1. O God, You have cast us off, You have broken us down; You have been displeased; O restore us again!
2. You have made the earth tremble; You have broken it; Heal it’s breaches for it is shaking.
3. You have shown Your people hard things; You have made us drink the wine of confusion.
4. You have given a banner to those who fear You, That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah
5. That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand and hear me.
6. God has spoken in His holiness, I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem and measure out the valley of Succoth.
7. Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is my lawgiver.
8. Moab is my washpot; Over Edom I will cast my shoe. Philistia shout in triumph because of Me.
9. Who will bring me to the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom?
10. Is it not You O God? Who cast us off? And You O God? Who did not go out with our armies?
11. Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.
12. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who will tread down our enemies.

When I first read this Psalm….. especially verse 8 about the WASHPOT… I thought “oh great – this is not the Psalm I had in mind tostart the year with!.... but seriously, as I started studying, I started to get excited about the principles within this Psalm, and how crucial these lessons are to each of our lives.
 
This Psalm was given to teach, and teach David did, as he beautifully continually taught the children of Israel… so that the glorious works of God should be told for generations to come, so much so, we find ourselves here today, learning from the life and heart of this great poet and warrior.
 
We find David again… who during a great victory against Syria in the North, receives news that Edom had invaded Judah from the South. You can hear in David’s language that he is shocked, and disappointed to think that God would allow such a terrible thing to happen. He is pleading to God… ’turn Your face to us again…You are not pleased with us’.But Israel had been in strife for a long time, and fractured from within as a legacy of Saul’s leadership… David knew that facing an army was one thing, but facing life under the displeasure of God… that is worse than all the armies in the world against you! So he goes to God, and says…HEAL THIS BROKEN SITUATION!!You all know that if you are in a time of intense strain or struggle, this is where the cracks deep in your life show up, OR the STRENGTH in your life keeps you upright and STRONG-HEARTED… 

I know that sometimes when your world is seemingly crashing around you, all you have is the hand of the Lord to keep you upright… and you’ve just got to TRUST, and REFUSE to let go! David says… ‘Lord, You have caused us to drink the wine of astonishment!’ He was surprised that God had not shown His strength as yet.
 
Well, here again… it is decision time…time to complain and talk about all the times you feel you’ve been let down OR, pick up the language of a champion, and talk of the UNFAILING PROMISE of God. David talks of flying the BANNER…. The bravest of men were entrusted with banners, for those who fear God and have the least fear of man than any others. A banner signifies the Lord’s favor, that God was with them in the fight, and a guarantee of VICTORY. A brave move for a man who moments before felt abandoned by God.
 
The TRUTH requires no compromise, requires action, requires resilience, requires BOLD, GUTSY, FAITH!! A selah is stated here, as there is much to think about, and much to sing about… you can hear the musicians start to play a little braver as we go on…
 
Re the washpot…well David is stating the fact that as a washpot was a symbol of where dirty feet would be cleansed, and a man would cast his shoes aside before he washed his feet… that this nation coming against him was a mere washpot, a mere going through the motions now for David…he had dominion in his heart, and dominion in his stance…
 
Whatever you are going through, you may feel like God is a long way away, but believe me, he is closer than your next breath…and ready to intervene in His perfect time.
 
The language now has totally changed, as David declares…WHO will lead me??Stating the fact that he NEEDS GOD at every moment… and that without the hand of God over his every move, he was lost, whether in the middle of a battle, or on a solitary mountaintop…. There is NO vanity in his comments, just bold and simple TRUST….
 
We finish with the statement… that with our God we SHALL do valiantly, it is HE who treads down our enemies… or MOWS them down as I like to say!!
 
So lovely ones… what area in your life needs to be treated like David treated this problem?? He was looking after one area of his world, but failed to see another area unravelling while he was distracted. Take a good look at EVERY area of your life, and lay hold of God for the answers to those seemingly troublesome areas that you cannot seem to get victory over. For IT IS HE…WHO WILL TREAD DOWN OUR ENEMIES….
 
I love you so much… this will be the greatest year of our lives….so smarten up, put off the old, STEP in to the new….our GOD REIGNS…
 
DARLS…. alias Worship Woman….