Tuesday, May 11

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint: preserve my life from the dread enemy.
—Psalm 64:1

We would like it to be a perfect world. We would like everyone to care about each other and treat one another with kindness, care, and respect. In fact, we try to conduct ourselves as if this were the case.

Then we are stunned when, seemingly out of nowhere, we are betrayed; we are intentionally wounded; we are undermined and our world crumbles before our eyes. Sometimes we actually find ourselves face to face with our enemy. We can see the malice in their eyes; feel their hatred like a blow. And we know that it is not a perfect world.

Life carries with it the risk of being hurt. Even prayer will not always protect us from the possibility or reality of having to deal with enemies. But prayer can massage our soul, calm our fear, and give us the ability to respond to our enemies through the heart of heaven.

When we pray, we are placing ourselves in the space of eternity, and in that space we are ultimately protected and safe. The prayer we pray is not merely to be freed from the hand of our enemies, but to be kept safely in heaven's heart.

O God, let me find in your timelessness the truth of my security.

These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2004.