Greetings in the name Christ, the one and only Son of God, Jesus. Today is going to be a good day. I woke up early and played basketball with the guys. Then I came back to my room and did my morning devotion from the Treasury of Daily Prayer. Now as I listen to the Frank Sinatra channel on Spotify (a music app) I wrote another psalm devotion and am typing up this blog.
I only have one class this afternoon, so I will work both jobs, go to chapel and lunch, and then have some homework to do this evening. I have decided that the seminary campus is too negative of a place. Guys are stressed because of the work load, the time constraints, the financial burdens, and the overall lack of sensible procedure for different departments. I recognized this second year, that it just seems like every one always has something to gripe about here, and since it is easier they just go ahead and spout it out rather than hold it in or look for the positive. It really makes the whole mood of the campus a cranky and unpleasant one. Well, even in the first couple weeks of classes, I have already noticed it starting, and I know I am just as guilty as the next guy. So I decided I am going to be more positive, slow to speak, and look for the good in everything. Philippians 2 is my motto that I just keep repeating in my head to help me try to stay positive. So it truly is going to be a good day because I am going to be glad and rejoice in the abundant blessings our Good Lord showers upon us rather than grumble! Hopefully you can be glad and rejoice with me!
Here is my devotion on psalm 11. I wrote the one for 17 this morning so I am a few ahead, but in my mind that is a good thing so even when I get busy with school and life I will still have things to post on here. Blessings on your joyful day in the name of the one who gives us all of our joy, Jesus Christ.
Psalm 11:2
As a bow hunter now, which I can say since I have gotten a deer with my bow, I took notice of verse two immediately. At first glance it made me miss bow hunting, but then as I reread it and looked closer I realized something. One of the things I love most about bow hunting is the fact that you get to be part of nature. You deck out in camouflage from head to toe, you sit up in a tree blending in with the branches, and you sit as silently and as still as possible. The last part is the toughest for me since I constantly have to be moving. However, when you do sit still and silent, after a while you start noticing birds flying around you. The squirrels start coming out of the trees and playing again. Bugs fly around you if the weather is warm enough for them to be out. Everything begins to act as if you are not even there, because they do not realize you are there anymore. You have completely hidden yourself and blended in, and now you get to see what nature is really like all the times you aren’t out there. Then, hopefully if it’s a good day, the deer start to move. The night I got my buck, I was sitting in the tree stand looking down a waterway with corn on both sides of it. As I was watching and listening for any movement, I noticed his antlers just barely sticking out of the end of the corn row. He slowly came out of the corn field and into the short grass where I could not fully see him. I had my bow in my hand and an arrow in the bow, but I waited to draw back. As I patiently waited, he kept walking closer and closer until he stood almost directly below me. I could have jumped out of the tree and landed on him. He literally had no idea I was there. He was just going about his evening like any other evening. Then I shot at him once and missed because of the straight down angle I had to take. He ran away not sure what that was that just hit the dirt in front of him. He stopped at about thirty yards and was looking all around trying to figure out what just happened. Even then when he was aware something wasn’t quite right, he still could not find where I was at because of my camouflage. This is when I put the second arrow in, drew back, and hit him. As the hunter, this is an amazing feeling of being invisible, undetectable, and successful in the hunt.
However, as my mother tries to tell me over and over, from the deer’s perspective, this is a nightmare. He is just walking along, getting a little supper, traveling the same area he has traveled several times before, minding his own business, when all of a sudden something flashes before his eyes and hits the dirt right in front of him. He then panics and runs away, but then he stops to try to see what is going on. Confused, on alert, and a little scared, he frantically searches for what is out there disrupting his evening. He looks and looks but doesn’t see anything. Then out of nowhere, BAM! Pain hits hard, adrenalin kicks in, and off he sprints to spend his final minute of life trying to run away from whatever just hit him. This is what the deer experiences as I was throwing my fist in the air celebrating.
In this Psalm, King David is not the hunter, he is the deer. He is the one trying to find the one hunting him. He is the one trying to survive the hunt of his enemies. The wicked are the ones who are camouflaged in the tree, with the bow in hand and arrow clipped on the string. The wicked are the ones who sit in wait as silent and still as possible hoping to take down the righteous ones, including King David. King David not only pictures the wicked as lying in wait with bows in hand and arrow clipped in, but they are shooting in the dark. They are not only in camouflage, they are hidden in the dark. My mom says I don’t play fair with the deer when I hunt, well the wicked definitely do not play fair as they use darkness as cover to help them win the hunt.
There are times where we can sympathize with David here though, which means we can sympathize with the deer too I suppose. We feel like the Devil is out there, we can just sense something is not right. It just seems like he is there waiting to make us hurt, waiting to take us down. No matter how hard we look though, we can’t see him. The wicked are always thinking of new ways to set us up to fall. They think of new arguments against Christianity that they know will get under our skin. They blend in with the world as our friends, our family, or our neighbors, they are wearing their camouflage. They have the bow and arrow ready, they are in wait to watch us slip up and make a mistake, or say something stupid, or do anything that they can show us we really aren’t as “Christian” or as “righteous” as we think we are. The wicked seem to be surrounding us, and we are the deer trying to figure out where the arrows are flying from.
However, notice what King David says in verse one, “In the Lord I take refuge, how can you say to my soul?” He is very clearly stating his trust and confidence in the fact that the Lord is His protection. He is asking, how can you say this to me, how can you think the enemy is not playing fair? In all reality, we are the ones not playing fair. We are the ones who have the Almighty, All-powerful, Lord of All as our defense; the Devil doesn’t stand a chance. It’s like a sixth grader who is picking on a kindergartner, so the kindergartner brings in his 22 year old navy seal brother. The devil is not playing fair by being a sixth grader picking on us kindergartners, but we don’t play fair by calling in our God, the biggest toughest one there is. We need to be aware that the wicked are out there and are trying to do whatever they can to take us down, but we do not fear or let that stop us because we know we have the Lord as our refuge, He is on our side. If God is for us, who can be against us. All praise the one who is our refuge and protects us from the wicked and the wicked one, bows, arrows, and all their works and weapons – He crushed them all on the cross where He defeated all of our enemies.
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