• Check out the rest of the PTSD Devotional Series.

“Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
I Samuel 20: 3b

As David was fleeing from Saul, he knew the risks. Saul was angry and jealous of the throne that God had turned over to David. It was not yet time for David to take it; in fact it would probably be another 10 or more years. Yet David knows for now, death could be at hand.

David didn’t foresee his future directly at this point. His future as the King of Israel was still to come. Many years of service to his God would be played out in his earthly life.

That step between death and one’s own life is very real for me in this illness. I must not stop in the present moment. Remember it is “as surely as the Lord lives” that I live. My life, whether long or short, is in Him. Like David, there can still be many fruitful times still ahead. I pray for myself and for you that we will live out fruitful days yet to come.

Prayer

“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Psalm 16:11

Each day we have one direction that we can move. We can take a step forward or one step backward. In the PTSD battleground there are some days that we step towards healing and others where we step back into the mire of our disease.

David had the opportunity to see that it only takes a step to walk towards the Lord or one step to walk away. He could see the love of his friend Jonathan, Saul’s son, in providing for David whatever he needed to stay alive. He truly portrayed the love of Christ to David through his physical friendship to care for David, which truly was life giving. David saw the path that Saul took, the step that led away from God.

“Saul was rejected of God, and the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him, yet he kept up his observance of the holy feasts. There may be the remains of external devotion where there is nothing but the ruins of real virtue.”

Pray for Military Families

1. Pray for the Soldier and families to keep choosing to take steps towards healing, paying attention to the physical needs and the spiritual needs for continued progress to overcome PTSD.
2. Pray for solid friends who will come along side for support and encouragement.

Lorrie Pies, Military Spouse ©2008