Trapped in a Cave; Yet Safe

The following is based on Psalm 57, read in accordance with the Revived by His Word initiative of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. 

 

My attention was snared by verse 3, "He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth."

The constant pursuit of the devil makes life on earth for those desiring to serve God like living in a cave where we are surrounded by the enemy who wants us destroyed. Satan, the enemy of our souls, is bent on securing our decent into spiritual apathy and indifference to all things pertaining to God. The battle is more than we can withstand; we need God's intervention. In Psalm 57: 3 I see some critical elements of God's Salvation:

1. It is God's initiative and is orchestrated by Him - "He shall send from heaven and save me." This is not based on my ingenuity, prowess, or vast resources. If I am to be saved, God has to send... His Son (John 3: 16, 17, "God so loved the world that He gave... And God sent not His Son....").

2. God not only snatches us from the cave (this world filled with the web of lies, conspiracies, hate, and murders), but He takes out the enemy - "He reproaches the one who would swallow me (us) up." Satan will be destroyed. He will be nullified in our present state and burnt up in the ultimate end (Rev 20: 10). This world will serve the purpose for which it was originally created; the spider (Satan) who would have rigged it with the web of sin will be destroyed, the web removed, and we'll once again walk free on this earth.

3. What is apparent in this verse also is that while it is by the mercies of God that we'll be saved ("God shall send forth mercy"), we will not be saved without our active engagement with "His truth." Truth is of no use to us unless we ingest, digest, and have it assimilated through our very beings. Hence the Psalmist could say, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts." Psalm 51: 6.

The battle with Satan is most of all a mental one, and if we are to overcome him we must within the deepest recesses of the mind desire to. But even more important than overcoming Satan should be our desire to be reconciled to God; desiring His truth within.

Father in Heaven today what we desire more than anything else is truth in our inward parts; we desire Jesus ("The Way, the Truth, and the Life") within.

To read and/or listen to Psalm 57 and to read other related blogs, please click here.