Psalm 18 This Psalm is virtually the same as the one sung by David at the end of his life in 2 Samuel 22. It’s a thanksgiving and praise psalm about God’s deliverance of David from all his enemies. David may have composed this song as a younger man; yet in his old age David could look back with gratitude and sing this song again. In prior Psalms David cried out to God in times of crisis; now he cries out to God with the same strength to praise Him for deliverance. Unfortunately many of us are more passionate in asking God for help than in giving him thanks and praise.
1 I love you, Lord, my strength.
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.
3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.
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.
7 The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. d
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15 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.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;I am not guilty of turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop ; with my God I can scale a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great.
36 You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.
39 You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the Lord, but he did not answer.
42 I beat them as fine as windblown dust; I trampled them f like mud in the streets.
43 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,
44 foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
45 They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!
47 He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me,
48 who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me.
49 Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.
50 He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever.
SECTIONS:
I. Prelude: His Opening Praises (18:1-3).
II. The States of His Life (18:4-45).
A. In the pit of Peril (18:4-19);His desperation (18:4-5);His defender (18:6-15);His deliverance (18:16-19
B. Ethical Integrity (18:20-28). The principles of the Lord’s direction (18:20-26); The privileges of the Lord’s direction (18:27-28).
C. In the Turbulent Atmosphere of Leadership (18:29-45). Military leadership (18:29-42);Theocratic leadership (18:43-45.
III. Postscript: His Closing Praises (18:46-50).
THEME: praises for God who delivers us from all our enemies and helps us in trials
QUESTIONS:
Name some of the ways David describes God. (my strength, rock, etc.)
How would you describe God? Why?
What did David perceive as threats?
What are some reasons David gives for trusting God. What are reasons you trust him?
What steps can you take to keep the character and faithfulness of God fresh in your mind?
What event(s) in your life do you look back on as special evidence of God’s love and care for you?
Bible-studys.org
Many times in the Bible, God shook the earth. There was earthquake when Moses came down the mountain and saw the children of Israel worshipping a golden calf. When Jesus died on the cross, the earth quaked. The earth is God’s and the fullness thereof. When God’s anger arises, the earth will quake as never before. In fact, the earth will quake so that it will be felt around the world. It is best not to anger God.
Oakpointe.org
This Psalm reviews the faithfulness of God on David’s behalf through all his struggles, battles, trials and testings. Notice that a continual theme is victory through the abilities of God rather of David.
David was far from sinless, but he was able to say “I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin” (Psalm 18:23). How do you think David was able to say this? (The key to touch on is how David always repented of his sin.)
sermncentral.com
The Lord is my rock. David depended entirely on God for his safety. The word “rock” has reference to the fact that in times of danger an elevated rock would be sought as a place of safety where men would flee to it to escape from their enemies. Such rocks abound in Palestine. Those who fled to them could find shelter behind the crags or security in their deep and dark caverns. They were places of refuge in times of danger.
Fortress means a place of defense, a place strengthened so that an enemy could not approach it. David see God as his place of strength and safety, fortified by his immeasurable power, where his soul was eternally safe from his enemies.All that would affect us must come through God. Things may look terrible, but everything is under his control and can only enter with his permission.
The Lord is also described as a high tower, beyond reach of danger. David could run to him when he was in danger and appeal for help. Because he remembered God’s help in the past, it encouraged him to have confidence in God for all that might happen in the future. It helps us to reflect on how God has come through for us in the past. We need to remember that sometimes. God uses suffering to bring us closer to himself. What a great privilege it is to be able to go to him for grace and mercy in time of need and to have a God who sympathizes with us and is so ready to help us.
scripturestudies.com
Most people would consider their victories as a result of their own skill and prowess, with a little luck thrown in. David, however, gives due credit to God as the true cause of his victory.God hates pride. It’s very difficult, nearly impossible, for a proud man to serve God effectively, because the proud man finds it hard to submit to anyone or anything but his own will. Pray for humility. It is much better to be humble before God, than to be humbled by God. David in pride could have taken credit for each of these qualities. He could have bragged about his strength and skill in archery, his luck in battle. But David properly gave glory to God. When describing his own role in the battle, David continues to give God the credit, “You armed me with strength for battle; You made my enemies turn their backs in flight.” (Compare this atttude to other famous conquerors, such as Alexander the Great, or Napolean. They were men of great pride, who relished receiving praise and glory from the people. From devotional-reflections-from-the-bible.com)
“To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless, to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.” This is in line with one of the fundamental natural and spiritual laws: what you sow, you shall reap. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (Gal. 6:7-8).
