One of the battles I’ve had from time to time in my life is worry. Not very often, but when I have, it grips me. In my job here at Pizza Ranch, I talk to many people who struggle through this very same thing. The most recent example in my own life is when our oldest daughter and her husband moved to Indonesia. It’s on the other side of the planet. The first year I struggled with worrying about their safety. It could ruin a day If I knew they were going to be traveling outside their “Protected” community. This continued to happen until I gave their safety, and my worries, fully to God.

As you know, we’ve been slowly walking through the Book of Psalms, and this week we’re looking at (Psalm 54). This passage gives us some insights on how to deal with worry…or anything else that might grip your life. And it’s ultimately how I was able to conquer it as well.

Psalm 54 is a prayer for deliverance. David is writing this because he had enemies who wanted to have him killed. People had risen up against him and he often cried out to God in prayer. Scripture wants us to see this morning that David, a man after God’s own heart, even with all his sins, is crying out to God, acknowledging God in this experience. He’s looking at it with a Kingdom perspective….the prayer says a lot.

4 things David is acknowledging in this chapter, things he’s claiming: (He has seen it, experienced it, and felt it). (And we can too).

1. God is my helper (Vs 4). God stands with us.
2. God is with those who stand with me (Vs 4). I’m talking about those who lift us up in prayer, that encourage us, care about us, are in our corner.
3. God will repay my enemies for their evil (Vs 5). God is in control and will ultimately make it right no matter what we experience.
4. God delivers me (Vs 7). Put our worries where it belongs…with God.

Do we do this? Do we claim and press into these things when we go to God with our worries? Or do we go straight to our requests?

4 Requests from David:

1. Save me by your name (Vs 1)
2. Defend me by your strength (Vs 1)
3. Hear my prayer. Hear the words of my mouth (Vs 2)
4. Recoil on them with your truth (Vs 5)

May we each find rest in God’s faithfulness…placing our worries, no matter what they are, firmly in God’s hands where they belong. That’s where we’ll find peace.