"I Smile at My Enemies"

"My heart rejoices in the Lord; My horn is exalted in the Lord.  I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.  No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God."  I Samuel 2:1-2

"For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?  It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.  He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places." Psalm 18:31-33

Can you smile at your enemies today? Maybe we need to identify some of the enemies that trouble us: Sickness, Joblessness, loneliness, hunger, sorrow, fear, heartaches.

These are all true enemies that nag at our spirit and distress our minds, bodies and souls. I don't think too many of us feel like we can smile at these enemies, and I would be insensitive to suggest that you should.  However, these problems, as serious as they may be, these are not our real enemies.


Perhaps the verses above sound a bit smug or even too proud...I don't intend them to be that way, and neither did Hannah in the book of Samuel, or David in the Psalms... But the fact is, folks, in case you didn't know it, we are at war...we are in a battle to the death...  You may ask, "Well, who is our real enemy?"  I am not speaking of any earthly enemies here, and neither were the Old Testament writers.  Our enemy is the very same enemy that has been sneaking around ever since the Garden of Eden...I don't need to mention his name...but that old serpent has been trying his darndest to defeat God and all of God's children ever since he got kicked out of heaven.  But guess what?!  He is already a defeated foe...Christ delivered a knock-out blow to our enemy that day on the cross...and finished the job on the morning of His resurrection from the dead... He overcame death and destroyed Satan and his kingdom...and secured our place in Heaven for eternity.  The sad part is, the old devil doesn't want to believe he's a goner, and he keeps trying to take as many poor souls as he can fool into following him to hell...

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes-they stumbled and fell!  Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall NOT fear; though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. Psalm 27: 1-3

For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavillion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock!  And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yet, I will sing praises to the Lord."   Psalm 27: 5-6

 Does this make our sickness, sorrow, heartache or fear go away? Does this solve all our problems? Probably not in the way we would like it to...but one thing inherent in these passages above is the wonderful confidence in knowing that our God is holding on to us...He is shielding and protecting us from this enemy who is trying to rob us of our joy.  We do not have to give in to fear and desperation. 

The Book of Romans, chapter 8:31 says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"  Verse 35 says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?"  Verse 37 says: "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!"

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" Romans 8:37-39

If THAT doesn't make us smile at our "enemies",  I don't know what will!