May 13, 2026 • 30 mins
Don't forget to grab your free scripture journal at PrayingChristianWomen.com/journal today!
What do you do when justice feels hopelessly out of reach — when hidden evil goes unpunished and the truth seems buried?
Join Jaime on the Praying Christian Women Podcast for a devotional on Psalm 64 — Prayer for Deliverance from Secret Enemies — a psalm that speaks directly to the frustration, anger, and dread we feel when injustice seems to be winning, and enemies are laying secret snares with bitter words.
Jaime unpacks the heavy emotional toll of watching people get away with evil, and the lie that we must simply wait for eternity to see things made right. Instead, she explores a powerful cosmic reality: God doesn't exist on our finite earthly timeline. He is the great “I AM,” not “I will be.” Even when hidden traps aren't exposed in our space-time continuum, God is already at work in the spiritual realm. When the enemy aims bitter speech like a weapon, God is ready to shoot His own arrow, turning secret plots upside down and bringing the darkness into the light.
Come ready to lay down your honest complaints and confront the anxiety that comes from picturing a dreaded future without God in it. Let this psalm remind you of the profound power of two simple words: “But God.” Because He is a God of justice here and now, you don't have to wait to experience His goodness, and you can confidently take refuge in Him while declaring His mighty works.
Discover More:
Explore additional episodes of Praying Christian Women, Mindful Christian Prayers, and other Christian podcasts at Lifeaudio.com
Check out our new podcast, Christian True-Crime Junkies!, on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts!
Connect with Us:
Stay updated and engage with our community:
On Substack @PrayingChristianWomen
On Facebook @PrayingChristianWomen
On Instagram @PrayingChristianWomen
On YouTube: @PrayingChristianWomen
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Life Audio. Hey Darren, Welcome to another Prayer through the
Psalms episode of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I'm Jamie
and today we are going to be talking about and
praying through Psalm sixty four. Psalm sixty four is very
similar to a lot of the Psalms of David that
we've heard talking about his enemies. We hear tons about
(00:24):
David's enemies because he had a lot of them, and
they were always trying to destroy him, or find him,
or surround him or slander him one of many many
things he does talk about his enemies. But the thing
that sets this psalm apart from some of the others
and really got me thinking, is that this psalm involves
(00:45):
people who are plotting evil. They have evil thoughts, evil words,
evil actions. They're setting traps that they are convinced will
remain secret. And it got me thinking about justice, about
how frustrated I can get when I see injustice happening,
or when I see people getting away with things that
(01:06):
I don't feel like they should be getting away with
that I might know the truth about something and it
ends up not being exposed or not being believed by
the people that need to believe it. So, for instance,
this week on Monday, Alana and I had a True
Crime Junkies episode, which, if you don't know, we have
another podcast called Christian True Crime Junkies. And we had
(01:29):
an episode and it involved a young woman who was
abused as a teenager, went to the authorities and was
not believed, and so she ended up being sent back
to her original situation being abused, only with a very
angry abuser. That is not justice. That is insanity. And
(01:51):
it happens in the world, and it makes us angry,
and it gets our Mama bear all up in arms, right,
and sometimes it can drive us to feel angry with
God or hopeless or helpless or confused, or even questioning
whether God exists, or worse yet, if he exists but
doesn't care, And all of those things are part of
(02:13):
the human condition. And I just felt like someone might
need to hear this today. I read this psalm and
it gave me new eyes in regards to justice. So
the language I used to use when I was referring
to justice is we might not see God's justice unfold
here on earth because this world is temporary, and ultimately
(02:37):
justice will be done because God is the ultimate judge,
and there is going to be a judgment and everything's
going to be made right. And so I kind of
held this hopeful not yet, but at some point, you know,
we're going to be able to It was a hope
in what might happen in the future, what will happen
in the future. But as I read this, it reminded
(03:00):
me of a time when I was little and we
had this little hill on the side of our house.
It seemed much bigger when I was little, and if
you ran around the corner, there was like kind of
a jutting out chimney, and we had a brick home,
so the chimney was brick and it jutted out. So
if you went on the other side of the chimney
and kind of hid in the little corner that it made,
(03:23):
it was a great hide and seek place. But I
have a very vivid memory of being a child having
done something wrong. I don't remember what it was, but
I had this thought that I was going to go
around the corner there and hide from God. And it's
just kind of a silly memory, you know. I don't
even remember what I did to want to hide from God,
(03:43):
but it just is a very obvious object lesson that
you can't hide from God. Obviously hiding around the corner.
I'm not going to hide from God. But even if
evildoers that are mentioned in this psalm, even if they
make secret plots and secret plans, lay secret traps, they
think secret thoughts, they're doing evil things in secret, even
(04:08):
if those plans are never exposed in our space time continuum,
our finite timeline within God's creation and the confines of
it that we need to live by as humans, even
if it's not exposed, then there is a different place
where God resides. And we talk about it all the
time when we talk about spiritual warfare. We talk about
how there's this veil right of between the material world
(04:34):
that we see, touch, taste here and the spiritual reality
that lies beyond where the spiritual battle is taking place,
and that reality where there are principalities and angels and
demons fighting and prayers going up that are literally fueling
(04:57):
God's work in some mysterious way that we can't imagine
that that exists apart from what we can see, what
we can hear, what we can feel in this world,
and those things are going on in a different place.
