“I call on Adonai, who is worthy of praise; and I am saved from my enemies. ‘For death’s breakers were closing over me, the floods of B’liya‘al terrified me…”-2 Samuel 22:4-5
I wanna start things off today with a personal story.
I work for a small boutique recruiting firm here in Tokyo.
About a year ago, our company wasn’t doing so good.
The situation was so bleak that everybody was expecting the ax to fall at any time.
Things got so stressful that I even had a mini-stroke at this time, and ended up hospitalized for ten days.
After I was discharged from the hospital, the nightmare my colleagues and I were expecting occurred.
The owner of the firm decided to ax everybody, except me.
I think the owner decided to keep me on because I had always done a good job sourcing candidates.
I was also low expense.
I hadn’t been a full-time recruiter.
I was a candidate scouting specialist (called a “sourcer” in my industry) who was contracted to work only 25 hours a week.
But I was devastatingly good at my job, and over the years, I had managed to earn a modest full-time income through commission payments while only working part-time hours.
This left me with time to pursue other personal passion projects, such as this blog, and also train myself to become a direct response copywriter.
Well, after the big boss terminated everybody, I was the only one left on the payroll.
This meant that overnight, my leisurely 25-hour-a-week existence ended.
Suddenly, I was saddled with full-time responsibilities and required to produce for the company when, for the past decade, I had never done such a thing.
I thought I was a goner for sure, and it would just be a matter of a couple of months or so before I too was fired.
On top of that, when I left the hospital, my doctor warned me not to subject myself to too much stress unless I wanted to suffer another stroke.
Well, long story short, here’s what happened.
Prayerfully, I got to work and, within two months, closed one deal.
This brought in an instant $40,000 cash infusion into the company, of which I was paid a 10% bonus.
Shortly after that, I closed another smaller deal which generated another $25,0000 cash infusion into the company.
On top of that, while all of this was going on, my boss had secured a retainer deal with one of Germany’s top insurers to replace their current Tokyo CEO.
I successfully found a good candidate for that role, and we were able to close another deal worth about 80,000 dollars (of which I got a 10% cut, of course).
But that’s not the best part.
During this time, I gained confidence that I could do this job as a full-time recruiter, and not just be a part-time candidate sourcer anymore.
So I negotiated a 37% monthly salary increase and a higher cut of the deals I would close moving forward.
So what’s the point of my sharing this story?
Here’s the point.
I thought I was a goner…that there was no hope for tomorrow.
Yet looking back, I am amazed at how the Lord has carried me through all of this.
And how I’m in a much better place now than I was before the axing.
Of course, there are times when I become terrified about what might happen in the future.
But hey, I figured if the Lord protected me yesterday, He can definitely protect me today.
And He will keep me secure tomorrow as well.
That’s the point.
And it ties in well with the divine deliverance David expresses in this poem about all of the ups and downs he went through.
There were many moments when David, too, had no hope for the future.
When he thought he was a goner.
Take a look at verse 5.
It speaks of a violent flood that almost overtook David.
It even calls it the floods of Belial.
Up until now, we’ve run into the term “Belial” many times.
It’s usually rendered as BENE BELIAL, meaning “sons of worthlessness.”
The idea is to convey a force so evil that it borders on the satanic.
That’s how David’s enemies are being characterized in this poem.
In fact, once we enter the New Testament era, Belial became used as a sort of formal name for Satan, the chief demonic archangel himself.
“What harmony is there
between Messiah and Belial?
Or what does a believer have
in common with an unbeliever?”
-2 Corinthians 6:15
What I love about this psalm is that David is praising the Lord for not just WHO He is, but WHAT He does.
His Actions.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where things seem beyond hopeless.
Just as the Lord did for me…
And as He did for David…
He is more than capable of rescuing you from your situation of distress.
Not only is He more than capable of rescuing you…
I believe He greatly DESIRES to do so.
And bring you to a place far better than you could’ve dreamed possible.
So remember that when the floods of Belial come crashing your way.
Done.
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