What Can Man REALLY Do to Me?

In Psalm 56 David is said to be in the custody of the Philistines, enemies of the nation of Israel. Things are not going real well for David at this time. Then David writes an interesting phrase at the end of a section of praise to God: Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. 4  In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? By “flesh” David means “man”. What can man do to me? Actually, I can think of a lot of things that man can do to me. Man can torture me and man can kill me. Surely David knew that when he was a captive of the Philistines that death might be just around the corner or behind the door. But what if man brings about David’s death? David’s writings indicate that he believed that he had an eternal place with God. That doctrine is amplified in the New Testament. I doubt that any of us reading this will ever be in a place where man will take our life because of our faith but tragically people die each day from violence, almost always at the hands of man. This is a reason it is so important to know Jesus Christ as your Savior and have a heavenly inheritance guaranteed. If you have received Jesus then death simply brings heaven. Man can really do “nothing” to you that can harm you…yes, momentarily, but only for a moment and then you are in the presence of God. David’s question, “What can man do to me?” is answered by “not much” for those who belong to Jesus.