- Defense and Mercy
Psalm 59:17
Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing:
For God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.
God is my strength, my defense and my mercy. The Lord is my God and I trust in Him above all things. He is for me; I am His. He will be strength for me when I am weak; He will be a defense for me when I am helpless; and He will be mercy toward me when I am a sinner. These promises are unconditional, but like all the promises of God faith is the hand that receives them. Receiving faith is engendered in me when I am willing to admit that I am a weak, helpless sinner; that I have no capacity to stop sinning; that I am not strong enough to stand up alone against the Devil and Sin.
My strength is not strong; my strength is weak; I cannot fight; I cannot stand up to Sin, Death and Devil. However, my “Strength” is very strong, for God is my Strength. I do not ask for God to give me strength or make me stronger; I ask God to be my Strength. If God just made me stronger I might take credit for it and make the false claim that I defeated Sin and Satan; God just helped me. No, I need the Lord to be for me what I cannot be (strong); I need Him to do it for me and fight my battles. There is a difference between God giving me strength to fight and God being strong to fight for me. That is what “My Strength” means. “I will sing unto Him.” That is what I do; I do not fight; I not try to fight. I praise and thank God and give the battle to Him and let Him be My Strength.
I have no defense against the strong and subtle lies and attacks of Satan. I cannot overcome His temptation with my own defenses. I must take up the spiritual armor of God and stand, but God Himself is my Defense; He is the wall and the shield that I can hide behind and be safe. I cannot reason with Sin, for I lose; I cannot control my own emotions, for that is Satan’s playground; I cannot set up in front of Satan my strong will, for my will is not always God’s will, which is a strong defense. God does not just defend me; He sets Himself as my defense between my weak soul on one side and Sin and Satan on the other. I sing unto him for God is my defense.
I have no merit or worthiness within me whatsoever; I have no claim in myself on His promises; I have no right to expect any help from God for any reason in me. The only hope I have, the only hope I will ever have, is that God will be merciful to me, a sinner. If God is not mercy I am lost and without hope, ever. But not only is God merciful to me He is My Mercy. He is the God of My Mercy: He gave me His mercy and now it is Mine. Now I am worthy; now I have a claim to all His promises because of my mercy; I have a right to expect answers to prayer and deliverance from evil because “My Mercy” avails before the Lord. The Key = Jesus is My Mercy.