The God Card

Psalm 71:1

“In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.”

When I was in grade school, we always talked about fights. Billy got into a fight with John, and so on. Included in those conversations was the big brother bomb. You knew not to mess with so-and-so because of his big brother. This kid had some kind of immunity toward conflict. Moving through those years of the kids’ fight clubs, we hardly ever saw the “big brother”; he was just a large, punishing figure painted by our imaginations. That kid who used his big brother as a get out of jail free card often got away with more than the rest of us.

In verse 1 of Psalm 71, David is in the same position. He says, “Let me never be put to shame.” As a Christian, we should all be at this place. We should all be in the position of relying on God in all we do. In the world’s eyes, we should be called crazy for relying on a God to intervene on our behalf. Reading Psalm 71, it is clear that David was in that position.

Verse 14 of the same chapter says, “As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.” Are you acting as if God will move the mountains before you, or are you still putting the safety nets in case God does not show up? Broadcasting the God card in conversations is like bragging about your older brother on the playground. In 2 Corinthians 5:7, it says to walk by faith and not by sight. You should be stepping forward in faith, knowing that God is with you.

If anyone ever asks you how you are moving forward in this or that, a good idea is to repeat the Bible, the playbook from God: “I am walking by faith and not by sight because God is with me, and He will never leave me or forsake me.” It was clear David was in this position, and in spite of the chaos around him, he says in verse 15, “My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long, though I know not how to relate them all.” You may not know how to relate to the things around you, but God is working. Your job is to tell of God’s righteous deeds and saving acts all day long. That is it. Put God first, and you begin to see Him work.

Prayer: Father, help us put You first in all things. I pray that my mind would stay on You and Your promises all day long. I pray that I would not let the cares of this world get into my head, but rather I would tell of Your righteous deeds and saving acts all day long, in Jesus’ name. Amen.