I’ve spent some time in the early parts of the year reading the first handful of psalms, and I’ve struggled with some parts. The writer, David, writes about his enemies a lot. I have hospitality staff who don’t smile when they drop off my flat white and banana bread, but David had legit enemies! People hunting him, with swords, and arrows, and chariots and other sharp, pointy metal things. So understandably he says in Psalm 7:1-2

“LORD my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.”

He’s not using hyperbole, he’s seriously concerned that he will be killed and ripped to pieces.

I don’t think I’ve ever had to worry about that.

I don’t think many Australians have ever had to worry about that.

So what do we do with the parts of Scripture that just seem really foreign to our very safe Western, middle-class context?

I think there’s two options.

#1 We can analogise (it’s a word, I looked it up) the ‘enemies’ of David as ‘anyone who doesn’t like us or isn’t helpful’. So Sheila in the office who makes you do your own photocopying, she’s a prime substitute for ‘enemies’. Or Gary the subby who comes onto the site and leaves his crap everywhere for you to clean up, he’s doing the work of Satan to disrupt your holy project. Or Martin the accountant who is constantly burying you under discrepancies found between expected expenditure and actual expenditure and wants receipts for every batch brew bought on the company card… you got it, he’s an enemy of the kingdom of heaven! Now get out there, and in the name of Jesus you bind those powers of darkness disguised as Sheila, Gary, and Martin!

or

#2 We admit that we just don’t have the same type of enemies pursuing us, wanting to work against us the same type grievous harm, as David did. Because here’s the thing, even though it’s 2024, real enemies still exist in the world. Not in our country, but in many others, there are still real men and women (mostly men) who want to literally kill Christians, burn down churches, kidnap children, and rape women and girls. That still happens in many countries, even though it doesn’t in ours. So perhaps we should read the songs and poems of David and have our eyes and hearts opened to the fact that we live in a country of incredible safety and security! And our response isn’t to analogise, but to sympathise. And in our sympathy, to thank God for the benefits of living in a country where we have no idea how to apply anything to do with ‘my enemies’. What a joy, what a blessing to ask the question “how do I apply the parts of Scripture where God’s people are in danger? Because I have no idea what that must feel like.”

That’s not to say Satan is not at work in the West, or that no one in Australia is exposed to evil or harm. Undoubtedly there is just as much truth for us as there was to the original context of Genesis 4:7, “…sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you…”

We are not exempt from temptation, sin, or evil, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking we understand the sheer terror of being pursued by enemies the same way David did in the psalms, or the same way many men, women, and children do today around the world.

Rather than inflating our sense of persecution, let us turn our physical security into praise to the God of heaven and earth, and into prayer for those who do not share those same blessings. We did nothing to deserve being born, or growing up, or living where we do. We have won the lottery of God’s sovereign will and plan, so we can either pretend that we don’t have it that good, or we can thank God that we do, and pray for those who right now are really, truly crying out with the psalmist, in Psalm 10:13-14

“LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!

Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,

that I may declare your praises in the gates of Daughter Zion,

and there rejoice in your salvation.”