“Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!” (Psalm 3:1 NIV)
Everyone has felt outnumbered by their foes. Our enemies aren’t necessarily people. Sometimes life seems like the enemy. I felt like life was getting the best of me the other day. I walked dogs, not realizing I was out of doggie bags. One of my medium sized clients who never poops on our walks, chose this day to poop. The only thing I had to carry the poop with was an old pair of sunglasses. I carefully scraped the droppings onto the sunglasses and gingerly carried my prize to a trash can. The trash can was a ½ mile away.
A couple of days later, I realized the sunglasses weren’t my old ones. They were my good sunglasses. I had to buy a pair of sunglasses. The crappy moment kept on giving more crap. Life’s foes outnumbered me.
Everyone has felt outnumbered by their foes.
Crap happens to everyone, literally and figuratively. One bad thing seems to happen after another. A black cloud hangs over your head. No matter what you do, nothing seems to go right. But beautiful things come from crappy moments.
If I hadn’t had the poop incident happen, I wouldn’t have had a belly laugh with a dear friend. She had her own “poop” moment happen in life. Our crappy moments turned into a chuckle, which bonded us closer together. Beauty from ashes, laughter from tears. Life’s moments are just that, moments. Good or bad, they both pass. The key in facing our foes is realizing, we’re not alone in the battle.
God is with us in our battles. He knows the poop of life, and He knows what He’s going to do with it in our lives. All things work to the good for those who believe and trust in Him (Romans 8:28 NIV). He used my friend and I’s poop moment to deepen our friendship with each other. God doesn’t waste anything, He uses everything for His purposes. He knows the battles we face, He’s already provided a way:
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:3-5 NIV)
When life’s foes are outnumbering you, seek God. Use His weapons to fight the battle. Turn to His people to help you gain a new perspective. You’re not fighting alone. God’s placed warriors in your life to fight with you. God’s warriors outnumber our foes.
Question of the Day:
How can your poop moment turn into a victory for you?
Further Reading: 1 Chronicles 1:1-2:17 NIV, Acts 23:11-35 NIV, Psalm 3 NIV, Proverbs 18:14-15 NIV