November 9, Wishful Thinking

Today’s reading: Psalms 41-45

“I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. Because of my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever” - Psalm 41:11-12.

It is easy to read into a verse what you think, hope, or even want it to mean. In today’s passage, the psalmist wrote that his enemy did not defeat him because God was with him. You can interpret that to mean that your enemies will not only never triumph over you, but also that they will never try to triumph over you. If that is how you read this, then you are mistaken and are opening yourself to great disappointment and perhaps even disillusionment as you serve the Lord. Your enemies will most certainly try to overwhelm you, and your greatest enemy is Satan himself, as represented through his evil forces, principalities, and powers. Jesus said something similar to what the psalmist said when He told Peter, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus did not say that evil gates would not try to overcome the Church; He simply said they would not be successful when they do try. Are you struggling with the fact that you and God’s people are under intense attack? Did you fall victim to wishful thinking that this would not happen to you? Can you stand in the truth of the promise that they will not be successful, while fully embracing the truth that they will try again and again?