Psalm 143:3-4 (CEB)

3 The enemy is chasing me,
    crushing my life in the dirt,
        forcing me to live in the dark
            like those who’ve been dead forever.
4 My spirit is weak inside me—
    inside, my mind is numb.

Reflection

The times in life when I feel most in-tune with the Holy Spirit, where God is at the center of everything I do and my ministry is very in line with God’s light of guidance; without fail, “the enemy” will show its face. It’s typically seen through someone or something that actively tries to put me down, or make me self-conscious, or make me second guess my work. That’s when I know, without a doubt, that what I’m doing is for the work of God, because “the enemy” is threatened by anything that shows the goodness of God. It’ll do anything to stop us from sharing God’s love in the world. No matter how figuratively or abstractly you think of “the enemy” as, we all have probably, to some extent, experienced evil trying to stop goodness.

In today’s section of Psalm 143, the Psalmist writes about “the enemy” trying to stop their praise and worship of God, and how that evil can really take the life out of us. “The enemy” can be so loud and can stop us in our tracks even when we know what we’re doing is right. Nothing is more terrifying to “the enemy”, then resurrection: the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, the resurrection of our spirits out of hardship, the resurrection of our lives from the dirt.

“The enemy” is always chasing us, and the more and more in love with God and neighbor we become, the faster it will run at us. With God, “the enemy” will not win, so we must lean on God and on one another in order to keep strength even when “the enemy” tries to stop us from sharing God’s love.

by Rachel Callender

For Pondering & Prayer

When you read about “the enemy”, what is your understanding of this? How have the resurrections in your life won out over “the enemy”?

Prayer: God of goodness, build within us a strength that see’s beyond the Good Friday’s of our lives and to see the Easter mornings all around. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Our Lenten Series

For our Lent series this year, we’ll be using the Adam Hamilton book Luke: Jesus and the Outsiders, Outcasts, and Outlaws. At his website, you can find a 40-day reading plan to help you read through the Gospel of Luke during Lent. And join us for worship, in-person or online, at 9:00 & 10:30 every Sunday.