DIVINE ESCAPE FROM THE ENEMY

WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL

DECEMBER 11, 2021

TOPIC: DIVINE ESCAPE FROM THE ENEMY

BY T. O. BANSO

“Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I escape safely” (Psalm 141:10 New King James Version).

Saul was a sworn enemy of David, the shepherd boy who had helped him to kill Goliath, the Philistine champion. Until he died, he sought to kill David, but the LORD did not deliver him into his hand. All the attempts by Saul to kill David failed, including setting him up through marriage to his daughters.

1 Samuel 18:17 says, “Then Saul said to David, ‘Here is my older daughter Merab; I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the LORD’s battles.’ For Saul thought, ‘Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him’” (New King James Version).

Despite this, God delivered David from the hand of the Philistines. He met Saul’s requirement to marry his older daughter, Merab, but he didn’t keep his promise to give her to David. When Saul’s second daughter, Michal, fell in love with David, the Bible says Saul said, “I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him” (1 Samuel 18:21a New King James Version).

Saul seized the opportunity and told David a second time that he would be his son-in-law, hoping that the Philistines would kill him in the process of trying to satisfy his condition for marrying Michal. Again, the LORD helped David. He didn’t deliver him into the hand of the Philistines.

David killed 200 Philistines and gave their foreskins to Saul, for him to marry Michal. He exceeded the 100 foreskins Saul had requested. It was another divine escape for David. This season, you will enjoy divine escape from every evil. If there be any trap anyone has set for you, you will escape it in Jesus’ name.

I pray for you Paul’s expression of confidence in the Lord in 2 Timothy 4:18 that the Lord will deliver you from every evil work and preserve you for His heavenly kingdom. He will save you from anyone and anything that tries to hurt you and bring you safely into His heavenly kingdom.

When the people of Keilah, whom David had saved from the Philistines, were going to betray him and hand him over to Saul, God revealed it to David. Therefore, he and his men, about six hundred, left Keilah. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he called off his mission to Keilah (1 Samuel 23:11-13). It was another divine escape for David.

If he had relied on the fact that he had helped the people of Keilah to defeat the Philistines before then, and, therefore, could trust them to protect him, Saul would have captured him. However, when he enquired from the LORD, He told him Saul would come down to Keilah and the people would hand over David to Saul. Therefore, he departed there.

Verse 14 says, “And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand” (New King James Version).

God will not deliver you into the hand of your enemies. It was quite unreasonable for Saul, the king of a nation, to be pursuing a boy who had delivered him and the entire nation in the past from national shame. Nevertheless, David enjoyed divine escape.

Paul asked the Thessalonian Christians to pray for him that he would be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men (2 Thessalonians 3:2). If there be some unreasonable and wicked men after you, too, I pray that the Lord will deliver you from them. Just as David enjoyed divine escape, you will.

The men of Ziph betrayed David to Saul and told him where he was hiding. Saul came and kept searching for him and was close to getting him. However, God intervened. He caused a distraction for Saul, and, again, David enjoyed divine escape.

See how the Bible records this divine escape: “Then Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. So David made haste to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to take them. But a messenger came to Saul, saying, ‘Hurry and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land!’ Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; so they called that place the Rock of Escape. Then David went up from there and dwelt in strongholds at En Gedi” (1 Samuel 23:26-29 New King James Version).

No matter how close your enemies are to you, they won’t get you in Jesus’ name. As the LORD turned Saul back, He will turn them back. He will create appropriate distractions for them! They’ll receive urgent messages and back off! Any betrayer around you won’t succeed. Every evil informant of your enemy against you will fail in their assignment. The intelligence or secret information that your enemy is working on against you will disappoint them.

Prophet Isaiah sent a word to King Hezekiah concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, who was threatening to attack Jerusalem. Isaiah said, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land” (Isaiah 37:6-7 New King James Version).

Verse 9 says Sennacherib heard that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia had come out to make war with him. That was a divine rumour! The distraction was orchestrated by Heaven. Sennacherib had to abandon his planned attack against Jerusalem to face Ethiopia. God gave him work to do! It was a divine escape for Hezekiah and Jerusalem. God will give your enemies assignments to do and they won’ have time fr you.

Thereafter, the angel of the LORD killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. Sennacherib returned home and his two sons killed him in the house of his god (verse 38). All his threats against Jerusalem became empty boasts. This story is also recorded in 2 Kings 19. Have you received any threat from anyone recently? That threat shall not have power over you in Jesus’ name. No evil shall befall you.

David had the opportunity to kill Saul two times, but he didn’t kill him, because he had regard for the LORD’s anointed (1 Samuel 24, 26). Saul fell into the trap he had set for David. The person who wanted to kill would have been killed. Your enemies will fall into the traps they set for you. I’m not praying against your enemies. I’m just emphasizing a principle in the Bible. The Word of God says what you sow, you’ll reap (Galatians 6:7).

Proverbs 26:27 says, “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him” (New King James Version). Similarly, Ecclesiastes 10:8 says, “He who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent” (New King James Version).

David prayed  “Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I escape safely” (Psalm 141:10 New King James Version). According to Proverbs 29:6, “Evil people are trapped by sin, but the righteous escape, shouting for joy” ( New Living Translation). You will escape every evil and shout for joy in Jesus’ name.

Mordecai escaped death divinely. Haman made gallows for him, but he was later hanged on the same gallows (Esther 5:14, 7:9-10).

This season, you will experience divine escape from anyone or anything that looks like Saul, Sennacherib, Haman, or the people of Keilah and Ziph. I pray that the Lord will preserve you and keep you alive, and you will be blessed on the earth; He will not deliver you to the will of your enemies (Psalm 41:2). The Lord will rescue you from your enemies.

TAKE ACTION!

If you are not born again, you need to give your life to Jesus now. I urge you to take the following steps: *Admit that you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church. There they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.

Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto You today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I surrender my life to Jesus now and invite Him into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.

I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church in your area where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.

PRAYER POINTS: I will escape every evil planned for me by the enemy in Jesus’ name. I will not experience evil; it shall be far from me. The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. The Lord shall deliver every victim of the enemy’s wickedness in Jesus’ name.

(For over 800 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).

 T. O. Banso is the President, Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
Phone No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523
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Email: cedarministryintl@yahoo.com,
cedarministryng@gmail.com
Website: www.cedarministry.org