PSALM 60

O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again! 2 You have made the earth tremble; You have broken it; Heal its breaches, for it is shaking. 3 You have shown Your people hard things; You have made us drink the wine of confusion. 4 You have given a banner to those who fear You, That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah … 10 [Is it] not You, O God, [who] cast us off? And You, O God, [who] did not go out with our armies? 11 Give us help from trouble, For the help of man [is] useless. 12 Through God we will do valiantly, For [it is] He [who] shall tread down our enemies.

PSALM 60:1-4….10-12

WE ARE DEFEATED WHEN WE TAKE OUR EYES OFF THE LORD

My son got to play baseball in the all-star state championship tournament this past weekend. We didn’t win. We didn’t make it beyond our sub group. We came into to the event undefeated and with high hopes. However we ended up loosing some big game pretty badly early on in the tournament. We were good, but we played some really good teams. All sorts of thoughts go through your head when you lose a big baseball game. Did we underestimate our opponents? Did we neglect some of our training by taking our basic skills for granted? Is the other team just that good? Did they have a better pool of athletes? It’s in our nature to question and figure things out. Sometimes the head game after the game is the hardest game to win.

Israel suffered a much more serious defeat in battle with their enemies. As David plays through the defeat in his mind he is awakened to the reason for their devastating loss. They were not beaten by a superior enemy military, but by forsaking the LORD. Indeed, he fears the reason that the enemy won in the fist place was because God’s people had gotten their eye off the Lord and were too confident in themselves.

The people had become too self-confident and neglected the Lord. The prayers had become a habit. God had become an afterthought. They entered into the battle with an air of “We’ve got this.” But they came home dejected and defeated because they didn’t have it, the victory belongs to the LORD and they forgot to see if He was in the fight with them!

A little self-confidence isn’t a bad thing but too much self-confidence can cause you to be prideful and arrogant. It causes you to over estimate your abilities and underestimate your enemies. It can cause you to take the Lord for granted.

I think David was a man after God’s own heart, not because he never messed up (we know he made a ton of mistakes), but because he owned his failures and came running back to God. David was a God-confident king. He fought Goliath, not because he was self-confident, but because he was God-confident. When He lost the battles here, he quickly goes running back to the LORD he knows the greatest defeat he could ever face isn’t losing to the enemy, but losing sight of God and so he doubles down and recommits to the Lord.

PRAYER

Father, I pray that I never take you for granted. I ask that you would guard my heart from pride and that I would be deeply rooted in you. Too often I have taken you for granted. I have assumed your presence or blessing on my plans and designs instead of waiting for you and doing things your way. I am grateful that you are patient with me. I know in my life I’ll have setbacks, I am grateful that even in the setbacks there are opportunities to see your grace and kindness to me. I pray that today I would live out my God-confidence. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

I’m reading and blogging the Psalms Through The Summer. I’d love for you to join me. You can find out a little more here.