Seize the Moment – Day 1162

Praying Peace over Past Trauma!

Psalm 56

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, May 23.

 

Have you ever had a traumatic experience that keeps replaying in your head, like a bad scene from a horror movie? When a trauma happens in a person’s life, the brain is flooded with adrenaline and other neurochemicals that causes that memory to be forged into the brain. Simply, this is why people can be easily triggered into a trauma response.

 

David had some traumatic experiences in his life, which he kept replaying in his head. Psalm 56 is from the time when David was in peril at the hands of the Philistines, specifically “when [they] seized him in Gath” (title). This event is recorded immediately after Doeg saw David with the priest Ahimelech, who later betrayed him to Saul, the historical context for Psalm 52. Additionally, David’s rescue from Abimelech [Achish king of Gath] was the setting for Psalm 34. First Samuel 21:12 records, “David … greatly feared Achish king of Gath.”

 

How did David deal with the memories of his past traumas? David processed his memories through the writing of these three psalms. He brought it all to God, as recorded in Psalm 56:3-4, 9-11:

 

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me? … Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; this I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

 

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 56, meditating upon the peace of God – “You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.”[1]

 

God bless you!

 

If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.

 

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.

Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.

 
 

FOOTNOTE:

 
[1] Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Ps 56:8.
 
 

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