# 34. 2017 Dev. Ps 17:8. In the Shadow of God’s Wings. Read all of Ps.17 The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Psalm 17:8
“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings”
In this series of 10 Psalms (Ps.15-24) about God’s majesty and the need for moral purity, David inserts a prayer. The prayer is a personal prayer, it is in the first person and anticipates God’s answer. By David’s faith and intimate knowledge of God the prayer becomes a two-way conversation! Yet, David continues to glorify God and displays moral purity in his life.
How do we as followers of Jesus connect with David’s prayer today? The first thing we see is that David points out that he has not transgressed with his mouth, not with his eyes, not with his thoughts, nor with his actions and has not strayed from the path of God’s commands, verses 2-5. “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16b).
Second, we see that David glorifies God. David, fueled by faith (the Spirit) is confident of God’s answer. He has experienced God’s great love, God’s salvation and has made God his refuge in a broken and changing world, verses 6-7. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Paul asks us in Ro. 8:35 and he gives us the answer: nothing in heaven or on earth! “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” Ro.8:37.
Third. David moves to the evil he is praying to be protected from. All the faculties of men are involved in practicing righteousness as they are in evil living: the eyes, the mouth, the mind, and all action of men and women, “whose reward is in this life” verses 9-14. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (I Pet. 5:15).
Our comfort and our strength is in David’s request in verse 8. Along with David we ask God to keep us, to hide us and shade us. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro.8:38-39).
Therefore, we will see His face!
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