Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Modern men and women desperately need to live under the grace of the Lord; prayer must be the breath of our soul. There are dangers around us that people in the psalmist David's days did not have to meet--like cancer, automobile and plane crashes, stock market crashes, and our ever-present fear of terrorism. But David knew something only a few of us know--danger from wild lions.
He says, "My soul is among lions," and he used them as representing cruel people "whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword" (Psalm 57:4). People hated him simply because he was "the anointed of the Lord." However high the honor may have been that he was to take Saul's place as king of Israel, David had to meet opposition constantly. People "prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they have dug a pit before me," he says (vs. 6). Treacherous people, yet professed Israelites!
David's dwelling "among lions" was a type of Jesus living among cruel enemies; all around Him were those who "hated [Him] without a cause" (Psalm 69:4) simply because He was "the Anointed of the Lord." Those who "follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Rev. 14:4) must be prepared to "rejoice to the extent that [we] partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, [we] may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13). We can't be glad when we shall meet Him personally unless we have tasted His "sufferings"!
Anyone who truly follows Christ today will also meet the wrath of Christ's enemy: the reason why our modern "lions" have teeth like "spears and arrows" is because "the love of many [has grown] cold" (Matt. 24:12). It's been a mysterious ferment like that in the days of Elijah when Israel for a century had unconsciously drifted into Baal worship; the love of Christ had almost disappeared among God's chosen people.
David rebuilds his faith in the Lord while he is hiding in "in the cave of Adullam" and "in the Wilderness of En Gedi" (1 Sam. 22:1; 24:1). "My heart is steadfast, O God. ... I will sing and give praise," he says (Psalm 57:7). He believes in the goodness of the Lord when everything seems impossible (cf. Psalm 27:13, 14). Let's do the same.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 15, 2007.
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