Psalm 63:1 (NKJV)
O God, you are my God; early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
“This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.”
This is the beginning of the “Rifleman’s Creed,” which was created in 1942 by Marine Brigadier General William H. Rupertus, the then-Commanding General of Marine Corps Base San Diego, after he had decided that his men must be made to understand, “…that the only weapon which stands between them and Death is the rifle…they must understand that their rifle is their life…it must become a creed with them.” When David uttered those seemingly simple and repetitious words, “O God, you are my God,” he was not stating the obvious, but rather, declaring his absolute dependence on the One True God of the Universe. Like a good Marine of our day, David knew exactly what stood between himself, life, and death.
This powerful Declaration of Dependence had been at the heart of the covenant between the Israelites and Jehovah since the days of Abraham. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Heb. 8:10). There are numerous “gods” available to us today – people or forces that rule over us in one way or another. There are the false gods of false religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Mormonism…but there are also the false gods of worldviews like materialism, scientism, secular humanism, nationalism, and paganism. For some, or perhaps many, the false god they “worship” is self, or success, or fear, or acceptance. Who – or what – is it that “rules” over your life? Where does your allegiance lie? What is your “rifle”?
Most weekday mornings I am up early and working on the Daily Dose. I read a few other devotionals I enjoy, first, and then dive deeply into the passage of the day. This has been my routine for over a year, now, and it has brought with it a solid start to my day. By starting off your day with God, it helps you to remember – and live out – “O God, you are my God; early will I seek you.” But what about the rest of your day? Do you remain in that covenant relationship throughout the remaining hours, or do you put it back on the shelf and get on with the day’s business? That would be like a Marine heading off to battle without his rifle. It’s madness…foolishness…dangerous…and life-threatening.
Jonathan Edwards was one of the main preachers that God used to spark and lead the First Great Awakening in the Colonies back in the mid 1700’s. He made a covenant with God when he was 19… very similar to one we are looking at in today’s Psalm. He wrote about it some years later:
“On January 12, 1723, I made a solemn dedication of myself to God, and wrote it down; giving up myself, and all that I had to God; to be for the future, in no respect, my own; to act as one that had no right to himself, in any respect. And solemnly vowed to take God for my whole portion and felicity; looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and his law for the constant rule of my obedience: engaging to fight against the world, the flesh and the devil, to the end of my life.”
Jonathan Edwards would have made a great Marine. He knew what his rifle was and made a lifelong commitment to it that was used to alter the course of an entire generation, and indeed, an entire nation. You see, had it not been for the First Great Awakening, the colonists most likely would not have had the resolve to face off with the greatest power on earth. Their leaders would not have had a firm reliance on God’s Providence to see them through those difficult and bloody years. What are you relying on today as you face life’s trials? What is your “rifle”?
