Defending Against Enemies

Read

PSALM 83:1-18

1 O God, do not remain silent;
do not turn a deaf ear,
do not stand aloof, O God.
2 See how your enemies growl,
how your foes rear their heads.
3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”

5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Byblos, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
8 Even Assyria has joined them
to reinforce Lot’s descendants.

9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
10 who perished at Endor
and became like dung on the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God.”

13 Make them like tumbleweed, my God,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Cover their faces with shame, Lord,
so that they will seek your name.

17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.
18 Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord—
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Think

Many of us think of the water as a place to relax and play, like on a day at the beach. For seafarers, winds and waves are part of their daily work and can be deadly enemies. Regular maintenance is essential to make sure a ship is ready for a storm that might come up.

Seafarers take their enemies seriously, and God’s people need to do that too. The writer of Psalm 83 recalls how God delivered his people in the past, and the writer pleads with God to help them again. The psalmist speaks of blowing the enemies around like dust or sending a firestorm or a tempest to terrify them and make them repent.

At first, these verses might make us uncomfortable, but they describe the power necessary to overcome the enemy. God’s power is not arbitrary or cruel; it shows that God is loving and just. Both the enemies and the people of God will come to know that the Lord alone is “Most High over all the earth.”

Only God can banish evil. God’s action, described as a kind of storm in these verses, has tremendous power to overwhelm an enemy.

We can call on God to defend us. Jesus himself had to defend against Satan, the great enemy. And in Jesus’ case, he used the power of the Word of God—and Satan could not overcome it (Luke 4:1-13).

Pray

Dear God, protect us from the enemies of your kingdom—sin, death, and the devil. Thank you for the power of Jesus Christ in our lives. Amen.