Sermoncentral.com
You are the apple of God’s eys. God delights in you. Do you feel special? Do you rejoice in who you are? Or do you feel like nobody really loves you.
Our society dotes on the Harry and Meagans of the world, it’s easy to feel “less than “ordinary-like we don’t matter. We can feel like we are worthless. But you are special to someone-not just anyone. You matter to God. You are the apple of his eye. You may wonder why should God care for you? It‘s for the same reasons that he cared for me. You’re not ordinary. You’re not an accident or an afterthought. From the very beginning, you were part of God’s plan.
God knit you together in your mother’s womb.You are a masterpiece of God. You aren’t an “oops” in the grand plan but an intentional creation of God. He made you who you are and he made you what you are. Can you imagine a king loving you so much that he would willingly give up his throne and live as a commoner for thirty-three years and then die in your place? Pretty awesome thought isn’t it. God created you just like he created the heavens and the earth. Every one of us is as unique as a sunset, and each one of us is precious to God because of our uniqueness because he is the one who made us unique.
Churchleaders.com (Josh Blount)
Does God delight in you, and if he does, how would he show it?
Maybe he would show his delight in us by giving us good gifts – health, marriage, children, a dream job, or a perfect vacation. But we all know Christians who have had some or all of those things taken away. Did they lose God’s favor and God’s delight?
Maybe God shows his delight in us by making us fruitful. God delights in you so your children always obey, your neighbors always accept your invitations to church, and the guy on the airplane seat next to you accepts Christ before the plane even reaches the runway. But if fruitfulness is how you know God delights in you, what does that mean when all your fruit starts withering on the vine? Have you lost God’s favor and God’s delight?
Maybe God shows his delight by giving us experiences of his love and favor. God delights in you, so you are moved to tears as you think of his love during worship, or you spend your whole devotional time lost in praise. But what about the times when worship seems mechanical and empty. Has God moved on and found another favorite to delight in?
God delights in us because he saved us and we are his children. God takes pleasure in his people, and yes part of that means he does give us good gifts and fruitfulness and experiences. But in the course of our life those things, by God’s wise design, will ebb and flow – but our salvation does not. How do we know God delights in us? Ultimately by this: he gave us his beloved Son, who laid down his life in our place.
devotableapp.com (Lori Schumaker 6/5/19)
Zephaniah 3:17 he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Isaiah 62:4 You shall no more be called Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in her,….for the Lord delights in you
Sometimes shame finds its way into the crevices of our soul. It grows insidiously and leads us to behave in ways that don’t bring out our best. Sometimes we hide from the world or other times we come out swinging to protect ourselves. But there’s a way to claim our identity as a child of God and live in the fullness of His love and grace.
I once felt I was like “The Forsaken City”. But today I know that I’m “The City of God’s Delight.” It didn’t happen overnight. Every day I must intentionally stay in my spiritually defensive stance when tempted to go back to old habits. But God’s spirit is alive in me and my life is changed. I understand now that the Lord delights in me and wants me to delight in Him each day.
One powerful place to start is with our thought life. Are your thoughts self-defeating? What do you say to yourself? Are you your own bully? Sadly, far too many of us are. Let’s begin capturing those bully thoughts and replacing them with Truth. When our thoughts say, “I’m nothing special,” trade them for the Truth that says, “I am God’s workmanship.” (Ephesians 2:10) When thinking “Everyone rejects me,” cancel those words with God’s Word, “I am chosen and dearly loved.” (Colossians 3:12) It’s a process, but the more familiar we become with God’s word and the more we practice taking our thoughts captive, the sooner we find freedom. One by one we cancel out the lies and we replace them with Truth. Then, we experience a change – a label that leaves us filled with hope, meaning, and purpose. Yes, you can confidently know, the Lord delights in you.
