for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…

In our culture today we don’t really have enemies surrounding us like David who faced lions and bears that were trying to get his sheep. However later in his life, David had to run for his life many times when being chased by enemies like King Saul and even his own son sought to kill him at one point.

What enemies do we face?

Because you’re reading this column most likely you have all the basic comforts of the Western world: food, clothing, shelter, medicine, etc… In a spiritual sense the biggest enemy we face I believe is doubt and fear. Our physical enemies are often things such as lack or sickness.

Our own worst enemy.

Sometimes my biggest enemy is my own mind. I may have physical struggles although I have all my basic needs met. But when I wake up in the morning my mind goes right to today’s challenges or to the things I wish could be different. Starting my day with worship music always helps me with this. Maybe that’s why David wrote so many songs.

See the blessings not the struggle.

The lesson I get from this portion of Psalm 23 is that no matter what enemy we may be facing: lack, illness, fear or doubt… We need to look around and see all the things we already have before we grumble about the things we don’t have.

God has already blessed us with so much.

See His Goodness now!

In The Serenity Prayer column, published the first Friday of each month in 2019, we’re studying this well-known prayer phrase by phrase and applying it to our lives today.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace.

Taking as Christ did this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that He will make all things right…

Attitude matters.

Whether we trust that God will make all things right really doesn’t change what God is going to do. What God does is always right whether we trust Him or not. The lesson here is more about how we live in the process while we’re waiting.

Time passes the same.

When waiting for an answered prayer, a new job, a life season to change… we can either be stressed, angry and sick or peaceful, happy and healthy. Either way, the same amount of time will pass from the beginning of the wait to the completion. How I walk it out is up to me.

Simple but not easy.

This principle of trusting God seems so simple. We hear it a lot in Christian circles. But little is taught about how to actually live out this trusting time. The season I’ve been in for the last three years has been one of the hardest in my adult life. It’s been all about waiting for God to make something right out of something that was very wrong. I’ve struggled often with a poor attitude while watching my sweet husband be so positive. Different things are easier for different people.

How to trust.

When I think of trusting, I think of the childhood game where we would fall back into the arms of a trusted friend who would catch us. We knew our friend wouldn’t drop us or let us fall because we believed they cared for us. If we can believe that our girlfriend can love us so much to catch us, why can’t we believe that our God, our Heavenly Father, who loves us even more, will not only catch us when we fall, He will make the circumstances into which we fall be perfect for us! And hose circumstances will then help us rise higher.

Trust in the Lord completely,
and do not rely on your own opinions.
With all your heart rely on him to guide you,
and he will lead you in every decision you make.
Become intimate with him in whatever you do,
and he will lead you wherever you go. Don’t think for a moment that you know it all, for wisdom comes when you adore him with undivided devotion and avoid everything that’s wrong. Then you will find the healing refreshment your body and spirit long for. ~ Proverbs 3:5-8 (TPT)