Making Life Work
Read: Psalm 70
Focus: Psalm 70:5

But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, “Let God be exalted!”

Good vs. evil…the force vs. the dark side…the white hats vs. the black hats—it’s not just the theme of most every Hollywood movie, it’s a cosmic reality. C.S. Lewis said,

“There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.”

And you are ground zero in that cosmic conflict. You belong to God, and therefore, Satan hates you. And those who don’t belong to God, those who, in reality, are in the camp of darkness, don’t care a whole lot for you either. They would love to see you fail, and fall, and bring disrepute to the name of God. That might sound a little pessimistic, but it’s true, so get used to it.

David was writing about people like that in this brief psalm. They weren’t too thrilled with David, and whatever the king’s dire circumstances at this time were, these folks thought they had him dead to rights. They were hoping for a very big and very public failure so they could say, “Aha! See, we told you he would crash and burn. Serves him right!”

Knowing their evil intent, David cried out to God for an immediate intervention: “Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me…please hurry to my aid, O God. You are my helper and my savior; O Lord, do not delay.” (Psalm 70:1,5) And he pleaded for a dramatic rescue from these ne’er-do-wells: “Let them be horrified by their shame, for they said, ‘Aha! We’ve got him now!'” (Psalm 70:3)

But did you notice that he didn’t just want to squeak by on this one? He wanted an undeniable victory? He was hoping for a Divine beat-down on his enemies. He prayed for a deliverance that would cause his enemies to shut their traps and hang their heads in shame: “May those who try to kill me be humiliated and put to shame. May those who take delight in my trouble be turned back in disgrace.” (Psalm 70:2) He wanted his rescue to be so undeniably a God-thing that it would become a cause for the righteous to lift their heads with holy pride: “But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, ‘God is great!’” (Psalm 70:4)

Do you ever feel that way? I’m sure you do, but you probably think it is a bit spiritually unseemly to have those kinds of thoughts. Yet is it such a bad thing, in light of the cosmic conflict for our eternal destiny, that we should want a clear and unmistakable trouncing of the Enemy and his friends?

Listen, if the man after God’s own heart felt that way—and the Holy Spirit saw fit to include David’s holy taunt in the Holy Writ (actually, it wasn’t the first time David prayed this—see also Psalm 40:13-17), I have a feeling that you can go ahead and do a little spiritual trash talking in your prayers, too.

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“The world is a den of murderers, subject to the devil. If we desire to live on earth, we must be content to be guests in it, and to lie in an inn where the host is a rascal, whose house has over the door this sign or shield, ‘For murder and lies.’” (Martin Luther)

Making Life Work: Next time you are talking to God, go ahead and ask him to give Satan a very public beat down on your behalf. And when it happens, I’ll cheer with you!