Heartfelt Plea… Joshua of Ghana
TEXT: PSALM 17:1-15
Key verse: Psalm 17:13 “Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword”.
When the Roman Empire was being sacked by the hordes of godless barbarians that invaded the territory in the fifth century, Leo, the praying Bishop of Rome, approached Attila the Hun, leader of the occupying armies, to plead for the Church and the city. He made a passionate plea that Rome be spared from the savagery and the destruction that had attended the attacks of the soldiers. Leo warned Attila not to risk the vengeance of heaven by plundering Rome and the Church. He listened to the churchman’s desperate prayer and withdrew his men.
More than one thousand five hundred years earlier, David, the future king of Israel, had also found himself in a tight corner that threatened his existence the same way the Church and the city of Rome were about to be brought to their knees. He and his men were being hounded by King Saul.
As no help was in sight and with Saul seeming to close in on him and his men, David turned to heaven for help. He spoke of coming face to face with death. It was not all despair, however, as he also talked of the mercy and power of a great God who saves those who sincerely call on Him in times of danger. The Lord did not disappoint the young man who discarded his own military prowess and called for divine intervention when he was at his wits’ end. David had the last laugh as the Lord gave him the final victory and confounded Saul. Man is also ensnared by problems he has brought on himself through the pursuit of false philosophy and rebellious religion, all of which have alienated him from God and the truth. He cannot get relief or redemption in any earth-bound solution. Only a renunciation of the world’s sin and a plea to God for help can deliver him.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Man without God is helpless in the face of satanic challenges.
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