Facing Defeat and Victory with Confidence
By Dean Collins
David and Paul agree. With God’s help, we will experience many victories, but without God’s help—his Spirit, his mercy, and his grace—we will soon run empty, and defeat is imminent.
In Psalm 60, David has clarity. He understood that the recent defeat he had experienced was the result of sin. The people of God had made the same error in their thinking that we often make. They believed that they could do things their way and still have God’s blessing. As a result, they had experienced rejection and loss, and it was costly.
The psalmist was clear that God had allowed them to see and experience hard things. I bet you have had seasons, as have I, where it seemed to be one hard thing after another. In the middle of the hard things, you begin to wonder if God is paying attention to your great need.
David didn’t get stuck in his losses or past failures. Instead, he declared that unless God granted help against the foe, then their battles were in vain.
Paul has a similar understanding in Romans 8. The apostle reminded his readers that God, through his Spirit, helps us in our weakness. In fact, he is so attuned to our needs, that even when we are so overwhelmed we cannot find the words to pray, the Holy Spirit steps in for us and translates even our moans into cries for God’s help and mercy in our darkest times.
Paul continued his declaration with these wonderful promises we know but, in the middle of difficulty, may forget: “If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
When facing ongoing challenges, it is important to ask God to forgive us for our self-reliance and for any other sins we have committed. Because of Jesus, we know that we are forgiven and will never be abandoned by God. In fact, Paul went on to say that nothing can separate us from God’s love.
“Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Secure in the love of Christ, we can confidently face every setback, every obstacle, and all opposition that the enemy brings to us. And we can rest in the truth that David declared as he finished Psalm 60:
“With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes!”
Father, today we come to you with thanksgiving for the gift of your son Jesus. We are filled with gratitude that Jesus paid the price for our sins. Thank you, Father, for the assurance that nothing can or ever will separate us from your love. Today many of us are facing challenges that are simply too big for us. We humbly ask that you intervene in our situation and by your Spirit deliver us. We believe and declare to you that you and you alone can defeat every difficulty we face today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Psalm 60:11-12; Romans 8:26-27, 31, 35, 38-39 ESV
Photo by Shashank Sahay on Unsplash
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