There are moments when it can feel as though everything is working against us. A door closes that we hoped would open. Someone disappoints us. A problem grows larger instead of smaller. We pray, but the answer does not come as quickly as we hoped. And if we are not careful, we can begin measuring God’s faithfulness by what is happening around us.
This week’s Hebrew phrase is Adonai Li (יְהוָה לִי, pronounced: ah-doh-NIGH lee), meaning “The LORD is for me.” It is a very short phrase, but there is tremendous confidence in these words. They come from Psalm 118, where the writer is not speaking from an easy or comfortable place. He knows what it means to be surrounded, pressured, and opposed. Yet right in the middle of it all, he says:
“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Psalm 118:6
Adonai li, lo ira — “The LORD is for me; I will not fear.”
Notice where his confidence comes from. He does not say, “I will not fear because there is nothing against me.” There were very real things against him. His confidence came from knowing that the Lord was with him and for him.
This is something we see again and again in the Scriptures. God’s people often found themselves facing situations that looked much bigger than they were. Israel stood before the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army behind them. David stood before Goliath with nothing that looked impressive in the eyes of those watching. Jehoshaphat faced an army so great that he admitted to God, “We have no power against this great multitude.”
These people were not strong because they convinced themselves that the problem was small. Their strength came when they remembered that God was greater. That is an important difference.
Faith does not ask us to pretend that everything is fine. Sometimes everything is not fine. Sometimes the diagnosis is frightening. Sometimes the financial need is real. Sometimes the family situation is painful. Sometimes we truly do not know what tomorrow will bring. But faith teaches us not to look at those things alone. Adonai Li. The LORD is for me.
Hundreds of years after Psalm 118 was written, we find its words again in the New Testament. The writer of Hebrews encourages believers to be content and to trust God’s promise that He will never leave or forsake them. Then he says:
“So we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’”
Hebrews 13:6
The ancient confidence of the psalmist had become the confidence of those following Yeshua. The circumstances were different, but God had not changed. And then Paul takes us even deeper in Romans 8:
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Romans 8:31
These words become even more powerful when we read what surrounds them. Paul is not telling believers that following Yeshua means they will never experience trouble. In the same chapter he speaks about tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, danger, and even death. These were not imaginary problems. Some of the believers reading his words knew these things personally. Yet Paul could still say, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Why? Because he points us to Yeshua.
Paul reminds us that God “did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” In other words, if we ever begin to wonder whether God is truly for us, we do not have to judge His love by how easy or difficult today happens to be. We can look to what He has already done. We look to Yeshua.
At the cross, God showed us the depth of His love. Through the resurrection, He showed us that even death does not have the final word. And because we belong to Yeshua, Paul says that nothing can separate us from the love of God—not trouble, not persecution, not things present, not things to come. That is what gives Adonai Li such power as a prayer.
When fear begins speaking loudly, we can answer: Adonai Li. The LORD is for me. When we feel alone in a battle: Adonai Li. When we have prayed and are still waiting: Adonai Li. When we cannot see how the situation will work out: Adonai Li.
We are not trying to convince ourselves that everything will happen exactly the way we want. We are reminding our hearts of something far more certain: God has not abandoned us. His love has not changed. His promises have not failed.
Maybe there is something in your life right now that feels bigger than you. You have thought about it, prayed about it, perhaps even lost sleep over it. You know all the reasons why it might go wrong. This week, remember Psalm 118. Before you count everything that seems to be against you, remember the One who is for you.
Adonai Li. The LORD is for me.
And because He is for me, I do not have to live under the control of fear. I can pray. I can trust. I can take the next step. I can place what I cannot control into the hands of the One who has already shown His love for me through Yeshua.
Prayer:
“Lord, thank You that You are for me. When I look at the things against me and begin to feel afraid, bring me back to Your Word. Adonai Li—the LORD is for me. Help me not to measure Your faithfulness by my circumstances, but by who You are and by what You have already done for me through Yeshua. Give me courage when I am afraid, peace while I wait, and faith to trust You with what I cannot control. Whatever I face this week, help me remember that I do not face it without You. Amen.”
Blessings from Israel,
Pastor Israel