WAR WITHIN! One of the primary values of the Psalms is their precise articulation of spiritual experience. Like Paul, David was a man "born out of due time" (1 Cor 15:8). In relation to his Apostleship, Paul was born after his commissioned peers. David, on the other hand, was born before the formation of the body of Christ. The people of his time simply did not have the appreciation for his spiritual sensitivity – something that those in Christ possess. His heart had desires that were more related to the New Covenant than to the Old. He was a man ahead of his time. -- Tomorrow:
"But I see another law in my members, WARRING against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Rom 7:23).
Devotion 9 of 23
PERSONAL CONFLICT
Unwilling to be reconciled to the deficiencies of his own lower nature, David challenged his soul. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance" (Psa 42:5). These are the words of a soul in conflict. There was a part of him that was far beneath his aspirations, and he needed to consult, so to speak, with himself.
Describing the frustration of inhibiting inner influences, David wrote, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" (Psa 42:1,2). He was deeply cognizant of the inadequacy of this "dry and thirsty land, where no water is" (Psa 63:1). His spiritual appetite could not be satisfied from the shallow wells of this world. That is the essence of the conflict of which I speak.
Viewing his life from the higher perspective, and in view of his desire to be with the Lord Himself, David wrote, "I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart" (Psa 38:8). This was not the expression of a morose spirit that lived beneath the clouds of despair. He had seen enough of God to whet his appetite for more – more than earth could give. His desires reached far beyond the limitations of this world. The Psalmist's "roarings" were similar to the "groans" of the believer (Rom 8:23; 2 Cor 5:2,4). They were intensified because of the lesser light possessed by David, and the comparative deficiency of the times in which he lived.
CONFLICT WITH PERSONAL ENEMIES
The enemies of which David frequently spoke were not mere political adversaries. They were enemies by virtue of their willing alienation from the God of heaven. It was this condition that moved them to oppose David so vigorously. Once he confessed, "Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies" (Psa 6:7). Fervently he prayed, "O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me" (Psa 25:2). Again, he spoke of the multitude of his enemies and of their cruel hatred toward him. "Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred" (Psa 25:19). When a person draws close to the Lord, his enemies begin to surface, causing great conflict. All who are godly know this is the case, and can trace much of their grief to this situation.
CONFLICT WITH SOCIETY
Like Enoch and Noah, David experienced variance with his generation. Often the wicked seemed to surround him, tempting him to become reconciled to them, yet irritating him with their very presence. It is then that he would fervently pray. "Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me" (Psa 36:11). "Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity" (Psa 64:2). He sensed he was in a fallen world, surrounded by fallen people who utterly lacked the driving inner compulsion he had within to dwell in the courts of the Lord.
Fellowship with God necessarily involves conflict. Its requirements are no different today than in the days of David! In a unique description of conflict with the wicked, the Psalmist wrote, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Psa 1:1,2). Do not imagine for a moment that great conflict does not attend the situation of those who are in Christ Jesus – one in which the righteous are mingled in the world like tares with wheat (Matt 13:37-43).
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I too pray for deliverance from my enemies and their oppressiveness. I long for that blessed table you prepare for your children in the presence of their enemies.