So the Bible says, to God, a day is like
a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.
And at the very least, God exists in a place
(05:18):
where time is not the same. God doesn't perceive time
in the same way as we perceive it. And at
the same time, he's living in us. The Holy Spirit
is living in us. And part of this frame by
frame experience of time, the moment by moment timeline that's
ticking by every second. Right, God is with us too
(05:40):
experiencing this. But His essence and reality exist outside of
time as we know it. And so what I realized
kind of bring it back, I know, going off on
a rabbit trail, but to bring it back what I
experienced through reading this is we don't have to wait
until we die to experienced God's justice, because God is justice,
(06:04):
and he is living in us, and he is accomplishing
things in the heavenly realms, in the spiritual realm already.
It has already been done. And an example of this
is when the Bible talks about Jesus, the Lamb of God,
who is slain from the foundations of the earth, and
you think, how could the Lamb of God have been
(06:25):
slain from the foundations of the earth if he dropped
down into our timeline in around zero, you know, or
one ad or whatever. I don't know how they actually think,
you know, how they make that work. But in our
timeline he existed as a human with flesh and blood,
and he walked with the disciples, and he taught, and
(06:47):
he suffered a brutal beating and flogging, and he died
a terrible death that was full of shame, and there
were spectators and it was ugly, and he died, and
this was all real, and he was buried in a
physical place, and he rose from the dead. And how
can the Lamb of God have been slain from the
(07:09):
foundations of the earth and still have walked this timeline?
And I'm going to read a passage from Hebrews that
I think will make this more clear. Hebrews eight, verses
three through six. Every high priest is appointed to offer
both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for
this one also to have something to offer. If he
were on earth, he would not be a priest, for
(07:31):
there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by
the law. And here we go, they serve at a
sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is
in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he
was about to build the tabernacle, see to it that
you make everything according to the pattern shown you on
the mountain. Okay, so that was three through five. That
(07:52):
is amazing to me. That is mysterious and exciting to
me that this tavern it was built to such specific
design because when something in that tabernacle happened on Earth,
it was also happening in heaven. There's a tabernacle in heaven.
(08:13):
Like this is amazing to me because if you look
at Heaven as just this generic like, oh, we all
just kind of go back to the source, the Creator,
and yeah, we're just there. There's stuff happening, Like it's
not just this whole spiritual mishmash of goodness and light.
There are things happening. What is on this earth is
(08:35):
not Heaven. We know that, right. It might be a
little bit of hell in some places, but there is
a shadow of Heaven on earth. And there are things
when they happen on Earth that have cosmic, eternal, heavenly consequences.
And I believe that jesus death and resurrection were just
(08:55):
like this. I mean obviously right. If he was the
lamb who was slain from the foundation of the earth,
then what he did here on earth. If anyone's actions
on Earth had cosmic, eternal, heavenly parallels, obviously Jesus would have.
And I think that's how it happened. When justice doesn't
look like it's happening here on earth, it doesn't mean
(09:18):
it's not happening here on earth. That there is a
cosmic reality that is going on, and what we see
here is just a shadow. And even when we see
glimpses of the spiritual battle happening and evidence of our
prayers working, and that's just the tip of a gigantic
iceberg of God's work, and it's done, like according to God,
(09:45):
if we were to pop out of our timeline into
where God is, which is present all around us, it
is finished. It's not yet to be. And I know
that someone needed to hear this, and that someone is
struggling and wrestling with God right now about something that's
very unjust and very unfair and very unsettling and evil
(10:07):
that is not being held accountable. You can be sure
that justice is because God is He's I am, not
I will be when you get to heaven. I am.
That is who our God is. And I just have
to tell you don't lose heart. And we can pray
(10:27):
for those glimpses. I pray that when I am weak
in my faith, give me a glimpse. God, give me
a rope, a lifeline to hold on too, so that
I can just be reminded that you are and that
I don't have to wait until I die to experience
that justice and that goodness and that healing and resolution,
but that you are now all right. I want to
(10:49):
open us up with some prayer before we get into
our psalm. If you can believe that we haven't gotten
there yet, I want to flip the script for our
time of prayer. And while many of us can relate
to this idea that justice needs to happen, and we
can take tremendous comfort in knowing that there is a
(11:11):
God of justice who sees justice served, it can also
be terrifying because we are not perfect. If you know Jesus,
then you know that when you place your faith in Jesus,
he paid the penalty for any sins that you've committed.
That you're committing right now that you will commit in
(11:31):
the future. It is finished, it is paid, the price
is paid, and we have freedom from the bondage of sin.
