Spiritual Warfare in the Book of Psalms – part 76

Scripture:

Ps. 23:5
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies …

Comment:

The fact that God is blessing us doesn’t mean we can neglect the enemy.

Jer. 29:11 (NKJV)
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

God’s thoughts for us are that we should have a future and a hope, and Jesus came to give us a more abundant life (John 10:10). We are meant to live a blessed life, but when we get God’s blessings we can easily think that everything is O.K, especially since we have a strong wish that it should be. But the truth is that the blessings are no guarantee that we will not be attacked. The evil spiritual world is all around us even when we are being blessed. If we lower our guard against the enemy when God is pouring His blessings upon us, the enemy will use that opportunity to attack us.

It’s also possible to experience a part of God’s blessing and at the same time not realize how much more God has for us. The mission of the evil spiritual world is, among other things, to steal (John 10:10), When we realize this truth, we will look at things differently. We can be tempted to blame God for our limited circumstances, while the truth is, we are being robbed.
Imagine a grandmother who loves her grandchild very much. Every Christmas and every birthday she sends nice gifts to the child via mail. But every time someone steals the gifts on the way. The child starts thinking, “Why doesn’t grandma love me? She never sends me any gifts.” The solution is not to be disappointed or upset at the grandmother. The thief must be exposed and stopped. In the same way we must realize there are evil spirits trying to steal from us.

Besides stealing material blessings, like financial blessings, the evil spirits also want to steal our joy, peace, patience and all the other fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). We should be much more aware of the presence of the enemy, in order to fully partake of the prepared table.