If I Knew What David Knew

I love how when we read the Scriptures, sometimes a verse jumps out at us, leaving us stunned in its wake. That's what happened to me this morning in my Bible reading time.

I recently picked back up my Bible reading plan that I received at Mercy Ministries. This morning I was reading in Psalms; Psalm 108, to be exact. It's a Psalm of David. In verse 12, he is crying out for help against the enemy. Listen to his cry:

"Give us help against the adversary, for vain is the help of man."

 Now hear his words in verse 13:

"Through and with God we shall do valiantly, for He it is Who shall tread down our adversaries."

I read that many times over. It stunned me. Vain is the help of man. How true this is.

How many times do I look to man for help?
How often do I run to man for provision? For healing? For protection? For_(Fill in the blank)_?

Dictionary.com's definition of vain is as follows:

"without effect or avail; to no purpose; ineffectual or unsuccessful; futile; without real significance, value, or importance"

David knew that the only way to be victorious over the enemy was to look to God, not man. His words in verse 13 show this. He understood that no man could do what God could do for them. Only God can tread down our adversaries. Man's efforts are futile, incapable of producing any result. Oh, that I would know what David knew!

Running

I'm a runner.

Well, by my standards, I'm a runner. At least I'd like to think I'm a runner.

Anyway, sometimes when I run I play a game with myself. It's the game of, "Reach that tree (or mailbox, spot in the road, parked car, or any other thing ahead) and then you can stop and walk." But, even playing that game with myself doesn't get me to my destination of that tree or mailbox before I have to stop and walk.

In fact, I played that very game with myself tonight. I was running up a slight incline and looked ahead to some mailboxes. I told myself what I've told myself many times before on this run: "Reach that set of mailboxes and then you can stop and walk." For a moment, it propelled me up the incline. But not for long. I had to tell myself, "I can. I can." over and over again. I knew that if "I can't" crossed my mind, I wouldn't be able to. As I ran up that incline, I had those mailboxes in my sight.

But, I had to look down. I couldn't run up that incline and make it to those mailboxes if I was looking at them. Why? Because they seemed too far away.

By looking at my feet, I was able to keep moving, step-by-step, knowing that I would reach those mailboxes, but not freaking out about how far away they seemed. Before, when I saw how far away they seemed, I gave up.

I think that, lately, I've been looking at my goal...healing, perfection, wholeness....and it's been freaking me out about how far away they seem to be. And I've been tempted to quit. Just like with running, I need to take my eyes off of that goal and place them on the feet in front of me. Now, obviously I was running alone, so it was my own feet I needed to put my eyes on. But, running in this race we call the Christian life, we have Jesus's feet in front of us to keep our eyes on. He is running this with us, every step of the way. If we keep our eyes on Him (His feet, in this case), we won't be freaked out by how far away the end prize seems.

And we won't be tempted as much to give up. We'll keep running.