Hearing His Voice #90

Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

Psalm 27:3, NIV

Besieged. That was the word that kept coming to mind as I faced enormous crises on several fronts. At least three situations of major concern for me were turning drastically for the worse. I felt as if the whole world were against me, as if I had vicious enemies who had conspired to strike at my most vulnerable points all at the same time. As I drove down the road—on my way to deal with one of the crises—I cried out to God. “Lord, I feel besieged. I’m overwhelmed. I don’t know what You’re doing and why these disasters are happening. Please, please help.”

Stopped at a traffic light to turn left, I noticed the cars passing in the right lane. The number on the license plate of one was 273. Then another passed with the same number on its license plate: 273. Coincidence? Possibly. But when I see “coincidental” repetition of numbers, I often look up the closest possible biblical reference, usually from the Psalms. As soon as I could, I pulled up the Bible app on my phone and looked up Psalm 27:3: “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.”

Immediately I felt confident. The situations wouldn’t change for some time—in fact, some of them still look bad—but I had heard from God. I knew He was with me. I could rest in the fact that I wasn’t suffering from random events or experiencing God’s discipline. He knew I was surrounded by hostile forces, or at least felt that way. And He reminded me, somehow, through divinely orchestrated passing traffic, that I had every reason to be confident in Him.

Lord, there is no limit to the ways You can speak. Help me notice “coincidences” that apply Your general Word to my specific situations. Point me to Your long-ago truths that address my right-now needs.