We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

September 30, 2022

We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us

 

The godly will rejoice in the Lord

    and find shelter in him.

And those who do what is right

    will praise him.

Psalm 64:10

Psalm 64 is a personal lament David wrote in response to verbal abuse and deceitful people. The psalm is helpful to us as we seek the life in Christ because it models the appropriate response to conflict and persecution. David took his complaint to God. He is not seeking to vindicate himself, rather he asked God to vindicate him. The psalm also affirms that God is the only righteous judge.

There is a danger in too quickly identifying with David and seeing ourselves as victims. Perhaps, if we pause long enough to examine ourselves, we may see ourselves as the abusers. As I read Psalm 64, I thought of Jesus’ command from the Sermon on the Mount,

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” (Matthew 7:1-3).

Of all of Jesus’ commands to his followers, this may well be the one that is least obeyed. Listen to the conversations in the public square, in your churches and communities, and you will hear people pronouncing judgment on others. Listen to your own self-talk, and you probably will hear your self-judgment. As Christians we do great harm to the Body of Christ and to the Kingdom of God when we indulge ourselves in the judgment of others and in harsh judgement of ourselves.

It is so sad that Pogo keeps getting it so right, especially within the Body of Christ: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

My Takeaway: Even so, let’s not despair. Let’s remember who we are, and we remember the great promises of God:

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) (Ephesians 2:4-5)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.