Psalm 144:1 Living in God’s presence we are equipped and ready. For 2026
This Psalm of David starts with the verse:
1 Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
It then is followed by:
2 He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
3 LORD, what are human beings that you care for them,
mere mortals that you think of them?
4 They are like a breath;
their days are like a fleeting shadow.
5 Part your heavens, LORD, and come down;
touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
6 Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
This Psalm was written at a time national consolidation of Israel when the nation was facing threats both externally and internally. It is classified as a warrior Psalm and was both a very personal reflection and praise from King David to God and a hymn for the nation at the time. While we have never been King’s or Queen’s and will never be, sorry I say that assuming, present and future rulers please raise your hand, we know from history that the role can be quite taxing. In the long term hard on your health or even fatal if you aren’t high in the popularity stakes, or even too popular in the eyes of your rivals. This was a Psalm written in praise to God for Davids abilities’ to make war on his enemies and also his knowledge that God had delivered him from enemies previously, David understood the presence of God with him. Verse 5 reflects not just on God’s power to make lightening but reflects on the giving of the ten commandments and how God came down to Mount Sinai and the top of the Mountain was burnt with His Holy presence, a reflection on God’s presence with Moses. How was it that David understood God’s presence with him? Because God had intervened on his behalf previously. Examples being:
Flight from Naioth (1 Samuel 19:18–24): Saul and Saul’s messengers were overcome by the Spirit of God and prophesied instead of capturing David as they had set out to do.
Lesson: God can turn opposition into instruments of His glory.
Keilah (1 Samuel 23:1–5): God instructed David to attack the Philistines and promised victory.
Lesson: Seek God’s counsel before making critical decisions.
• Ziklag (1 Samuel 30): After Amalekites raided Ziklag, and stole the wives and families of his fighting men, David sought God’s guidance as his men wanted to stone him because of their loss. God instructed David to pursue the Amalekites which he did and recovered everyone and everything that had been taken.
Lesson: In crisis, strengthen yourself in God and act on His direction.
David understood God’s presence and continued to honour God and as the scriptures tell us, God honours those who honour Him (1 Samuel 2:30).
David in the Psalm 51 that great Psalm of repentance, after being found out in adultery and murder, prayed this; in verse 11, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” He knew God’s presence and wanted to remain close to God.
So where does that leave us in Tawa at the beginning of 2026? We don’t have Saul chasing us or the Philistines and Amalekites swooping down into the valley to take our wives, sons and daughters off into captivity. I’m sure that 2026 will go without a hitch, so we might as well go home, put our feet up on the couch and have a snooze and wait for 2027 to rock around for more of the same. Is there anyone here who had no challenges in 2025?
Thankfully living as we do in the meantime between Jesus’ ascension and his coming again. We know that God cares enough to come to Earth in the person of Jesus to be born a baby, to grow and be present with humanity and be the ultimate sacrifice for mankind, allowing us to share in his death and resurrection and the freedom that we are granted through God’s grace and mercy. We here today are also blessed to live in New Zealand, and our battle is against the powers and principalities of darkness in the heavenly realms, not other nations or people. We live with the knowledge of and the promise of the Helper fulfilled. What? Well let’s look at who the Helper is.
Jesus tells his disciples, in John 15:26; “I will send you the Helper from the Father. The Helper is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When he comes, he will tell about me.”
In John 16:7 he repeats his message about the coming of the Holy Spirit; Jesus says; “Let me assure you, it is better for you that I go away. I say this because when I go away, I will send the Helper to you. But if I did not go, the Helper would not come.
The thing is that God wants to be present with us, and just like he was in the person of Jesus, he is in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Presence is an interesting thing. Ask anyone who knows someone who owns a cell phone, or one of those gaming devises if it’s possible to be present with someone who is not present with you. Do we all do it? God wants us to be present with Him as he is with us.
In 2026, while this is not a New Years resolution I aim and I might get a few reminders about this, to be present when I am present, with God and with my family and friends. So both with those I am physically present with and God. I am assured that God is present with me, last week as we prayed for a word from God the word I got was, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Biblically we see the context of this verse at the end of Matthew 28, the end of Matthew’s gospel.
“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”(Matthew 28:16-20).
In the presence of Jesus, the disciples were given this great commission. They were later equipped with the presence of The Holy Spirit, The Helper. They were gifted in His presence, you could say they got presents in His presence, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They grew the fruit, of The Holy Spirit; love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23). Their journey with Jesus in the Presence of God the Holy Spirit continued throughout their lives and does on into eternity.
To close, David reminds us that God is mindful of us. He is our shelter, shield, deliverer, and stronghold who equips us. We know that Jesus is our Saviour who invites us into His presence and the Holy Spirit longs to be in ours. As we step into 2026, let’s live with that assurance and stay present with Him.
He promises, he is with us always, even to the end of the age.” Our strength, refuge, and victory come from living in His presence daily.
