Psalm 94:16–17: “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? / Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? / Unless the LORD had been my help, / My soul would soon have settled in silence.”

April 9th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The author of this psalm declared that if God didn’t rescue him there was no one else who would. Some believe King David wrote this psalm. This is a good guess, because David found himself in danger of death many times and only escaped because God came to his rescue. The psalmist began the psalm asking God when He would take matters into His hands, when He would come to his aid. However, by the time verse 18 and 19 come along, he saw that despite the evil events around him, he was still in the mighty hands of God. He ended the psalm acknowledging that his responsibility was to simply follow the Lord wherever He led.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 6:34: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” We do not do well when we allow fear to take hold of our lives instead of faith. Dr. E. Stanley Jones, missionary to India, wrote about this problem in his book Transformed By Thorns:

I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath—these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely—these are my native air.

“LORD, help us to breathe into our hearts this day the fresh air of faith. We choose to believe in, trust in, and rely on You to handle our lives today.”