An Unexpected Enemy

Reading through the Psalms there is always a lot of praying about dealing with enemies. Of course David spent a lot of time on the Negev dodging the armies of the soon to be deposed king Saul. In Psalm 9:13, David prayed, "Lord, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death."

I have had "enemies" along the way in leadership. People who didn't like me. I get it. I don't always like me, either. But I can't always relate to what David felt here. Then it occurred to me that sometimes the enemies are not "out there." Often they are in here--between my ears.

I might well pray, "God save me from my enemies! Deliver me from"

• A bitter hardened heart that negatively affects others (Hebrews 12:15)
• A lazy attitude that doesn't commit to do the difficult things that make the difference
• Resistance to being stretched and challenged
• A resolved indifference
• A compromising secret inner life--a shadow life of misalignment
• Surrender to the status quo, sitting on the latent creativity that you blessed me with!
• Entertaining thoughts of quitting and running
• A loss of the sense of Your awe!
• The temptation to stop dreaming!

When I'm looking for an application to the enemies David prayed about in the Psalms, sometimes the easiest place to find them is in the mirror.