\nPsalm 18 is a slight reworking of the song David sang in 2Samuel 22.\nThe songs are almost identical and express David’s delight in the\nLORD for delivering him from the hand of Saul and from all his\nenemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWe don’t know\nexactly when David composed this song but it was most likely after he\nhad become the king of a united Israel. The pagan kings, such as the\nAssyrian or Babylonian kings, liked to leave behind inscriptions\npraising themselves and all they accomplished. David did not do that.\nHe left behind writings that praised the LORD for the LORD’s\naccomplishments. Even the description in the title of David as “the\nservant of the LORD” is not his own, but was given him by the\nLORD Himself. In 2Sam.3:18 it is recorded: “For\nthe LORD has spoken of David, saying, ‘By the hand of My servant\nDavid I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines\nand from the hand of all their enemies.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWhile, in 2Samuel\n22, David began the song with “The LORD is\nmy rock and my fortress and my deliverer,” in Psalm 18\nbegins with a much more personal declaration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tI\nlove You, O LORD, my strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tDavid had a lot to\nsay about the LORD in this Psalm, but he began with this beautiful\ndeclaration of love. There is an intimacy in this declaration. As we\nread through the Psalm, we can see that David has walked through some\ndifficult and dangerous times. And in every one of those\ncircumstances, the LORD had been right there with him. It is the\nintimacy of a faithful companion. It is the intimacy of one who has\nshared the sound of battle. It is the intimacy of one who has been\nthere even when everyone else has fled. It is an intimacy brought\nabout by the LORD’s proven faithfulness in protecting David through\nDavid’s life. When David was in battle, the LORD was there. When\nDavid wandered the wilderness to escape danger, the LORD was there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tSo it was natural\nfor David to begin his praise of God’s faithfulness and power with\nthis very intimate and revealing statement: “I\nlove you, O LORD, my strength.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThis is the type of\nintimacy we enjoy with our Lord. He walks through the dangers with\nus, the perilous times. He is there with us in grief, in sorrow, in\npain, in joy, in celebrations, in any and all circumstances. And,\nbecause He is always there and always ready to help, we can say, with\nDavid, “my strength.” If we\nhave learned, by experience, how faithful our Lord is to walk with us\nthrough life, giving us of His strength when we are weak and frail,\nwe will understand exactly David’s opening statement: “I\nlove you, O LORD, my strength.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tDavid then began to\nlist eight ways the LORD had been his strength. They reflect two\nthemes: battle, and the wilderness. We will also be looking at as two\nparallel sets of four. The first four are Rock, Fortress, Deliverer,\nand God. The second set are Rock, Shield, Horn of my salvation, and\nStronghold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe\nLORD is my rock<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tMy\nrock, in whom I take refuge<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe first word\ntranslated rock carries the idea of a cleft in the rock, a place to\nslide into to be surrounded by the strength of the rock, a place of\nsafety. The second word translated rock often carried the idea of a\nmountain, stressing the massive size of the rock. Which is why David\nadded the phrase, “in whom I take refuge.”\nIn both, David is stressing the ability of the LORD to protect and\nprovide refuge. The LORD was a safe place in which to hide and be\nprotected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWe also experience\nthe safety of trusting in the Lord. When we find ourselves in\ndifficulties, He is always a safe place to turn to for His\nprotection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tMy\nfortress<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tMy\nshield<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe word “fortress”\nhas the idea of a ‘watchtower.’ This sits to watch for the enemy and\nwarn of approaching danger. The shield has a parallel idea in\nprotecting one from the strike of attack. In both the warning and the\nblocking of an attack, the LORD protected David in times of danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tOur Lord also does\nthis for us. He warns us of the dangers of this world. He tells us of\nthe danger of ignoring God’s righteous demands upon our lives. He is\nalso our shield, taking upon Himself the stroke of God’s just wrath\nat our sin there on the cross, protecting us from the greatest danger\nthere is: the wrath of God at sin. Isaiah 53:4 stated that our Lord\nwas “smitten of God.” He took\nour place, allowing God His Father to strike Him with the stroke that\nwas due us. Jesus truly is also our shield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tMy\nDeliverer<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe\nhorn of my salvation<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe LORD was\nDavid’s deliverer. He rescued him from the tight, difficult\ncircumstances of life. He saved him from death and destruction many\ntimes. the LORD was David’s Deliverer. The term “horn” has\nthe idea of something that streams forth as a horn pushes forth from\nthe head. The LORD streamed forth continuously David’s deliverance.\nThe LORD continually save David out of many perilous circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tOur Lord is our\nDeliverer and His salvation continuously pours forth onto us. We are\nsaved by His life and by His death. He is our Deliverer and\ncontinuously delivers us from the hand of the enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tMy\nGod<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tMy\nstronghold<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWe know God. But do\nwe know Him as our stronghold? The word translated “stronghold”\ncarries the idea of height. God is high. He is lofty. The writer of\nProverbs put this idea this way, in Proverbs 18:10: “The\nname of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is\nsafe.” God is both high and lofty, He is also beyond the\nreach of His enemies. Therefore we can run to Him for safety in times\nof danger or distress. He is the One we should turn to. He can be\ntrusted and He is always a place of safety for our souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAll of this brought\nDavid to the confidence he wrote in Psalm 18:3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tI\ncall upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from\nmy enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tHere, again, David\nexpressed the faithfulness of God in His relationship with David.\nBecause God is all of those things David described, David was\nsupremely confident in calling upon the LORD. The LORD is always\nworthy of David’s praise. That means that the LORD never showed any\nquality that could be criticized or condemned. Everything the LORD\ndid was praiseworthy. And David praised Him. David was saved from his\nenemies because He called on the LORD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThis is the truth\nwe need to take to heart at this time of distress. All those things\nthe Lord was for David, He is also for us. As David could confidently\ncall upon the LORD, trusting in His response and deliverance, we can\nas well. In this time of national and international testing, we need\nto be calling upon the Lord. He will show His faithfulness and\ndeliver us from all evil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Psalm 18 is a slight reworking of the song David sang in 2Samuel 22. The songs are almost identical and express David’s delight in the LORD for delivering him from the hand of Saul and from all his enemies. We don’t know exactly when David composed this song but it was most likely after he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastorsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions\/639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}