It doesn't mean we're perfect, but we can fix our
eyes on Jesus and throw off the sin that so
easily entangles us and ensnares us and holds us back
from God's best for us. But if right now you
don't know that, right now you are somehow you stumbled
(11:53):
upon this and you don't know Jesus, and you're terrified
at the thought of a just God, and you're terrified
of if you died today, what would meet you on
the other side, then I am here to tell you
that God has made away for you to become right
with Him, no matter what your past is, no matter
(12:13):
what your present is, no matter what you think your
future might look like. Because of the consequences of the
sin in your life up to this point, He has
made away for you to be right with Him, and
that is to place your faith in Jesus. So I'm
going to do two things during our prayer time right
now as we prepare to read this Psalm. Thing one
is I'm going to model a prayer for you if
(12:36):
you're listening and you don't know Jesus or you know
who he is. You know about him, but you're not
convinced that if you died today that you would meet
Jesus and that you would be with God, and that
there wouldn't be punishment in store for you. I want
to model a prayer if you want to just pray
along with me, or listen and then create your own
(12:57):
version as you hit pause, however you want to do it.
I want to provide a way because God is just,
and there is punishment for sin, and there is separation
from God that is very real and very unfortunate. But
God has made away that anyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved. So I want
(13:19):
to provide that for you and then for everyone listening.
I would like to just have a moment to focus
on some confession and repentance. So let's pray, Father God.
(13:44):
I know I am a sinner. I know that there
is nothing I can do to work my way into heaven.
The Bible tells us that all of our righteous acts
are like filthy rags. And yet you have made away. Lord.
(14:06):
I acknowledge that you sent your son Jesus Christ, to
live an actual life in space, time, to walk the earth,
to reflect your perfect image to people who desperately needed
good news, to teach, to model with his own life
(14:33):
how you want us to live. And I believe that
you sent your son so that none should perish but
have eternal life. Lord, I accept the gift of salvation.
I place my faith in Jesus. I am sorry for
(14:58):
missing the mark. I'm sorry for sinning against you, and
I choose to turn from that sin and cling to
Jesus instead because I know his ways are better. Your
way is better. And I place my faith in Jesus
(15:18):
and I receive the forgiveness for my sins. Amen, and Lord.
We just come before you knowing that there are things
in our lives. There are thoughts, there are words, there
are actions, there are plans, there are attitudes, emotions. There
(15:41):
are things that separate us from you because they're not holy,
and they're not perfect, and sometimes they're downright evil. Lord.
I just pray that you would bring those things to
our minds, and that as they bubble up to the surface,
(16:09):
that instead of a sorrow that leads to death, a
hopeless sorrow, a wallowing in self pity and self loathing
that could happen when faced with our sinfulness and imperfection.
Instead of that, that you would give us that beautiful
(16:29):
sorrow that leads to repentance and life, because repentance is
turning away from that sin. It's rejecting it, it's shedding it,
it's allowing it to fall away like scales from the
eyes of the one that Jesus healed, so that we
(16:54):
can see clearly, so that we may fix our eyes
on Jesus, author and perfector of our faith, so that
we could run the race with perseverance and throw off
the chains that keep us bound to our sin and
(17:15):
to our human fallacies. We thank you for that hope,
and we just pray that repentance would be a lifestyle
that throughout the week you would just be reminding us
of things that you'd be stopping us in our tracks
when we have an evil thought or even just kind
(17:38):
of a lame thought anywhere on the spectrum of sin. God,
convict us, stop us in our tracks, help us to
be able to take all of those thoughts captive before
they become words and actions and plans and plots. And
we just pray that you would help us to see
(17:58):
clearly to live well and to walk in the plans
that You have for us, not just for our own
benefit and our own glory, but for Your glory and
for the benefit of the world and the Gospel, and
(18:20):
that those things can live together. That Christian hedonism, like
in desiring, desiring God, that we would be able to
revel in goodness and joy and relationship with You, That
that would be the driving force behind our actions, behind
(18:44):
our choosing Jesus over sin, because it is good. Amen.
All right, let's read this psalm finally right. Psalm sixty
four from the Nasby nineteen ninety five, Prayer for delivers
from secret enemies for the choir director, a psalm of David.
(19:04):
Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint, preserve my
life from dread of the enemy, Hide me from the
secret counsel of evildoers, from the tumult of those who
do iniquity, who have sharpened their tongue like a sword.
They aimed bitter speech as their arrow to shoot from
concealment at the blameless. Suddenly they shoot at him and
(19:26):
do not fear. They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose.
They talk of laying snares secretly, they say, who can
see them. They devise injustices, saying, we are ready with
a well conceived plot for the inward thought and heart
of man are deep. But God will shoot at them
with an arrow. Suddenly they will be wounded, so they
(19:47):
will make him stumble. Their own tongue is against them.
All who see them will shake their head. Then all
men will fear, and they will declare the work of God,
and will consider what he has done. The righteous man
will be glad in the Lord, and we'll take refuge
in him, and all the upright and heart will glory. Amen. David,
(20:08):
just right off the bat, hear my voice, O God,
in my complaint. I mean, he's just very real about
the fact that he can go to God and complain.
And I was doing this in the car on the
way home from running some errands today. I was literally complaining.
I was just saying, God, I got to complain, and
(20:29):
I know that I can because you are my loving Father,
and I can complain to you and you will just
listen and sometimes you'll talk back. But I know that
He will always be at work in my conversation with him.
So even as I was complaining, I felt almost like
(20:52):
like I was running my thoughts through a filter and
they were coming back to me better. So as I
was complaining, as I was laying out my SOB stories, whatever,
it was like God took them, process them through this filter.
