Hope in the Psalms: Seeing Triumph Over Addiction in the Songs of DavidSample

When we read the Psalms of David, one thing that can sidetrack us fairly quickly is how often he talks about his enemies. David the poet was certainly obsessed with many of the same things as David the person, including seeing God triumph over his enemies.

But in the world of recovery, we try to live at peace with ourselves and with one another. How can we reconcile this “enemy” talk we often see in David’s psalms?

We do this by remembering something ELSE we can read in the New Testament, which is that our enemies are not “flesh and blood.” Instead, our enemies are intangible, and that includes our addictions and compulsions.

So in Psalm 6:8, when David says, “Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping,” we can know exactly how to equate that phrase “workers of evil” with our own circumstances.

In verse 10, when David says, “All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror; they shall turn back and in a moment be put to shame,” we can automatically understand how that might apply to our sinful desires for the substances that enslaved us.

As you read today’s Psalm and its visceral descriptions of despair and the desire for deliverance, reflect on your journey, and anytime you see anything in the Psalms about enemies, remember who your actual enemies are.

And THEN remember that those enemies are DEFEATED IN JESUS!