"A Prayer for Help"

[A Psalm of David] "Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me." (Psalms 35:1) Above this Psalm in my Bible is the title "A Prayer for Help", and written beside this title is the address, 1 Samuel 24. Now I know that there is always a reason that God allows us to go through certain forms of adversity, because He wants us to be dependent upon Him for protection; but there are instances within our adversities that God would have us allow Him to fight the battle, while we just remain humble, giving Him all the glory. David had just finished defending Keilah against the Philistines, and had delivered that city from destruction; after which Saul had set out to destroy David, until he had to return to fight off a Philistine invasion. After fighting off the Philistines, Saul gather three thousand chosen men out of Israel, and went out to find David in the wilderness of En-gedi. (1 Samuel 23-24:1) David's small army consisted of about four hundred men, all of whom had joined him after he had been delivered from Gath; making his deliverance more of an awakening to God's hand being upon his life. You can see David's confidence in God's direction and protection, as he tells Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, saying, "Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard." (1 Samuel 22:23) As I try to understand what it is that God is trying to accomplish in my life, I have to wonder at what expense He will bring about the change that He desires; not that it really matters, because everything I have is His anyways; but there are some things that I have grown to be fond of, and would hate to see them taken away. Any meaningful victory always has loss associated with it; it is almost certain that there is going to be loss before there can be any gain; and in the case of fighting spiritual battles, the primary thing that we must lose is our strength in the flesh; in other words, we must be weakened so that God might be strengthened in our lives... "For thus saith the LORD; We have heard the voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned unto paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: but they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them." (Jeremiah 30:5-9)