Maybe it's like that, take captive every thought and make
it obedient to Christ. God is the filter. And so
(21:14):
as I was running my complaints through God, they came
back to me and I legitimately I didn't even have
to fake it. I came back with joy and Thanksgiving
and it was beautiful. So I love it. I love
the permission. And one of the big reasons I did
use that word complain was because of this psalm. And
one of my complaints was I've recorded this like five times,
(21:36):
I'm not kidding you, and it's different. Things have happened,
and so I was kind of complaining about that among
other things. But you know what I was, I just
was brought back to Thanksgiving. Thank you, God, Thank you,
Because if I've recorded this five times, I've read this
Psalm five times, and I've meditated on it five times,
(21:58):
and that is good. Maybe I needed more scripture in
my life. And I also love down here as we
go down. It's these enemies are not surrounding him trying
to kill him. These enemies have sharpened their tongue like
a sword. They've bitter speech is their arrow. David knew
what it was like to fear real weapons and real death.
(22:19):
But this is a different kind of fear. He says,
preserve my life from dread of the enemy. It's not
preserve my life from being killed. It's when we fear
and dread our enemy, whether it's an actual enemy, whether
it's spiritual warfare enemy, whether it's something standing in the
way of us and something we believe God has for us,
(22:42):
whatever that is, maybe it's an illness or impending doom
for no reason, whatever it is, that dread is real,
and sometimes it's more real than the actual threat. And
I speak from experience, and many of you have heard
me talk about this, that the dread and the fear
(23:02):
and the anxiety that is caused is a lot of
times it's worse than the actual reality. And one of
the reasons is that I have found is that when
I'm worrying and I'm anxious and I'm dreading something, I'm
actually picturing something down the line. But it's devoid of God.
(23:23):
God isn't in it. I'm not picturing myself relying on God.
I'm picturing that thing happening, and it's scary to me.
But what I'm forgetting is God is in it. So
I think what David's saying here is preserve my life
from being afraid, because what that's doing is preserve my
life from forgetting You're with me, and you're the biggest,
(23:45):
baddest dad out there. There's nothing that can stand against
me when my God, my Father is standing behind me
and fighting for me. And then we get to the
part that I waxed poetic on for so long, the
enemies laying snares, secretly saying who can see these plans
they devise injustices, saying we're ready with a well conceived
(24:08):
plot for the inward thought and the heart of man
are deep. But guess what, not deep enough for God
to be able to discern, not big enough for God
to be able to draw out what is in the
wickedness of a man's heart and mind. And so this
is that whole piece of the puzzle of nothing will
(24:30):
remain hidden. And what the Bible actually tells us is
that even that which is exposed by light becomes light.
And I think that's a picture of the beautiful, redeeming
nature of God, that he takes even the worst, and
when it's exposed, it can't remain dark. And I love this.
(24:54):
I love this about God, that he is a redeemer.
And it goes on. My very favorite thing is the
first verses one through six are all about the problem
and the wickedness, and then seven begins with two words
that I just want to be my mantra. But God,
anything that you can complain about, anything you can be
(25:14):
afraid of, lay it out there, write it in your journal,
say it to God. And then but after it, all
you got to put is but God. But God, I
am not, I will be not. Hang on, hang on,
I'll get to you in a little bit. No, he is,
He is justice, he is goodness, He is a giver
(25:36):
of good gifts. Now not leader. And that is what
I love. And then he says, but God will shoot
them with an arrow. Suddenly they'll be wounded. It's like
that same arrow that they try shooting, that bitter speech
aimed as their arrow, God deflects it back. And I
know it's kind of juvenile, but it makes me think
of I am rubber and you are glue. Whatever you
(25:58):
say bounces off me and sticks to you. That's what
it is. God. God takes the plans and the plots
of the enemy. He exposes them, and then he turns
it around against them. And we might see it in
the land of the living here on earth, but we
might not. But we have to picture. If it helps
(26:20):
you to picture your enemies, your problems, your worries, your giants,
if it helps to picture them beyond this veil that
we can see as an arrow, and then just picture
God grabbing at mid air, turning it around and sending
it back. Because it's happening, it is real. He is not,
(26:45):
he will be. He is. And after the butt God,
it's saying, God is going to display his justice in
a way that makes everyone shake and tremble and declare
the work of God, and consider what he is doing
(27:07):
and what he has done. And then we will be
glad and we will take refuge in him. Because he
is terrible, he is mighty, he is dangerous, but he
is ours and we are his. And if you prayed
that prayer earlier, you are his. There is nothing nothing
(27:30):
not in heaven not on earth, not in hell. There
are no evil forces anywhere that can snatch you out
of his grip because you belong to him. Let's pray,
(27:51):
Oh God, we just give you so much thanks and
praise for being our rescuer. While we were still sinners.
Christ died for us. I have been crucified with Christ,
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body. I live by
(28:12):
faith in the Son of God, who loves me and
gave himself for me. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation. The old has gone, the
new has come. Praise God. We thank you that we
(28:33):
can take refuge in you, and we thank you and
praise you that you are the great I am, not
that I will be or the Hold on a minute
and I'll get back to you. We claim that Lord,
you are good, You are just, You are loving, You
(29:01):
are the giver of good gifts, your kindness, and we
cling to that when things seem hard, when things seem
unfair and unjust, when things seem evil and rotten and ugly,
(29:27):
when we feel unloved and unseen, we can counter those
things with the knowledge of who you are now reveal
yourself to us. Lord, take the blinders off of us.
