Verses:
Psalm 144:1-2 says “Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”
Psalm 18:2 says “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Proverbs 28:1 says “The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
Devo:
I’ve always loved the book of Psalms and the messages it shares, and there’s a few parts that really stick out to me as a LEOW. In Psalm 18, David is being beaten by Saul-I mean, really beaten- but the Lord “draws him out of deep waters” and rescues him from “the cords of death that entangled him”. You might be wondering “now why are you scaring us with talk about death and evil”.
And you’re a little right-that stuff is scary, and not exactly something that we like to talk about. But the reality is our officers face peril. They are put in dangerous situations. That’s just how it is. They have a dangerous job, one that is especially trying in this day and age of anti-police culture. And I used to get really stressed out about it. I still do. But I’ve realized that there’s a few things protecting my officer that make it easier not to worry as much.
First, he is well trained. All of those months at academy, all of those hours at training, all of those bullets spent at the range, all of that stuff that sits on his duty belt-those things are all about preparing our officers to do their job, and do their job well. I also have faith in my officer’s coworkers. I trust that his department is set up to take care of business, and provide its officers with the tools they need to do their job as safety as possible. And I trust that God has His hand on my officer at all times. Does this mean that nothing bad can happen to him? No. I wish that were the case, but its not. But I do know that my officer will do everything in his power to do his job well and to come home to me at night, and I know that the Lord is watching over both of us, and has our story written out for us already. Our officers have been called to do a hard job, a dangerous job, a thankless job, but they have not been called to it without preparation and protection.
Prayer:
Lord, You are strong and You are faithful. Thank you for helping prepare my officer for the tasks he faces every day. You have knitted him together and specifically prepared his fingers for the battles he will face. You have created his hands to be capable of the wars he may see. And you have instilled a braveness and righteousness in his heart that allows him to carry out his calling each day. Thank you for creating him this way.
