Psalm 18 is a royal thanksgiving Psalm that celebrates the establishment of Israel and the defeat of David’s enemies. It is also a repeat. It’s so important that we have it twice (see 2 Samual 22)!
Who is the Lord? He is our protector and deliverer. We can run to Him for safety and help. He is our strength and high tower. Do you remember a time God helped you in the past? Can you imagine Him as a dragon swooping in to help? Can you imagine the crashing power of a thunderstorm as God rides in to save you? This is what He did when he brought you out of the powers of darkness and into His kingdom. This is what He does when He responds to your cries for help and safety.
Has God ever drawn you out of many waters? Do you feel that God delights in you? Maybe you aren’t in the place you think you should be with God. Israel frequently wasn’t, but God continued to be faithful and was always there when they turned back to Him. Why? Because they were His and He delights in His own! Which means God delights in you too.
Psalm 149:4 (WEB) “For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation.”
David seems to indicate that the way we relate to God determines the way he relates to us. Jesus echoes this when He says, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14, WEB). Most of the statements here are positive, except “with the crooked you will show yourself shrewd” (18:26). At the beginning of the Psalm, David says that he is writing in response to God saving him from his enemies and specifically mentions Saul. Could David have Saul in mind with that statement? Saul was corrupt, and he ended up having a “torturous” (literal translation of shrewd) relationship with God. If we are pure, mature, and merciful, there is nothing we can’t handle, because God promises He will be our light and our fortress!
While God may not be preparing us for physical battle as He did with David, we ARE involved in a spiritual battle that He equips us for. Each day we deal with thoughts, forces, and even people that want us to forsake God and His Word. We should be like David and use what God has given us if we want to see victory.
Thought for the day: What can we take from a message that is so tailored to David? It should be a reminder to us of the final victory that we will be a part of, and an encouragement to praise God for all that He has done and all that He will do for us!
Revelation 21:22-27 (WEB)“I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there), and they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it so that they may enter. There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
