David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine (1 Sam. 17:37).
This is a promise in anticipation. David spoke the word, and God endorsed it and so made it true. Because of past deliverances David argued that God would help him in a new danger, and we can argue on the same basis. In Jesus Christ all the promises of Holy Scripture are "yea, and...Amen, unto the glory of God" (2 Cor. 1:20).
Our Lord has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). So why should we fear? David ran to meet the giant Philistine. Why? He was thinking of the dead bear and lion. He had known God's presence in the past, so he trusted Him for the present and for the future. Our Lord is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (verse 8).
At a dark time during the American Civil War, Governor Richard Yates of Illinois wrote a despairing letter to Abraham Lincoln. The president's brief reply was "Dick, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." The man in the White House had known troubles before, but he also knew that God was a God of deliverance.
In the fifty-fifth psalm we read the words of David: "I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me" (verse 16). What gave him this faith? Notice the eighteenth verse: "He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me." Let us never forget God's deliverances in the past, the deliverances of others as well as our own.
In all my ways Thy hand I own,
Thy ruling providence I see;
Assist me still my course to run,
And still direct my paths to Thee.
___Charles Wesley
MEDITATION PRAYER: "When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me" (Ps. 56:9).
This is a promise in anticipation. David spoke the word, and God endorsed it and so made it true. Because of past deliverances David argued that God would help him in a new danger, and we can argue on the same basis. In Jesus Christ all the promises of Holy Scripture are "yea, and...Amen, unto the glory of God" (2 Cor. 1:20).
Our Lord has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). So why should we fear? David ran to meet the giant Philistine. Why? He was thinking of the dead bear and lion. He had known God's presence in the past, so he trusted Him for the present and for the future. Our Lord is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (verse 8).
At a dark time during the American Civil War, Governor Richard Yates of Illinois wrote a despairing letter to Abraham Lincoln. The president's brief reply was "Dick, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." The man in the White House had known troubles before, but he also knew that God was a God of deliverance.
In the fifty-fifth psalm we read the words of David: "I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me" (verse 16). What gave him this faith? Notice the eighteenth verse: "He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me." Let us never forget God's deliverances in the past, the deliverances of others as well as our own.
In all my ways Thy hand I own,
Thy ruling providence I see;
Assist me still my course to run,
And still direct my paths to Thee.
___Charles Wesley
MEDITATION PRAYER: "When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me" (Ps. 56:9).
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