Day 24: Deliver Us
Read: Psalm 7
As young adults, there is no shortage of situations to stress over: school, work, family, the list goes on. It’s easy to try to handle this stress by ourselves, but this only adds to the cycle. I’ve learned in my own life that when I take stress into my own hands, it gets to a point that it seems like there is nothing I can do to stop it.
In Psalm 7, David sets an example for managing stress. This Psalm is written during the time that David was under attack from Cush and the Benjamites (2 Samuel 16-20). “O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,” David says. Even before this passage has the chance to unpack, David is already putting his trust in God. David then writes in verse 2, “lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.” David is relying on God’s strength to deliver him.
During trials of stress, we are to depend on God and trust that He will deliver us from stressful times.
David makes a plea of innocence to God and later pleas for God’s intervention. He says in verse 6, “Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed judgment.” This verse can seem confusing, David believed that God was on his side. In this, we also see Him praying for God’s will to be done. David is setting a third example for us: as we submit to God and trust in his deliverance, we should pray for His will to be done. It’s important that rather than taking matters in our own hands, that we let God lead. He can be trusted.
Moving toward the end of this passage, we read in verse 17, “I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.” David is praising God for his righteousness and for delivering him. This too is a vital piece of handling trials. Turning our eyes to praise God lifts our focus off our circumstances and onto the Most High who is worthy of thanks.
We have learned a lot from David’s example. Depend on God. Trust that He is able to deliver us. Pray for God’s will to be done. Praise Him for who He is and what He has done.
I challenge you to pray and thank God for His righteousness. Begin submitting your stress to the Lord. It’s not easy to let go of things you want to control, but remember that you serve a God who wants to take on our burdens. No matter how stressful life can be, if you submit to the Lord, He will carry us out of our troubles.