2 Samuel 22:36 You make your saving help my shield;
    your help has made me great.

God gave David some very interesting revelations about Himself. This particular one seems to be difficult to translate from the Hebrew. Where the NIV says, “your help,” the ESV says “your gentleness,” the Japanese says, “your humility,” and the Masoretic Hebrew text says, “You stoop down.” The thing is, God is the Creator of the universe. Why would He have anything to do with us? David had no real idea of the vastness of the universe, but he understood that the Creator cared about him and acted on his behalf. That is an earthshaking revelation. The devil tries to counter that revelation two ways. On the one hand, he tries to convince us that we are self-sufficient, that we don’t need a Creator and everything is by chance, by “natural processes.” This is atheism. On the other hand, he tries to convince us that human life is insignificant, that we don’t really matter. This is what leads to murder, abortion, and countless other evils. David knew better. He encountered his Creator as a young shepherd boy, sitting out under the stars with none of the modern light pollution and hearing God speak to his heart. He didn’t have to know what a tiny fraction of the universe his senses could perceive to know that God was great, yet he experienced in countless ways that God cared about him. We all need that revelation! We need to know, to the depth of our being, that God is indeed omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, and at the same time, that He cares so intensely about each one of us that He sent His Son to die in our place. (John 3:16) When we know, believe, trust that, then absolutely nothing can shake us.

I am thankfully more convinced of this each day I live, and I am grateful beyond words. I do experience things I don’t like, and at times can get pretty upset, but every time I come back to this assurance, I have peace and joy. John 16:33 has long been something of an anchor for me. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” However, I’m not to be satisfied with just having peace myself; I need to share that with others. I don’t feel I’m terribly effective as an evangelist, but I have been a pastor in Japan for 43 years now, and I’m not through yet. Every moment of my life needs to be returned to my Lord in loving obedience, because He has done so much for me!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You indeed for stooping down, in gentle humility, to lift me up. May I respond as You desire, pleasing You however anyone else responds, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!