Help us to see past the lies and the deception
of the enemy that would keep us bound in places
(29:48):
of anger against you, bitterness against the world, sorrow and despair,
self loathing. Break the chain. Help us to walk in
freedom and with clear vision, and with open hearts and ears,
to hear your voice and to receive you in your son,
(30:09):
Jesus Christ. Amen. We'd like to take just a quick
second to thank the team at life Audio for their
partnership with us on the podcast. If you get a
lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of other faith
centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
Bible study, parenting, and so much more. That's lifeaudio dot Com.
Life Audio. Hey Darren, Welcome to another Prayer through the
Psalms episode of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I'm Jamie
and today we are going to be talking about and
praying through Psalm sixty four. Psalm sixty four is very
similar to a lot of the Psalms of David that
we've heard talking about his enemies. We hear tons about
(00:24):
David's enemies because he had a lot of them, and
they were always trying to destroy him, or find him,
or surround him or slander him one of many many
things he does talk about his enemies. But the thing
that sets this psalm apart from some of the others
and really got me thinking, is that this psalm involves
(00:45):
people who are plotting evil. They have evil thoughts, evil words,
evil actions. They're setting traps that they are convinced will
remain secret. And it got me thinking about justice, about
how frustrated I can get when I see injustice happening,
or when I see people getting away with things that
(01:06):
I don't feel like they should be getting away with
that I might know the truth about something and it
ends up not being exposed or not being believed by
the people that need to believe it. So, for instance,
this week on Monday, Alana and I had a True
Crime Junkies episode, which, if you don't know, we have
another podcast called Christian True Crime Junkies. And we had
(01:29):
an episode and it involved a young woman who was
abused as a teenager, went to the authorities and was
not believed, and so she ended up being sent back
to her original situation being abused, only with a very
angry abuser. That is not justice. That is insanity. And
(01:51):
it happens in the world, and it makes us angry,
and it gets our Mama bear all up in arms, right,
and sometimes it can drive us to feel angry with
God or hopeless or helpless or confused, or even questioning
whether God exists, or worse yet, if he exists but
doesn't care, And all of those things are part of
(02:13):
the human condition. And I just felt like someone might
need to hear this today. I read this psalm and
it gave me new eyes in regards to justice. So
the language I used to use when I was referring
to justice is we might not see God's justice unfold
here on earth because this world is temporary, and ultimately
(02:37):
justice will be done because God is the ultimate judge,
and there is going to be a judgment and everything's
going to be made right. And so I kind of
held this hopeful not yet, but at some point, you know,
we're going to be able to It was a hope
in what might happen in the future, what will happen
in the future. But as I read this, it reminded
(03:00):
me of a time when I was little and we
had this little hill on the side of our house.
It seemed much bigger when I was little, and if
you ran around the corner, there was like kind of
a jutting out chimney, and we had a brick home,
so the chimney was brick and it jutted out. So
if you went on the other side of the chimney
and kind of hid in the little corner that it made,
(03:23):
it was a great hide and seek place. But I
have a very vivid memory of being a child having
done something wrong. I don't remember what it was, but
I had this thought that I was going to go
around the corner there and hide from God. And it's
just kind of a silly memory, you know. I don't
even remember what I did to want to hide from God,
(03:43):
but it just is a very obvious object lesson that
you can't hide from God. Obviously hiding around the corner.
I'm not going to hide from God. But even if
evildoers that are mentioned in this psalm, even if they
make secret plots and secret plans, lay secret traps, they
think secret thoughts, they're doing evil things in secret, even
(04:08):
if those plans are never exposed in our space time continuum,
our finite timeline within God's creation and the confines of
it that we need to live by as humans, even
if it's not exposed, then there is a different place
where God resides. And we talk about it all the
time when we talk about spiritual warfare. We talk about
how there's this veil right of between the material world
(04:34):
that we see, touch, taste here and the spiritual reality
that lies beyond where the spiritual battle is taking place,
and that reality where there are principalities and angels and
demons fighting and prayers going up that are literally fueling
(04:57):
God's work in some mysterious way that we can't imagine
that that exists apart from what we can see, what
we can hear, what we can feel in this world,
and those things are going on in a different place.
So the Bible says, to God, a day is like
a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.
And at the very least, God exists in a place
(05:18):
where time is not the same. God doesn't perceive time
in the same way as we perceive it. And at
the same time, he's living in us. The Holy Spirit
is living in us. And part of this frame by
frame experience of time, the moment by moment timeline that's
ticking by every second. Right, God is with us too
(05:40):
experiencing this. But His essence and reality exist outside of
time as we know it. And so what I realized
kind of bring it back, I know, going off on
a rabbit trail, but to bring it back what I
experienced through reading this is we don't have to wait
until we die to experienced God's justice, because God is justice,
(06:04):
and he is living in us, and he is accomplishing
things in the heavenly realms, in the spiritual realm already.
