Fix your eyes on the Lord alone!

“My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare” Psalm 25: 15

Power and position attracts not only friends but also enemies. As a person grows in stature, his/her enemies increase. This Psalm, written at the later stage of David’s life, talks of how he was surrounded by enemies. In the beginning of Psalm 25, David is talking about these ‘treacherous’ enemies who are trying to ‘shame’ him. Snares are spread on the way and around every corner. A little slip on the part of David would be used to paint a vicious picture of David and destroy his authority as a king.

What was David’s response to this situation? As a king, he definitely had many advisers. He could also seek wise counsel from his closest friends. Even when he was fleeing from Absalom, there were confidants around him. But David did something which was unusual for a king. What he did could be termed as something too simple for a king of his stature. He said, “My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare” (v.15). 

Firstly, David, in his spiritual maturity, had realised that position and power would not protect a man and that the wise men’s counsel would fail and that friends could desert. The only trustworthy hope he had is the Lord! So he chose to turn to Him alone for help in his entire crisis. 

Secondly, a king could use his might to eliminate the supposed threat. But David confessed the futility of finding the source of the threat and vanquishing it. If David was to look for the snares, he could possibly locate some of it, but not all the hidden snares. So instead of keeping his eyes on the snares, he is turning his sight on God who alone can release David’s feet from the snare. 

In our lives also, when the enemy tries to overthrow us, we should keep our eyes on God alone. Because human wisdom will fail and our alertness will desert us. But God, whom we rely on, will look over our ways and when a snare is placed on our way, he will deliver us. 

Based on this, he praises God later in Psalm 124: 6-8 by saying, “Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

When we trust God alone, he snare laid for us will be broken before we get to that place and we would escape. This imagery of bird escaping from the hunter’s snare gives us the glimpse of how God unexpectedly saves us. 

So let us fix our eyes on the Lord alone!