Favor Measured in Victory

“By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.” (Ps 41:11 AV)

There is something here that is important.  Note the past tense and not the future tense.  The enemy does not triumph and not ‘will not’ triumph.  The condition of victory is in the perfect present tense.  If God is for us, even in the midst of adversity, if we are not defeated, then God is with us.  He favors us.  Endurance is evidence of God’s presence and work.  This is important to remember when it seems as though we are losing ground.  David had a life of trouble.  He was constantly harassed by enemies. He spent a quarter of his time running from those who wanted him dead.  The promise above does not mean the absence of adversity.  Rather, if God favors us, then amid adversity, we will eventually be the victor.  What an encouragement!

We’ve won the battle.  We simply are not fully aware of it yet.  The promise of eternal life and the blessings which naturally result from it are irreversible.  Nothing or no one can separate us from the love of God.  Listen to the words of Paul.  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 8:35-39 AV)  We simply forget how much God loves us and is always near.

Recently, we have been going through another trial of faith.  It is hard to not expect another shoe to drop.  Having a life-altering diagnosis has a way of making one gun shy when a new symptom appears.  But, the LORD gave me sense enough to call friends and ask for prayer.  With these phone calls came helpful advice.  It was fascinating to me the words spoken were miraculously familiar and without knowing of the others, each counselor affirmed the counsel and encouragement of the others.  Psalm 40 kept coming back.  In fact, as you can see from my entry, yesterday I read that very psalm.  One observation shared was that God is our high tower.  I had never thought of this in the way my blessed friend shared, but it really made sense.  I had always seen the high tower as something to which one could run for protection and absence from the battle.  But that is not it at all.  The tower was built as an observation point by which the battle can be seen and arranged.  In other words, God sees it all when we can only see a small portion.  Because He can see it all, He has a plan for us to defeat the enemy.

We cannot control our futures.  Our choices may play a part, but God is ultimately in control.  He can see all the years of our lives.  He has decreed a plan for it that we might come forth as gold, tried in the refiner’s fire.  We may suffer a bit in this life.  Partly because of the choices we made, the choices others have made, or a deep trial of faith.  But no matter the battlefield, the LORD has it all in view and knows the way that I must take.  He has a plan and that plan is for my good.  That plan is for His glory.  We all have no choice but to trust the LORD no matter what.  Our enemies are strong.  They are not to be taken lightly.  But our God is infinitely stronger and He will show himself strong on behalf of those who trust in Him.  “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of [them] whose heart [is] perfect toward him...” (2Ch 16:9 AV)