LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL

By Pastor Mensa Otabil
 
Saturday 20th June 2026

LET GOD ARISE

Scripture Reading: Psalm 3
 
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. Psalm 3:7
 
David did not see himself alone in this fight. Although the opponent had a larger army, David believed that God was on his side. He did not believe that God had abandoned him. He believed that God was involved in this battle.
 
Arise, O Lord. David was confident that the Lord who had fought for him in the past would fight for him again. He remembered all his past battles. When David battled a lion and a bear through to the epic battle with Goliath and many after, the Lord had been his help. Now, he called on the Lord to arise to his cause.
 
David recounted how the Lord had fought his enemies in two ways. The Lord had struck his enemies on the cheek and broken the teeth of the ungodly. Using the words ‘cheekbone’ and ‘teeth’, he figuratively sees his enemies like wild animals. Perhaps he saw all his enemies as the wild bear and lion who attacked his lambs in the field. David remembered how the Lord enabled him to strike those animals on the cheekbone and teeth to deliver his lambs from their jaws.
 
In the current battle David was in, he saw himself as the lamb in the jaws of the ‘beasts’ who had risen against him. Since he was now the lamb caught in the enemy’s jaws, David needed a deliverer. He saw God breaking the teeth of his enemies. The picture is that of a wild lion or bear whose teeth have been broken.
 
The teeth and jawbone of a lion and bear are what they use to crush their prey. The implication is that God would disarm his enemies. God would break their weapons and render them powerless. David believed that the Lord who gave him victory in his youth would make him victorious in the battles of his old age.
 
May the Lord arise on our behalf once again. He did it in the past. He will do it again today.
 
Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for the victories you gave me in the past. I trust you for new victories today. In Jesus’ name, Amen