Running2win.net (A Lessson Learned in a dry season…why God gets all the glory (I’ve summarized by deleting some of it)
Have you ever wondered why the Bible says, “God gets all of the glory?” Why don’t good Christians get to share in God’s glory, especially if they lay aside their own desires to be obedient to the Lord? I didn’t want to steal God’s glory, I just wanted to understand why He gets all of the glory. The Bible says that God won’t share His glory with anyone. At that time, it didn’t make sense, so I was in hot pursuit for an answer.
I’d ask God, “Why do You get all of the glory when You need an obedient person to work through? I notice ‘lukewarm’ Christians and ‘on fire’ Christians in Your church. The on fire Christians go to every church service, minister to co-workers, serve where there is need, study the Bible and pray daily. But lukewarm Christians attend church only when they feel like it and skip when they don’t feel like it. And they forget about You for the rest of the week. So why don’t on fire Christians get to share Your glory because of their obedience? Your glory doesn’t get displayed through disobedient lukewarm Christians.” I asked these questions when I was an “on fire” Christian, but God only answered my question when I was on my way to becoming a “lukewarm” Christian.
After being filled with the Holy Spirit, my life with the Lord took off like a rocket. I was hungry to learn everything about God. I studied my Bible and prayed daily. I regularly attended church and church activities. I served in a variety of ministries. I shared the gospel with people who didn’t know God. I even got fired for being open about my faith at work. I’d pray for strangers on the street. I had great zeal and passion I wasn’t thinking highly of myself at that time, I just had an overwhelming desire to serve and know God.
The reason I’m sharing this is to show you the contrast that followed when I ended up in a dry season with God. I felt like I was stripped of everything…my prayer life, my time in the word, my zeal, my desire to go to church, my ability to hear God, my ability to discern, and my tenacity to fight the enemy. It was all gone! — I want you to notice how many times I said MY. More on that later.
I thought “If I just get back in the habit of reading the Bible every day then the passion will come back.” During this dry season, I had stopped reading the bible because, it became like a dead book to me. The Holy Spirit was no longer revealing the meaning of scriptures to me. I felt like I was reading only out of a gruding obligation. I’d try to get back to reading the Bible daily, but it seemed lifeless and it frustrated me, so I stopped.
Maybe if I prayed more, I’d get back into God’s presence and the passion would return. But the words I prayed didn’t come easy. They seemed to be coming only from my brain and not from my spirit. There was no power in them, and no hint that the Holy Spirit was involved at all. I hate doing things in my flesh.
I used to fight the enemy with vengeance every time I knew he was at work in my life. But during this dry season it seemed like I would just let the enemy beat up on me, rolling over and saying, “Here, you missed a spot.” I couldn’t even hear God’s voice anymore.
I asked God if I was being punished. Was there a place I was disobedient? Did I have un-repented sin? Was there someone I needed to forgive? What was I doing wrong? But I wasn’t really doing anything wrong, God was finally answering the question that I had been asking Him for years. Why does God get all of the glory?
I came to the realize that the zeal I once had didn’t come from me. Zeal for righteousness is a gift from God! I found that out as a lukewarm Christian desperately trying in my own strength to restore zeal into my life. There was nothing I could do to give myself zeal. I tried everything. Nothing worked…not reading the Bible more, praying more, going to church more…nothing. It all came down to the answer: we can’t even take credit for our zeal or our obedience, which is the result of zeal…they both come from God. That’s why God gets ALL of the glory. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
Let’s take this a step further. Not only does God give us the desire to pursue righteousness. He’s the one who brings spiritual power to our actions. If His anointing isn’t in what we do, our efforts are dead works. We can’t take credit for powerful intercession prayers because if the Holy Spirit doesn’t pray through us, our prayers are lifeless. We can’t take credit for understanding the scriptures, because if it weren’t for the Holy Spirit teaching us, the Bible would be just another dead book. We can’t take credit for hearing the voice of the Lord, because it’s God who opens our ears to hear and discern. We can’t take credit for fighting the enemy because Jesus defeated him long ago. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. God gets all of the glory! Why? Because it is due Him and Him alone! Alleluia!
