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Completely Surrounded
Jon Burgess“The arrogant have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path. I say to the Lord, “You are my God.” Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy. Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle.” Psalm 140:5-7
David describes with great detail the dire straits he finds himself in. Even while he is doing his best to discern the snares at his feet he is missing the arrows coming down from above. If he chooses to concentrate on the air attack he misses the ground assault. He is surrounded and can't possibly keep track of every direction from which the enemy is coming. He is surrounded... Not just by an omnidirectional enemy but by an omnipresent God! David cries out in desperation "You are my God"... Period! Then he moves, through his Sovereign Lord, from defense to offense! Instead of losing ground he begins to take it back again!
We all have to come to this same place David did. When we are completely surrounded by our enemies, impossible circumstances, snares of stress, and plots against us we must finally admit we cannot do this! This allows the Lord to step in as our omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent shield against the omnidirectional attacks of the enemy. We have all lived this life long enough to know the attacks come from every direction. A few days ago I woke up to my Justice yelling, "Dad, did you see what happened to your tire?" I walked out to my driveway to find my front right tire completely flat. Upon closer examination I found tiny nails inside my tire from an abandoned experiment my boys had tried a few days before. Later that same day I heard the unmistakable sound of broken glass from my neighbors yard where my boys were playing soccer. I had told them not to play in the neighbors yard for fear of breaking a window. As with most prophetic parental proclamations this very thing had come to pass and had gone compeltely unheaded. I waited with that sinking feeling inside my house for my boys to inform me that they had accidentally kicked the soccer ball through our neighbors window. All of this was happening on my "Sabbath". You know, the day I'm supposed to relax, rest and get refreshed. So yeah, the old saying is true, you never see it coming. I had to get away and pray and call out to God because what was coming out at my boys was, to put it nicely, less then godly. I felt surrounded by my circumstances and had to remember who was surrounding me. I know my God will cover the cost of the tire and the window if I let Him. If I don't, then I will lose the real battle which is for the heart of my boys. He gave me the words and the patience and the faith to walk that difficult day through and it ended in victory rather then defeat.
Thank You Lord for covering me every in every place where I didn't see it coming. You are my strong deliverer. You are my shield over my head and my discernment for my feet. You are my God! In You I am completely surrounded.
