Satan was forced to punt

The Word for today:
Psalm 108

mark this:  Psalm 108:13
Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.


I got a kick out of watching the career of Tim Tebow, the great quarterback who twice led the University of Florida to the national collegiate championship.

Many say that Tebow was the greatest college football player ever.  I don't know about all of that, but I can say with authority that he was the greatest college player I ever watched. 

I can say it with such authority because Tebow is the only college football player I ever tuned in to watch.

It all started when I heard about this quarterback in Florida who painted Bible verses under his eyes.  I was intrigued.

The first time I saw him play, he wore "Phil. 4:13" painted in his school colors--orange and blue--just under his eyes where athletes apply blacking to reduce the glare of sun and lights.  That, of course, is shorthand for this:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

So, right away, I know I'm watching a brother.  And, brother, could that brother play!

***

Psalm 108 is David's prayer as he enters into battle.  The last line is David's version of Philippians 4:13:
Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies. (Psalms 108:13)

Though scripture doesn't recommend wearing Bible verses as warpaint, it comes close:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

The best place to write God's Word--even better than under your eyes or on your doorposts--is in the recesses of the heart:
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  (Psalms 119:11)

That's where Jesus stored God's Word when he entered into the great Battle in the Wilderness (1), where Satan tempted him to sin.  It wasn't just Satan vs. Jesus that day; it was also the word of the world vs. the Word of God. 

Three verses into the battle, gaining no ground, Satan was forced to punt.

*****************
(1) Matthew 4:1-11