Where do you toss your shoes at the end of the day? I either pull mine off at the front door, or drop my muddy boots outside. Neither spot is a place of honor in my house.

In the midst of desperate battles, David recorded these words as God described his treatment of the enemies of Israel:

Moab is my washbasin, on Edom I toss my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.

The Lord treats his enemies with disdain. He washes his hands in one and dumps his dirty shoes onto another. Over all he triumphs.

No enemy damages the Lord. No one rises to any level of opposition. All those who shake their fist in hatred do so with less power than the filthy corner of my garage.

It may sound like trite, religious feel-good language, but in our outraged and unbalanced world, it calms my angst to dwell upon the fact that the Lord rules the nations.

Psalm 60 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Dickens Sikazwe