My High Tower

Psalm 144:1-2

I do not know if you have ever been in a situation in which you are completely surrounded, but it is a very uncomfortable feeling.  This is especially true if you are alone and waiting for reinforcements to arrive.  As Christians, we live behind enemy lines, but some days that is more evident than others.  When these times come, we need to remember who we are, and most importantly, who our God is.  Then, we will have confidence in our battle and the outcome.

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Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle— My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.

Psalm 144:1-2

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The Psalmist begins by calling the LORD his Rock.  There are a couple of different applications to make here.  First, He is the Rock upon which we stand.  As such, we have a sure footing so that we do not slip and fall.  The second way to interpret this is that He is our rock  that anchors us spiritually and emotionally through our battles.  We are stronger because we are getting strength from someone greater than ourselves.

Next the Psalmist describes the Lord teaching him to fight.  Sometimes it feels like these are archaic verses that do not relate to us.  We must remember that we are in a spiritual battle and we should engage in hand to hand combat.  Our hand to hand combat is not a physical battle with men or demons, but rather we lift our hands or put them together in prayer.  The world tries to tell us that prayer is not enough, but we know that prayer works when nothing else will.

Next we learn that God is our lovingkindness and our fortress.  We have no goodness, lovingkindness, or righteousness in ourselves.  However, God gives us His through Christ.  Then, in Christ, He surrounds us and fortifies us from our enemy Satan.  He is our protection like a massive stone structure that protects us from the arrows of Satan.

The Psalmist then tells us that God is our high tower and our deliverer.  In any battle, it is good to have the high ground.  I have spent some time in towers and they give you a superior view than those on the ground have.  As Christians, we should not surrender the high ground so easily.  The world will try to tell us that we are wrong based upon their philosophies.  Unfortunately, there have been many issues that many in the church have taken a worldly position on because they fell prey to the idea that the world was right.  God’s thoughts and ways are always higher than our thoughts and ways.  If we take his position, He is our tower and gives us the high ground and He delivers us. He is our shield and the one in whom we take refuge.  Paul taught that we should take up the shield of faith.  Do you see the picture the psalmist is painting?  We are inside a fortress, inside a high tower, and now in front of us we have a shield.  How in the world can the enemy hope to hit us?  We have taken refuge in God and He has more than protected us.  

The final part of these two verses says that God “subdues my people under me”.  God gives us victory.  This is not about lording over people in this life.  The best way for our enemies to be subdued is for them to submit to the Lord for salvation.  Even those who do not, will be subdued in judgment.  Regardless, we have victory over our enemies through God.  Therefore, we should not fear seeing how much protection and deliverance God has given us.

Father, we act like we are being defeated so often in this life.  The victory is already won, so help us to remember this and to live like it.  We have nothing to fear.  Increase our faith so that we walk in the light in this sinful world and so that others are drawn to that light.