It has already been done. And an example of this
is when the Bible talks about Jesus, the Lamb of God,
who is slain from the foundations of the earth, and
you think, how could the Lamb of God have been
(06:25):
slain from the foundations of the earth if he dropped
down into our timeline in around zero, you know, or
one ad or whatever. I don't know how they actually think,
you know, how they make that work. But in our
timeline he existed as a human with flesh and blood,
and he walked with the disciples, and he taught, and
(06:47):
he suffered a brutal beating and flogging, and he died
a terrible death that was full of shame, and there
were spectators and it was ugly, and he died, and
this was all real, and he was buried in a
physical place, and he rose from the dead. And how
can the Lamb of God have been slain from the
(07:09):
foundations of the earth and still have walked this timeline?
And I'm going to read a passage from Hebrews that
I think will make this more clear. Hebrews eight, verses
three through six. Every high priest is appointed to offer
both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for
this one also to have something to offer. If he
were on earth, he would not be a priest, for
(07:31):
there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by
the law. And here we go, they serve at a
sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is
in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he
was about to build the tabernacle, see to it that
you make everything according to the pattern shown you on
the mountain. Okay, so that was three through five. That
(07:52):
is amazing to me. That is mysterious and exciting to
me that this tavern it was built to such specific
design because when something in that tabernacle happened on Earth,
it was also happening in heaven. There's a tabernacle in heaven.
(08:13):
Like this is amazing to me because if you look
at Heaven as just this generic like, oh, we all
just kind of go back to the source, the Creator,
and yeah, we're just there. There's stuff happening, Like it's
not just this whole spiritual mishmash of goodness and light.
There are things happening. What is on this earth is
(08:35):
not Heaven. We know that, right. It might be a
little bit of hell in some places, but there is
a shadow of Heaven on earth. And there are things
when they happen on Earth that have cosmic, eternal, heavenly consequences.
And I believe that jesus death and resurrection were just
(08:55):
like this. I mean obviously right. If he was the
lamb who was slain from the foundation of the earth,
then what he did here on earth. If anyone's actions
on Earth had cosmic, eternal, heavenly parallels, obviously Jesus would have.
And I think that's how it happened. When justice doesn't
look like it's happening here on earth, it doesn't mean
(09:18):
it's not happening here on earth. That there is a
cosmic reality that is going on, and what we see
here is just a shadow. And even when we see
glimpses of the spiritual battle happening and evidence of our
prayers working, and that's just the tip of a gigantic
iceberg of God's work, and it's done, like according to God,
(09:45):
if we were to pop out of our timeline into
where God is, which is present all around us, it
is finished. It's not yet to be. And I know
that someone needed to hear this, and that someone is
struggling and wrestling with God right now about something that's
very unjust and very unfair and very unsettling and evil
(10:07):
that is not being held accountable. You can be sure
that justice is because God is He's I am, not
I will be when you get to heaven. I am.
That is who our God is. And I just have
to tell you don't lose heart. And we can pray
(10:27):
for those glimpses. I pray that when I am weak
in my faith, give me a glimpse. God, give me
a rope, a lifeline to hold on too, so that
I can just be reminded that you are and that
I don't have to wait until I die to experience
that justice and that goodness and that healing and resolution,
but that you are now all right. I want to
(10:49):
open us up with some prayer before we get into
our psalm. If you can believe that we haven't gotten
there yet, I want to flip the script for our
time of prayer. And while many of us can relate
to this idea that justice needs to happen, and we
can take tremendous comfort in knowing that there is a
(11:11):
God of justice who sees justice served, it can also
be terrifying because we are not perfect. If you know Jesus,
then you know that when you place your faith in Jesus,
he paid the penalty for any sins that you've committed.
That you're committing right now that you will commit in
(11:31):
the future. It is finished, it is paid, the price
is paid, and we have freedom from the bondage of sin.
It doesn't mean we're perfect, but we can fix our
eyes on Jesus and throw off the sin that so
easily entangles us and ensnares us and holds us back
from God's best for us. But if right now you
don't know that, right now you are somehow you stumbled
(11:53):
upon this and you don't know Jesus, and you're terrified
at the thought of a just God, and you're terrified
of if you died today, what would meet you on
the other side, then I am here to tell you
that God has made away for you to become right
with Him, no matter what your past is, no matter
(12:13):
what your present is, no matter what you think your
future might look like. Because of the consequences of the
sin in your life up to this point, He has
made away for you to be right with Him, and
that is to place your faith in Jesus. So I'm
going to do two things during our prayer time right
now as we prepare to read this Psalm. Thing one
is I'm going to model a prayer for you if
(12:36):
you're listening and you don't know Jesus or you know
who he is. You know about him, but you're not
convinced that if you died today that you would meet
Jesus and that you would be with God, and that
there wouldn't be punishment in store for you. I want
to model a prayer if you want to just pray
along with me, or listen and then create your own
(12:57):
version as you hit pause, however you want to do it.
I want to provide a way because God is just,
and there is punishment for sin, and there is separation
from God that is very real and very unfortunate. But
God has made away that anyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved. So I want
(13:19):
to provide that for you and then for everyone listening.
I would like to just have a moment to focus
on some confession and repentance. So let's pray, Father God.
