Incentives: Survival
Scripture Reading — Psalm 70
May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.
Psalm 70:4
What do you do when you are the object of relentless attack? What do you do when there is a powerful campaign by enemies who want to ruin you and bring you harm? They are pursuing you, and they will not be satisfied until they see you eliminated.
On more than one occasion, David was the target of a search and destroy mission. One time his enemies even posted a watch on his house, planning to kill him when he came out in the morning. If his wife, Michal, had not warned him and smuggled him out of the house at night through a window, he would have been a dead man (see 1 Samuel 19:1?17).
So again David recognized that God had rescued him from certain danger, through the help of others. These enemies had come to kill him, but his wife had helped him to escape. So David rightly gave God the credit for watching over him and saving him.
When there are people in our lives who are not wishing us well but who instead are out to get us and won’t be happy until we are out of the picture and gone, what can we do? David’s psalm tells us that he sought help from the Lord. While his enemies were seeking to squeeze the life out of him, David sought God to pour life into him.
Sometimes we seek God just to survive!
Father in heaven, help me to seek you, especially when enemies are breathing down my neck. May I find joy in you, even in dangerous and fearful times. For Jesus’ sake, Amen
About the author — Kenneth D. Koeman
Rev. Ken Koeman is a pastor at Bellevue, Washington, Christian Reformed Church. He has written Today devotions in past years and has also authored numerous articles for The Banner, the magazine of the Christian Reformed Church. Ken and his wife, Kay, live in Bellevue and have two children and five grandchildren.
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