They Can't Count
Psalm 83
In one rendition of a Robin Hood movie Robin of Locksley has freed a Moor who feels a life obligation to him and stays with him to protect him. As Robin is helping his band of men capture gold from one of the lords of the land as they pass through Sherwood Forest they ask Robin how many there are. Robin replies "five" when there obviously are many more. The Moor looks at him greatly puzzled. Robin says to him "It's okay. They can't count." The Moor replies under his breath, "And they call us barbarians."
Many times we face those who are against us and once we start naming them all we forget the numbers. It's not that we can't count. It is more of a matter that we don't count. We just name even more and the numbers seem to become overwhelming. As Jesus continued His ministry reading His accounts in the gospels it's like more and more groups of people have a problem with Him. In the last week, even days for a moment it seems that tables turn ro a great amount of support only to almost all turn against Him crying out "Crucify Him!" In the middle of the night before Jesus had already prayed, "Not my will, but thine be done." And instead of praying like that this psalmist called for all the enemies He listed to be dead even as physically others had been killed before in their history. But Jesus even cried out from being nailed to the cross, "Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing."
Yet we struggle with with those seemingly overwhelming lists of what is against us, bills, unbelievers at work or school (or even believers), the spouse who isn't the same as we are even though you're so close, the spouse divorced from you, or the spouse no longer living. Then it could be children or adult children. It can be a number of things. For myself with my spouse having died and my disabling disease stopped there is so much I am learning about myself that alone seems like insurmountable odds.
Let them be confounded and troubled for ever: yea, let them be put to shame and perish, That they may know that thou, which art called Jehovah, art alone, even the most High over all the earth.
Psalms 83:17 - 18 GNV
Jehovah is our English way of saying this name of God. But the fact remains, He Is God. No mater our lists, the number of things that stack up against us. The number of people, the number of companies, in the case of this psalmist the number and size of the countries that were enemies to God's people. No, I didn't bother counting and there's no reference to the size of the armies of each enemy so no true count could be made. Bottom line is, we don't need to count. We can't count. We actually really don't know all we are up against and what He isn't allowing us to see. But the reminder that should stand before us is that God is. HE IS!!! Those numbers don't matter. Only JEHOVAH matters.
And friend of mine observing my personal struggles sent me a devotional regarding trusting God to work until that part of our life, the growth needed at that time to make us be what He needs us to be. For that friend to send me that as I was meditating on this is powerful for many reasons. For this meditation it emphasizes this very fact, that GOD IS!!! We can depend on Him, and for our whole life that He which hath begun a good work in us will continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.