Read: Numbers 28:16-29:40, Luke 3:23-38, Psalm 62:1-12, Proverbs 11:18-19

I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken. (Psalm 62;1-2)

Relate: 1565 was a turning point for the growing spread of Islam in the Mediterranean. They had pretty much taken over everything and there only remained the task of rooting out the Knights Hospitaller on the Island of Malta. There were only about 500 Knights. Combined with about a thousand other troops, some slaves, and the local townspeople they could field an army of 6,100 mostly untrained soldiers. Against That the Ottomans brought to bear between 30,000 and 48,000 of the best soldiers in the world. Up to that time they were rightly considered invincible.

The nations of Europe stood by refusing to help while the Turks besieged the island from the 18th of May until September 11 when the invincible army finally admitted defeat. Despite overwhelming numbers, the use of hundreds of thousands of cannon balls, and the fact that the Christians there had been virtually cut off from any hope of help, they could not win. It cost them as many as thirty thousand of the greatest troops of the time, even the Sultan himself died in the siege. And in the end, the fortress stood strong.

React: I’ve never been under a literal siege but there are times when I feel like I am facing certain defeat against impossible odds. I can look out at the enemy and see boatload after boatload after boatload of trouble coming my way. Victory may seem impossible until I remember that I am standing inside a fortress who is my God. I am on a rock that has stood strong and tall and proud against the worst that the storms of time has sent. Cancer is an enemy that will be defeated. Poverty, slavery, sickness, injustice… they may seem like unbeatable enemies today but there will come a time when that ship will sail. My God is greater. Addiction, sin, death… they might beat against the walls but they will never force their way in. The fortress stands strong and I will never be shaken.

Respond: 

God, there is nothing that can stand against You. Help me to rest secure in that fact when it seems the world is stacked against me. When I am facing problems or odds that seem impossible help me to remember that You are greater. When the doctor gives his report help me to remember whose report I will believe. You have not called me to just be a survivor. You have called me to be more than a conqueror and through You that is exactly what I am.