Assurance

Assurance does not mean everything goes along all rainbows and butterflies. Assurance does not mean easy. Assurance does not mean struggle free, pain free, or trial free. Assurance does not mean the enemy won’t attack.

Assurance is not equal to euphoria.

In Psalm 25 David is writing a plea for deliverance and forgiveness. This is thought to be written after his affair with Bathsheba and causing her husband, Uriah’s, death. While David repented and received forgiveness from God, he still had to walk through the consequences of his actions (2 Sam 12), which was, adversity would rise up from his own family. His own son, Absolom was seeking to overthrow David as King and this is where we find David praying for deliverance and forgiveness in the first third of this Psalm.

The middle third, the language shifts a bit to give reason to believe David feels he has received answer for his prayers using beautiful covenant language like verse 10, All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, and 14 The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him and He will show them His covenant. David prays and writes with such vulnerability and truth never hiding his heart, his hurt, his concerns, but he also remembers and acknowledges what God has done before, what He has promised to do, and what he has faith that He will still do. What an example to us today!

So then, why does it seem David is stepping backward again in verse 16-17 when he says to God, turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. For the troubles of my heart have enlarged; bring me out of my distress! Why does it sound as if he’s gone from praying, and receiving assurance, to desperate pleading again? Shouldn’t it all be fine if God has given him assurance? Shouldn’t David be thanking God for paving the way and removing the obstacles?

Believer, NO! While we know God wins in the end, the enemy is still very present and working on overdrive to disrupt, frustrate, and manipulate the plans, families, ministries, and work of God’s people. Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, to David, to now, and until the end.

David’s plead is not a loss of assurance, but in verses 19-22 an acknowledgment that there is an enemy coming against him: consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with a cruel hatred. Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all their troubles!

David is walking in full assurance of His Lord INTO the situation that’s causing his distress. That, my friends, is assurance. The ability to look The situation full in the face.

This does not come from confidence in self, arrogance, or pride, but in knowing the promises of the Alpha and Omega, the Creator, the Redeemer, the great I Am!

Praying you have the assurance that comes from the redeeming work of Christ on the cross,

~Jules