Courage For The Little Dogs

“Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, [when] the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?” (Ps 49:5 AV)

Some think that David is referring to the annoying enemies who are nipping at him like little troublesome dogs.  They think he might be referring to those little things that challenge a king.  Alone, they are insignificant.  Put them all together, and it quickly becomes stressful.  We have rats in our city.  I hate rats.  However, one rat I can deal with.  A bunch of them are beyond distasteful.  This could be the idea David is trying to convey.  There might be another understanding here.  Perhaps David is speaking of his own iniquity.  Perhaps what David fears the most is not the iniquity of others.  Perhaps that which David fears the most is the prevalence of temptation and his tendency to yield to that temptation.  I certainly can relate.  Every child of God who desires an intimate walk with God will hate sin.  He or she will do all they can not to fall.  It is our greatest fear.  We pray for the day when the trumpet blows.  We will be given a new body and mind that cannot be tempted to sin.  True liberty from the old man is coming.  Until that day, the day of evil will be our fear.

An old country church had a heart for a man who was stricken with drunkenness.  His wife and children prayed with their church family that God would save him.  Every morning, this man got up for work and crossed the only bridge into town.  On his way to work, he would pass by several bars located on the city side of the bridge.  There was no other way to work.  He had to cross that bridge.  The stresses of the job found him visiting the bars as he journeyed home.  That was how it all started.  So, the family and church prayed for him.  The fasted for him.  They loved on him.  Finally, one glorious Sunday morning, he repented of his life of sin and trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior.  The following day, he went off to work.  This time, when he passed by the bars, he had no desire to stop by for a drink.  Rather than relent, he rejoiced.  He praised the LORD for the deliverance.  This went on day after day.  But say after day the bars were always there.  Over time, rejoicing because a struggle.  Each trip on the way home became more and more of a challenge.  One particular day, when his boss was particularly relentless, the stress of work seemed too hard to bear.  On the way home he stopped and stood outside the bar.  He stood there for the longest time.  But God gave him victory, and he headed home.

That is what the life of the believer seems to be.  There is a constant battle for holiness.  Temptation stands in front of us from the moment we awake until we drift off to sleep.  Temptation is our way of life.  It scares us.  We hate it.  We cannot wait until the day it will never nip at our heals again.  Gone is the devil.  Gone is the world.  Gone is the flesh.  The battle is over.  Until then, we can pray the same prayer David prayed.  We can pray for continual deliverance from the dogs of sin that nip at our soul from moment to moment.  The prayer above is framed as a question.  It is a rhetorical question.  The answer is obvious.  The answer is that with the ministry of the Holy Spirit there should not be fear of temptation.  There should be concern.  This pushes us to prayer.  But never should we feel that sin is so big that even God cannot deliver.  Temptation is an annoying little dog whose bark is worse than its bite.