(13:44):
I know I am a sinner. I know that there
is nothing I can do to work my way into heaven.
The Bible tells us that all of our righteous acts
are like filthy rags. And yet you have made away. Lord.
(14:06):
I acknowledge that you sent your son Jesus Christ, to
live an actual life in space, time, to walk the earth,
to reflect your perfect image to people who desperately needed
good news, to teach, to model with his own life
(14:33):
how you want us to live. And I believe that
you sent your son so that none should perish but
have eternal life. Lord, I accept the gift of salvation.
I place my faith in Jesus. I am sorry for
(14:58):
missing the mark. I'm sorry for sinning against you, and
I choose to turn from that sin and cling to
Jesus instead because I know his ways are better. Your
way is better. And I place my faith in Jesus
(15:18):
and I receive the forgiveness for my sins. Amen, and Lord.
We just come before you knowing that there are things
in our lives. There are thoughts, there are words, there
are actions, there are plans, there are attitudes, emotions. There
(15:41):
are things that separate us from you because they're not holy,
and they're not perfect, and sometimes they're downright evil. Lord.
I just pray that you would bring those things to
our minds, and that as they bubble up to the surface,
(16:09):
that instead of a sorrow that leads to death, a
hopeless sorrow, a wallowing in self pity and self loathing
that could happen when faced with our sinfulness and imperfection.
Instead of that, that you would give us that beautiful
(16:29):
sorrow that leads to repentance and life, because repentance is
turning away from that sin. It's rejecting it, it's shedding it,
it's allowing it to fall away like scales from the
eyes of the one that Jesus healed, so that we
(16:54):
can see clearly, so that we may fix our eyes
on Jesus, author and perfector of our faith, so that
we could run the race with perseverance and throw off
the chains that keep us bound to our sin and
(17:15):
to our human fallacies. We thank you for that hope,
and we just pray that repentance would be a lifestyle
that throughout the week you would just be reminding us
of things that you'd be stopping us in our tracks
when we have an evil thought or even just kind
(17:38):
of a lame thought anywhere on the spectrum of sin. God,
convict us, stop us in our tracks, help us to
be able to take all of those thoughts captive before
they become words and actions and plans and plots. And
we just pray that you would help us to see
(17:58):
clearly to live well and to walk in the plans
that You have for us, not just for our own
benefit and our own glory, but for Your glory and
for the benefit of the world and the Gospel, and
(18:20):
that those things can live together. That Christian hedonism, like
in desiring, desiring God, that we would be able to
revel in goodness and joy and relationship with You, That
that would be the driving force behind our actions, behind
(18:44):
our choosing Jesus over sin, because it is good. Amen.
All right, let's read this psalm finally right. Psalm sixty
four from the Nasby nineteen ninety five, Prayer for delivers
from secret enemies for the choir director, a psalm of David.
(19:04):
Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint, preserve my
life from dread of the enemy, Hide me from the
secret counsel of evildoers, from the tumult of those who
do iniquity, who have sharpened their tongue like a sword.
They aimed bitter speech as their arrow to shoot from
concealment at the blameless. Suddenly they shoot at him and
(19:26):
do not fear. They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose.
They talk of laying snares secretly, they say, who can
see them. They devise injustices, saying, we are ready with
a well conceived plot for the inward thought and heart
of man are deep. But God will shoot at them
with an arrow. Suddenly they will be wounded, so they
(19:47):
will make him stumble. Their own tongue is against them.
All who see them will shake their head. Then all
men will fear, and they will declare the work of God,
and will consider what he has done. The righteous man
will be glad in the Lord, and we'll take refuge
in him, and all the upright and heart will glory. Amen. David,
(20:08):
just right off the bat, hear my voice, O God,
in my complaint. I mean, he's just very real about
the fact that he can go to God and complain.
And I was doing this in the car on the
way home from running some errands today. I was literally complaining.
I was just saying, God, I got to complain, and
(20:29):
I know that I can because you are my loving Father,
and I can complain to you and you will just
listen and sometimes you'll talk back. But I know that
He will always be at work in my conversation with him.
So even as I was complaining, I felt almost like
(20:52):
like I was running my thoughts through a filter and
they were coming back to me better. So as I
was complaining, as I was laying out my SOB stories, whatever,
it was like God took them, process them through this filter.
Maybe it's like that, take captive every thought and make
it obedient to Christ. God is the filter. And so
(21:14):
as I was running my complaints through God, they came
back to me and I legitimately I didn't even have
to fake it. I came back with joy and Thanksgiving
and it was beautiful. So I love it. I love
the permission. And one of the big reasons I did
use that word complain was because of this psalm. And
one of my complaints was I've recorded this like five times,
(21:36):
I'm not kidding you, and it's different. Things have happened,
and so I was kind of complaining about that among
other things. But you know what I was, I just
was brought back to Thanksgiving. Thank you, God, Thank you,
Because if I've recorded this five times, I've read this
Psalm five times, and I've meditated on it five times,
(21:58):
and that is good. Maybe I needed more scripture in
my life. And I also love down here as we
go down. It's these enemies are not surrounding him trying
to kill him. These enemies have sharpened their tongue like
a sword. They've bitter speech is their arrow. David knew
what it was like to fear real weapons and real death.
