Give Me Back My Bullets

Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call. This I know: God is for me. – Psalm 56:9

Things do not always go my way. I fix one thing and something else breaks. I may need to add this to my list of maxims: The more stuff you have the more stuff is likely to be broken or malfunctioning at any given time. I dislike working enough as it is. I really don’t like the idea of spending extra time on a drudge job either fixing a piece of equipment or doing it the hard way because the machine I paid good money for isn’t working.

In the face of breakdowns and time pressures, it is hard to remember “God is for me”. I often think I am on my own with no help at all. There are days when all I hear is demand after demand for solutions to the problems of others. It’s easy to think I am here only to toil and fix things and carry loads.

The promise is that my enemies, my problems, will retreat on the day when I call. I may not know every answer to every question I am asked, but I do know one thing: God is for me. I do have one Person on my side. I have One I can turn to and call on at any time, in any circumstance. Indeed, God will cut me some slack.

There are people all around me who think I am a machine, but even a machine can be run into the ground. I need have no qualms about calling out and seeing my problems pushed back. If you’ve ever been in love, you know that it is a pleasure to do something for your loved one. You are always eager to help, to be of benefit to that person. So God is with us. He looks for an opportunity to do that Divine Two-Step on our behalf. He waits for our call, eager to throw the forces arrayed against us into turmoil and full retreat.

As long as I slog along on my own, I will be burdened, worn, and weary. The Lord simply waits for me to call.


The story goes that some years ago an evangelist was working the prayer line in a healing service. He came to a woman who asked him to pray for a certain affliction which he did. Before moving on, the evangelist noticed a goiter on the woman’s neck. He asked, “Do you want me to pray for the Lord to heal that goiter?”

“No,” she replied rather defensively, “I’m saving that one for Oral Roberts.”


The plague of frogs that came upon Egypt was beyond annoying. It was sickening, disgusting, and unbearable. Pharaoh voiced his intention to relent in the face of the trouble. Moses asked, “When do you want the plague of frogs to end?”

Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.”


Collin was four years old and the son of youth pastors. He had a toy gun that shot orange plastic bullets. He was out playing in the backyard with his toy. His mother came out to find him searching the ground intently.

“What are you looking for, Collin?”

“I’m looking for one of my bullets.”

His godly and devout mother saw the opportunity to encourage her son’s sense of dependence upon his Almighty Father. She asked, “Have you prayed and asked God to help you find it?”

“No, it didn’t go that far.”


Ain't foolin' 'round
'cause I done had my fun.
Ain't gonna see
no more damage done.
Gimme back my bullets. -- Lynyrd Skynyrd


God is for me now.