He is able to do-God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:18-20 Many a promise we would have received from people and they haven't made it. Many a times we've trusted a promise of a man or a company or a friend and it has failed us, but not with our Lord. When God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations, little did he know how many nations God had on mind and aren't we all living witnesses of the effect of this promise to Abraham. No matter what country or language we are from, Abraham's blessing touched us wayyyyyyyyy out there. And lets not forget about the vast difference in centuries and continents and languages and climates and distances and yet, God's promise to Abraham didn't fail. Abraham is my father of faith, in a way his story of obedience taught me faith.

Conclusion: In this world of selfishness and hypocrisy, even among believers, there is a God whom you can trust your life with. A God who cares for you and thinks about you daily.Did you know that? God cares for you daily. The psalmist writes "Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah" and what were we thinking. David responded beautifully when he came to know the promise of God's faithfulness to his family and to his children and their children and the whole generation after him.(2 Samuel 7) Little did David know, how seriously God had considered the words he spoke before God that day (mentioned in 2 Samuel 7) when he went into a room and prayed 27 "O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, 'I will build a house for you.' So your servant has found courage to offer you this prayer. 28 O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever." 2 Samuel 7:27-29.

We have talked about God watching over us, but the verse that David wrote reads like this "Psalm 34:15

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;"