(22:19):
But this is a different kind of fear. He says,
preserve my life from dread of the enemy. It's not
preserve my life from being killed. It's when we fear
and dread our enemy, whether it's an actual enemy, whether
it's spiritual warfare enemy, whether it's something standing in the
way of us and something we believe God has for us,
(22:42):
whatever that is, maybe it's an illness or impending doom
for no reason, whatever it is, that dread is real,
and sometimes it's more real than the actual threat. And
I speak from experience, and many of you have heard
me talk about this, that the dread and the fear
(23:02):
and the anxiety that is caused is a lot of
times it's worse than the actual reality. And one of
the reasons is that I have found is that when
I'm worrying and I'm anxious and I'm dreading something, I'm
actually picturing something down the line. But it's devoid of God.
(23:23):
God isn't in it. I'm not picturing myself relying on God.
I'm picturing that thing happening, and it's scary to me.
But what I'm forgetting is God is in it. So
I think what David's saying here is preserve my life
from being afraid, because what that's doing is preserve my
life from forgetting You're with me, and you're the biggest,
(23:45):
baddest dad out there. There's nothing that can stand against
me when my God, my Father is standing behind me
and fighting for me. And then we get to the
part that I waxed poetic on for so long, the
enemies laying snares, secretly saying who can see these plans
they devise injustices, saying we're ready with a well conceived
(24:08):
plot for the inward thought and the heart of man
are deep. But guess what, not deep enough for God
to be able to discern, not big enough for God
to be able to draw out what is in the
wickedness of a man's heart and mind. And so this
is that whole piece of the puzzle of nothing will
(24:30):
remain hidden. And what the Bible actually tells us is
that even that which is exposed by light becomes light.
And I think that's a picture of the beautiful, redeeming
nature of God, that he takes even the worst, and
when it's exposed, it can't remain dark. And I love this.
(24:54):
I love this about God, that he is a redeemer.
And it goes on. My very favorite thing is the
first verses one through six are all about the problem
and the wickedness, and then seven begins with two words
that I just want to be my mantra. But God,
anything that you can complain about, anything you can be
(25:14):
afraid of, lay it out there, write it in your journal,
say it to God. And then but after it, all
you got to put is but God. But God, I
am not, I will be not. Hang on, hang on,
I'll get to you in a little bit. No, he is,
He is justice, he is goodness, He is a giver
(25:36):
of good gifts. Now not leader. And that is what
I love. And then he says, but God will shoot
them with an arrow. Suddenly they'll be wounded. It's like
that same arrow that they try shooting, that bitter speech
aimed as their arrow, God deflects it back. And I
know it's kind of juvenile, but it makes me think
of I am rubber and you are glue. Whatever you
(25:58):
say bounces off me and sticks to you. That's what
it is. God. God takes the plans and the plots
of the enemy. He exposes them, and then he turns
it around against them. And we might see it in
the land of the living here on earth, but we
might not. But we have to picture. If it helps
(26:20):
you to picture your enemies, your problems, your worries, your giants,
if it helps to picture them beyond this veil that
we can see as an arrow, and then just picture
God grabbing at mid air, turning it around and sending
it back. Because it's happening, it is real. He is not,
(26:45):
he will be. He is. And after the butt God,
it's saying, God is going to display his justice in
a way that makes everyone shake and tremble and declare
the work of God, and consider what he is doing
(27:07):
and what he has done. And then we will be
glad and we will take refuge in him. Because he
is terrible, he is mighty, he is dangerous, but he
is ours and we are his. And if you prayed
that prayer earlier, you are his. There is nothing nothing
(27:30):
not in heaven not on earth, not in hell. There
are no evil forces anywhere that can snatch you out
of his grip because you belong to him. Let's pray,
(27:51):
Oh God, we just give you so much thanks and
praise for being our rescuer. While we were still sinners.
Christ died for us. I have been crucified with Christ,
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body. I live by
(28:12):
faith in the Son of God, who loves me and
gave himself for me. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation. The old has gone, the
new has come. Praise God. We thank you that we
(28:33):
can take refuge in you, and we thank you and
praise you that you are the great I am, not
that I will be or the Hold on a minute
and I'll get back to you. We claim that Lord,
you are good, You are just, You are loving, You
(29:01):
are the giver of good gifts, your kindness, and we
cling to that when things seem hard, when things seem
unfair and unjust, when things seem evil and rotten and ugly,
(29:27):
when we feel unloved and unseen, we can counter those
things with the knowledge of who you are now reveal
yourself to us. Lord, take the blinders off of us.
Help us to see past the lies and the deception
of the enemy that would keep us bound in places
(29:48):
of anger against you, bitterness against the world, sorrow and despair,
self loathing. Break the chain. Help us to walk in
freedom and with clear vision, and with open hearts and ears,
to hear your voice and to receive you in your son,
(30:09):
Jesus Christ. Amen. We'd like to take just a quick
second to thank the team at life Audio for their
partnership with us on the podcast. If you get a
lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of other faith
centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
Bible study, parenting, and so much more. That's lifeaudio dot Com.
Popular Podcasts
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com