Psalm 18 - HE Who Is A Fortress & Deliverer!!!
There is always a time in life where we will face adversity, and people taking a stand against us and what we believe. It a fact of life. It is an extension of the fight between good and evil, that pervades all parts of our existence. And the more we strive to do what is right, what is loving and what is godly, then it is almost an assurity that others will try to block our passage forward.
When we face adversity, or truly have people/organisations arrayed against us, we often turn to those around us that we trust. The problem is that those people don’t fully know what is going on and can only really provide you with their own opinions - just like Job and his friends, who gave him some very bad and unsound advice and perspectives.
So, if we can’t truly trust those around us, even the people we love and value the most - who do we turn to???
King David provided us with the answer over 3,000 years ago in Psalm 18.
Buckle up…this one is a beauty!!!
Psalm 18 says…
For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:
Verse 1: “I love you, Lord, my strength.”
David starts with a simple but powerful statement…it is a statement of truth, and comes from a place or intimate relationship and earnest faith.
The question we need to ask ourselves is this… “Is this the place we start when we pray?” - I would hazard a guess that it is not. Most of us ( me included) get consumed by our circumstances and start with a complaint or a need, rather than re-affirming our relationship and our covenant we have with God, and HIS son Jesus.
God (Yahweh) is David’s strength because he is constantly praying and talking to God. If we aren’t communicating with God, it is hard for HIM to be our support.
Verse 2: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
There are 7 “My” statements in this verse alone. Each statement is an expression not only of David’s connection to God, but also the the nature and character of God.
Each of these statements relate to how important God is to David, and how God is his sole source of protection and safety.
Verses 3- 5: “I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.”
It is in these verses that David gets real with God, and himself.
He mixes worship (of God) with very pointed statements about how he views his emotional and physical state.
The statement of faith and of worship precedes the one about his emotional state. What David is saying here is… “God I value you above all else, and I thank you for all that you have done and saved me from…but…”
That ‘but’ is a heartfelt cry of anguish. Anyone who has battled with depression and/or anxiety can see it for what it is. That cry of despair and anguish shows how heavy the weight of David’s life experiences are at that time.
We know form the heading of the Psalm, that this psalm was written around the time that King Saul was pursuing David all over the kingdom trying to capture and kill him. That sort of pressure weighs on a person.
We may not be facing that sort of life or death experience, but in other aspects of our lives, we may be. We may be facing chronic illness, or unemployment, or financial problems, or the collapse of long-term relationships - all of these can cause us to despair and feel like our life is being crushed.
Verse 6: “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.”
Whenever we are distressed, or go through distressing events in life the very first thing we should do is go to God for help. Not our friends, not our online social media pals, not a bottle of booze, not any sort of drugs, or sexual gratification, certainly should go to mainstream media….no God should always be our first port of call in times of trouble.
God is in his heavenly temple (not the earthly one), and it is from a place of holiness that he hears and acts on our prayers and petitions.
Verse 7 - 12: “The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.”
When God speaks, and God acts…nature responds. Much of what David is writing here in the psalm is not literary poetic hyperbole.
What David is saying, is that God is everywhere, all around us, and nature, God’s creation should remind us of that - be it in a storm, or on a beautiful day by the beach.
However, if our prayers are for protection and help - God will come to our rescue, and he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who defy the Kingdom of God.
Verse 13 - 15: “The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them. The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.”
When God responds we will know it is him and not our own efforts, and the efforts of others.
This should serve as a warning now, and in the future - especially as the day of the Lord’s return is rapidly drawing upon us.
Verses 16 - 24: “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I am not guilty of turning from my God. All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.”
Just like a person rescuing someone who is drowning, God reaches down into our situations to rescue us. Sometimes it feels as if he is too late, but it is always at the right time. Always at the time when we finally give up our own strength and let God take control.
God will also rescue us when our enemies, or those who stand against us, are stronger and in a better position (as in position of strength) than we are. It feels as if our enemies are about to run over us - but God won’t allow that - even though it feels it he allows it to happen sometimes…he doesn’t.
One of the reasons David was so confident that God will help him is that David never lost sight of God, and never abandoned his faith - sure he was disobedient and sinful (aren’t we all???) - but even in the midst of that he still clung to God. It was in that place of grace and mercy and love that God rescues us.
Verses 25 - 29: “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.”
It is interesting to note that God shows parts of HIS character sometimes depending on who he is engaging with. Those who love HIM and are striving to be righteous and holy, will see that reflected in God’s nature towards them. Those that do evil will soon find themselves with the calculated (that’s what shrewd means in this context) wrath of God.
It is in these moments of darkness, when all seems lost that God brings HIS light. HIS light is perfect, it is not a harsh, painful light - rather it is soothing and full of peace.
Then as the darkness is pushed away, and we begin to be able to move with strength and determination - that is given to us by God - we can achieve great things. Even if it means charging into battle against seemingly impossible odds, and doing things that seem impossible.
Verses 30 - 36: “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great. You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.”
Too often we rely on our own understanding of events, and we act accordingly. But we are flawed, sinful people. And this means that our perceptions and our understandings of even the smallest, most trivial of things is distorted. Only God is perfect, only HIS wisdom is perfect, and only HIS way is perfect.
When we accept that HIS way is better than our, and walk in it, then we find the peace and shelter we are seeking in the midst of our storms.
When we follow HIS footsteps, and we follow the pure wisdom of HIS words found in the holy scriptures - then he places our feet where they need to go. He also makes us agile and adaptable (just like the deer on the mountain slopes). Just like a warrior preparers and trains before going in to battle - so to God trains us and helps us to be able to fight the evil that is saturating our world today.
Verse 37 - 45: “I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me. You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. They cried for help, but there was no one to save them - to the Lord, but he did not answer. I beat them as fine as windblown dust, I trampled them like mud in the streets. You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me, foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.”
Notice here that it is not God going in and smoothing everything out in a miraculous way. David shows that while God acts in our favour and does indeed work in miraculous ways in our lives and circumstances - we still need to our part in the fighting.
It is in partnership with God that we will find victory in our lives.
Verse 46 - 50: “The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name. He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever.”
David as he often does closes off this psalm with more praise of God.
David rightly places God above everything he does and has accomplished, and he recognises that he could not defeat his enemies without the actions of God on his behalf.
And it is because of the victories that David can praise the Lord even louder, and they act as evidence of a living faith in God.
In this psalm we see David laying out his heart and soul. He screams loudly about the painful situation he finds himself in, yet he screams all the louder about the glory, power and authority of God over all things - including his life and his situation. Praise leads to honour, honour leads a deepening faith in God.
David’s situation was not beyond God’s ability to intervene and protect…nor is your situation. God is your rescuer and he is your fortress.