Sorry, bit long this one! But for courage and your comfort, Christian!

Psalm 23:5 “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”

Psalm 23 is just about the earliest memories I have of the Bible. I’m so thankful my parents taught me this wonderful Psalm growing up so I could have it with me all these years.

All of this amazing Psalm has been such a comfort and strength to the saints of God through time, but this verse and its golden strands of truth particularly stand out for now.

… David had enemies!

Did he want and seek to have enemies? No. Yet he had them within and without … from family to friends to Philistines.

How could the man after Gods own heart and the sweet Psalmist of Israel have enemies… and so many of them? … yet David experienced what we will experience following Christ.

You got saved? You believe the Bible? You truly following Jesus? Get set for enemies. But also get set for God’s amazing provision and blessing among them.

One of David’s biggest enemies was a guy called Saul and his army… Saul envied David massively and was constantly out to get him, all while David never wronged him at all.

In 1 Samuel 23, David saved the city of Keilah only to have to flee for his life from that city because they were going to betray him despite what he did for them.

Furthermore, David had enemies in his own household, in his own family… his oldest brother belittled and rejected him and then even his own son ran him off the throne and tried killing him.

David made many enemies through his life because of and as he truly followed God… and those enemies would seemingly pile up and overflow at times! As he wrote in Psalm 3 “Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.”

… it would be nice to live a life following Christ without enemies… Personally, I certainly don’t want them and don’t seek to make them.. and surely nobody does…

… but fact is, if you follow Christ you’re going to have enemies… and we all kind of expect enemies “out there” somewhere… but not within, not in the supposed household of faith… and yet that assuredly is where you will experience the worst enmity as you follow Christ!

Psalm 41:9 “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.”

Zechariah 13:6 “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”

… Well, that’s depressing.

But don’t be discouraged, in fact… take courage! It means you are on the right track. Jesus said “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you!”… if you haven’t made any enemies yet (for the cause of Christ), you probably just aren’t following him at all.

But please note… that there is a fine balance to this!!! God is not against friendship or fellowship, in fact, in Christ you will find friends, fellowship and relationship of the type and quality that few ever experience. And also, there is a difference between suffering for righteousness versus suffering for wrongdoing.

… But God lets us have enemies for many reasons… to try our faith, to purify it, to teach us mercy and love, to reveal true friendships and separate truth from lie in our lives, and to focus our faith and draw us closer to Christ. Sharing in the afflictions of Christ is a privilege, as in the book of Acts “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”

It’s also amazing what God does with and through our enemies. Because he doesn’t stop being God just because enemies of the cross of Christ come out the woodwork at you. And among the overflow of enemies you will also experience the overflow of the Spirit of God.

Note also in this Psalm that God didn’t take away David’s enemies, he just prepared a table for him among them! And if he did it for David, he will do it for you too! And what that means is that you can not just survive… but you can thrive, even while they are all about you!

… because what God blesses is blessed! And no type or amount of enemies can curse what God has blessed. In the book of Numbers, king Balak wanted the prophet Balaam to curse Israel… but Balaam could not, because God had blessed Israel. When God blesses your life, you could have the whole world against you, yet you are blessed.

Remember, for all the enemies Christ had in all realms… God used all those enemies to produce the salvation story for the ages. In the book of Esther, for all his schemes and advancement, wicked Haman ended up forced to parade Mordecai all through town, and in like manner, all those enemies may just be who God uses for his greatest triumph through your life.

Just because you have enemies doesn’t mean your cup can’t run over with the blessing of God. Remember, it is in rejection and false accusations that come as we follow Christ that God’s biggest blessings are found and abound… just read the final double blessing in the Beatitudes!

Enemies are an inescapable part of life. Nobody would want them, but you’re going to have them anyway,  saved or not, thus it’s best have them for the cause of Christ, and allow God to turn the ashes of their alienation, accusation, and acrimony into the beauty of alleluia!

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