This is the greatest lesson I have ever learned as a Christian. It has elevated my worship to the Lord. I am now able to say fully assured, “Lord, all glory belongs to you. Aside from you I can do nothing.” Every time I do something in obedience to God, I thank Him for my obedience. I hope that didn’t sound too silly but that’s where my heart is. I totally rely on Him to stir me up, give me zeal, passion, and the desire to do His will. I cooperate with Him but I rely on Him.
My Reflection on Psalm 18
I love this psalm. The picture of God thundering down from heaven and taking hold of me when I call on him in my distress is such a picture of God’s perfect love and protection. I know that he hears me when I call. He has reached down and lifted me up in the past when I’ve been at the lowest points in my life. He is all in for me when I call. Sometimes a non-Christian song plays on the radio and it’s like God is speaking to me through that song. As soon as I heard Charlie Puth sing “One Call Away,” I felt God was personally saying to me, “Now don’t you worry, it won’t be long. If you feel like hope is gone, just run into my arms. I’m only one call away, I’ll be there to save the day. Superman has nothing on me, I’m only one call away. Call me when you need a friend. I just want to give you love. No matter where you go, know you’re not alone.” I love how God speaks to me unexpectedly through songs. And that’s why it’s good for me to remember each day to sing praise to him thanking him and praising him for who he is and what he’s done.
But what really touches my heart in this psalm is the fact that he actually delights in me, even when I don’t have the Christian walk down perfectly, even when I’ve barely been paying attention to him, even when I’m caught up in sin. He doesn’t turn his back on me…ever. That’s such a hard thing to grasp. So many people in life, including myself, turn their backs on people who have hurt them or sinned against them. Our love is not unconditional. If you hurt me enough times, I’m not your friend anymore. Parents sometimes turn their backs on a child who has become a hard core drug users. They’ve tried everything in their power to help. They’ve loved their child with all their heart. They’ve prayed and see no results at all. They’re tired of bailing their son or daughter out of trouble and out of jail over and over again. They can’t stand the anguish anymore of watching their child self-destruct, so they shut down. Another call comes for a bail out and they close their door. But God never shuts the door on us.
My daughter had a heart condition and a very weak immune system. She didn’t catch little colds. No, she would land up with pneumonia. I always told my friends we couldn’t come to their house if anyone in their family had a cold. But I was betrayed by my very best friend. She said everyone was healthy and so we went to her house so that my daughter could play with her son who was the same age. They were in another room playing when I heard coughing and sneezing. Her son had a cold. My daughter ultimately landed up in the hospital under an oxygen tent because of the cold she caught from him turned into pneumonia. She could have died. I had nothing more to do with my friend after that. Love is rarely unconditional. I could forgive her but wanted nothing more to do with her. My trust in her was destroyed. At the time I didn’t have the walk I have with God now and would have forgiven her much sooner. But would I have continued to go to her house? No, because I cared about the safety of my daughter. As a human being, I have my limits.
But then I think of how many times I’ve let God down. No, actually gave him great pain and grief by my sins. How I’ve ignored him and didn’t have time for him , or I hurt another person by my words or actions. Still God thunders down from heaven and grabs hold of me to help me in my distress and keep me from falling. Why? Because he delights in me…always! How great is his love. He wants me to learn to forgive and to love too. I’m getting much better at it with his constant help, but still I’m a work in progress.
And what a great picture David paints when he says “With my God I can scale a wall.” I think he not only meant this literally but figuratively. If God is with us , we feel we can make it over the big walls that face us in life. God makes a way. And he’ll scale any obstacle or barrier or plan of Satan to get to me. It reminds me of the song by Marvin Gaye, “There ain’t no Mountain High Enough.” When I hear the song it’s like God is speaking to me, “There ain’t no mountain high enough, there ain’t no valley low enough, their ain’t no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you!” Listen to the rest of the lyrics. God is saying the same thing to you too. Nothing can keep him from getting to you when you call on him. With his help he’ll enable you to scale any wall you face right now!
SONGS:Our God by Chris Tomlin, My Deliverer by Rich Mullins. All The Way My Savior Leads me,