阅读经文 

我们当中很多人认为有水的地方就可以让我们休闲放松和游乐玩耍，例如在沙滩度过一天。但对海员来说，风和浪是他们日常工作的必要组成部分，有时可能会是致命的敌人。为了要保证船只能经得起风暴，定期的维修则是必须的。

海员非常认真防备他们的敌人，而神的子民也需要这样做。诗篇八十三篇的作者回想神昔日怎样拯救祂的子民，他恳求神再次帮助他们，把敌人如尘土般吹去，或用火焰或狂风来恐吓他们，促使他们悔改。

起初，这几节经文令我们感到不安，然而经文形容的正是胜过敌人所需要的能力。神的能力不是霸道或残忍，乃是要显明神的慈爱和公正。敌人和神的子民从两个不同角度都会认识到，唯独耶和华是“全地以上的至高者。”（参诗 83:18）

唯有神才能消除罪恶。被描述为风暴的神的作为具有极大的能力，它能够摧毁敌人。

我们可以呼求神护卫我们。耶稣自己也抵挡那仇敌撒但，在耶稣的真实案例中，祂运用神话语的能力——对此撒但是无法得胜的。（参路 4:1-13）

Many of us think of the water as a place to relax and play, like on a day at the beach. For seafarers, winds and waves are part of their daily work and can be deadly enemies. Regular maintenance is essential to make sure a ship is ready for a storm that might come up.

Seafarers take their enemies seriously, and God’s people need to do that too. The writer of Psalm 83 recalls how God delivered his people in the past, and the writer pleads with God to help them again. The psalmist speaks of blowing the enemies around like dust or sending a firestorm or a tempest to terrify them and make them repent.

At first, these verses might make us uncomfortable, but they describe the power necessary to overcome the enemy. God’s power is not arbitrary or cruel; it shows that God is loving and just. Both the enemies and the people of God will come to know that the Lord alone is “Most High over all the earth.”

Only God can banish evil. God’s action, described as a kind of storm in these verses, has tremendous power to overwhelm an enemy.

We can call on God to defend us. Jesus himself had to defend against Satan, the great enemy. And in Jesus’ case, he used the power of the Word of God—and Satan could not overcome it (Luke 4:1-13).