STALKED

Have you ever been stalked?  I have been, and it’s not fun.  Stalking can turn a normally rational person into a raving, paranoid bundle of nerves (If you don’t believe me, just ask my family).  The stalked must deal with the prospect of how effectual they may or may not be if actually confronted with their stalker.  As someone working through a PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) affliction, I can tell you that PTSD can complicate stalking’s paralyzing fear all the more.

Charlie Sheen (a.k.a. Charlie Harper on the television sitcom Two and a Half Men) had stalker Rose (Melanie Lynskey) as a neighbor.  In real life, such a scenario would be bad enough, but imagine if your stalker came from the very group that you normally look to for comfort and support—even closer than your neighbor.  Yes, I’m talking about one’s own family.  That’s what happened to the psalmist David, as he describes the experience of being stalked by his son, Absalom, in Psalm 3. 

Of course Absalom was not the only one hunting David, but he was, as it were, the leader of the pack.  The psalmist points out that there were in fact, many that wanted his hide, and they were talking amongst themselves that God would not help him, but what did they know?  Verses 3 and 4 talk about the Lord’s protection, that follows David’s having called out to Him. 

He describes the Lord as a “shield” to him.  In ancient times, arrows were the ammunition of choice, and shields were, in effect, yesterday’s equivalent to the bullet-proof vest.  David also describes God’s lifting up his head.  In Bible times, when someone was in the presence of the King, they were to get down on a knee or two and keep their head bowed.  If the passing King touched your head, it meant you were forgiven—the original version of “Duck, Duck, Goose.”  Apparently the disdain that David’s enemies had for him did not equate to the lack of it that God had for David.  The very fact that he “lay down and slept” means that he had enough peace to not have insomnia, and the fact that he awoke tells us that nobody got to him in the night.  The psalmist concludes his work by telling us that deliverance and blessing come to those that have a relationship with Him.

What about you?  From personal experience I’m exceedingly glad to say that God will in fact bring peace midst intimidation from the enemy; keep in mind that He is not obligated to do so with those lacking a personal relationship with Him.

b(Les)sings

Psalm 3

¹ LORD, how they have increased who trouble me!
         Many are they who rise up against me.
 ² Many are they who say of me,
         “There is no help for him in God.”  Selah
      
 ³ But You, O LORD, are a shield for me,
         My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
 ⁴ I cried to the LORD with my voice,
         And He heard me from His holy hill.  Selah
      
 ⁵ I lay down and slept;
         I awoke, for the LORD sustained me.
 ⁶ I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
         Who have set themselves against me all around.
      
 ⁷ Arise, O LORD;
         Save me, O my God!
         For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone;
         You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
 ⁸ Salvation belongs to the LORD.
         Your blessing is upon Your people.  Selah-NKJV-

For further consideration, please note the following two brief Bible passages:

From Isaiah 54: ¹⁷ No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
      And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
      You shall condemn.
      This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
      And their righteousness is from Me,”
      Says the LORD--NKJV-
And from I Peter 5: ⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour--NKJV-