“When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at Your presence . . . Have mercy on me, O LORD! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death” (Psalm 9:3, 13).
Dear Praying Friends:
Over the entrance to the Greek oracle at Delphi were inscribed the words, “Know thyself.” With equal wisdom, Sun Tzu (544-496 BC), traditionally held to be the author of The Art of War, wrote, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”
But who am I, and who is my enemy?
Traditionally, theologians have said that we face three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil (see Ephesians 2:1-3.)
The “world” certainly includes people who want to harm us, like those attacking David. Satan and his minions also constantly conspire to ruin our souls and bodies. But Paul knew that these two foes could inflict lasting ruin unless our flesh collaborated with them. So, what is this traitor who can, as it were, open the gates from the inside?
Paul further defines the flesh as “the [sinful and ungodly] desires of the flesh [body] and of the mind.”
In other words, as the cartoon character Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”* The world and the devil cannot ruin our souls unless we become collaborators.
To gain the victory in this daily battle, we need not only to know ourselves and our enemies, but turn to God in prayer and praise, trusting in his infinite power to defend and deliver us. That was the “secret” that enabled David to gain the victory.
Though Jesus had no sinful desires, he had to resist the temptations of Satan and the world that assailed him relentlessly. He called out to the one who would “lift [him] up from the gates of death” (Psalm 9:13) and became our comprehensive Savior.
“Those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You” (Psalm 9:10).
Yours in his saving victory,
Wright
*A 1970 humorous take on the American naval commander Oliver Hazard Perry’s dispatch to his superior in the War of 1812, “We have met the enemy and he is ours.” https://library.osu.edu/site/40stories/2020/01/05/we-have-met-the-enemy.