<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tPsalm\n18 is a slight reworking of the song David sang in 2Samuel\n22. The songs are almost identical and express David’s delight\nin the LORD 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\nrecorded: “For the LORD has spoken of\nDavid, saying, ‘By the hand of My servant David I will save My people\nIsrael from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all\ntheir enemies.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWhile, in 2Samuel\n22, David began the song with “The\nLORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,” in\nPsalm 18 begins with a much more\npersonal declaration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tI\nlove You, O LORD, my strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWhenever this Psalm\nwas reworked, David began it with that very personal and precious\ndeclaration of his love for the Lord. The first three verses that we\nlooked at last Wednesday were a summary of the Psalm. Starting in\nverse 4, David went through the events\nthat led up to his deliverance, finishing in verse 19.\nThen, from verse 20 on, David explained\nwhy God delivered him and David expressed his thankfulness for that\ndeliverance. This evening, we will look at verses 4\nthrough 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tDavid began his\nexplanation with his perception of his circumstances. We never truly\ngrasp the circumstances we find ourselves in in life. This is because\nwe never see things as God sees them. Take, for example, two times\nthat the Disciples were in great fear on the Sea of Galilee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tIn Matthew\n8:23-27 is the first occurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWhen\nHe got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there\narose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered\nwith the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him\nand woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He\nsaid to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?”\nThen He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became\nperfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a\nman is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tHere, in their\nperception, they were in deadly peril. But their perception of their\nperil was false. The deliverance from their deadly circumstances was\nright there with them. They just did not know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe second instance\nis found in Matthew 14:22-27:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tImmediately\nHe made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the\nother side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the\ncrowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when\nit was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long\ndistance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was\ncontrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them,\nwalking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea,\nthey were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they\ncried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take\ncourage, it is I; do not be afraid.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tIn this second\noccurrence, they feared because of their superstition about ghosts\nand their ignorance about Jesus. But, again, they were wrong in their\nperception. God had great plans for their lives and they were not in\nany real danger. Yet, years later, they did end their lives in\ndanger, killed for the cause of Christ, all except the Apostle John.\nThough, to their perception, they were in fearful circumstances there\non Galilee, yet, they were not. This is because they only saw their\ncircumstances as the world saw them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tDavid’s perception\nof his circumstances are given in verses 4\n& 5 of Psalm\n18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe\ncords of death encompassed me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAnd\nthe torrents of ungodliness terrified me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe\ncords of Sheol surrounded me;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe\nsnares of death confronted me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tDavid perceived\nhimself as in deadly danger. To his eyes, the cords of death were\ntightening themselves around him. This was due to the ungodly\nattacking, pursuing him. To his eyes the ungodly were flooding over\nhim like a torrent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tIn the title to\nthis Psalm, it states “A Psalm of David\nthe servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song\nin the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his\nenemies and from the hand of Saul.” We know how\ndiligently David was pursued by Saul. This was because Saul\nmistakenly thought that David was trying to take his throne away from\nhim. David was not, as David would not lift up his hand against God’s\nanointed king. David was also in danger from the Philistines, and\neven from his own men, on one occasion. David truly was surrounded by\nthe ungodly and they often threatened to overwhelm David and destroy\nhim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tSo David’s\nperception was that he was about to die, about to be completely\noverwhelmed by his attackers and destroyed. The\ncords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares\nof death confronted me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tYet, was David’s\nperception true?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tIn verse 6,\nDavid showed how he reacted to his perilous circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\t In\nmy distress I called upon the LORD,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAnd\ncried to my God for help;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tHe\nheard my voice out of His temple,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAnd\nmy cry for help before Him came into His ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tDavid reacted to\nthese perilous circumstances by calling upon the Lord. He cried out\nto his God for help. He did exactly right. But this was the normal\nexpression of David’s heart and practice. When Samuel told Saul that\nGod had rejected Saul from being king, he said this to Saul, in\n1Samuel 13:14: “But\nnow your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for\nHimself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as\nruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD\ncommanded you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tDavid was a man\nafter God’s own heart. This does not mean David was sinless, but it\ndoes mean that he sought to please the Lord through his obedience.\nAnd it was because of this that David noted, in Psalm 18:6:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tHe\nheard my voice out of His temple,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAnd\nmy cry for help before Him came into His ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tDavid had\nconfidence that the LORD heard David’s cry. He knew that his cry for\nhelp came before the LORD and, very descriptively, into the LORD’s\nears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tNow, from verse 7\nthrough verse 19, David poetically\ndescribed the LORD’s response to David’s cry. But I want to stop here\ntonight and think about these three verses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWe perceive our\nnation and the world in perilous circumstances. This pestilence\ncontinues to increase and people continue to die from this. I think\nyou would agree that David’s descriptions of peril in verses 4\nand 5 are quite apt for us right now.\nThis pestilence has come in like a flood and we struggle to escape\nits grip. There is no question that the cords of death are sweeping\nthrough our land. And we are being confronted by death. The snares of\ndeath are before us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAnd it is\nappropriate for us to take precautions, as David did by hiding in\ncaves, pretending to be insane before the Philistines, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAnd it is also\nappropriate for us to call upon the Lord and cry out to the Father in\nour distress. That is always an appropriate thing to do. We are\nchildren of our heavenly Father and we have been commanded, many\ntimes, to pray, even to pray without ceasing.\nAnd we can have the same confidence that the Lord has heard our\nprayers. They have entered into His ears, as David so poetically put\nit. Our heavenly Father hears our prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tYet, is not our\nlife in His hands? As the Disciples cried out in fear, even while\nthey panicked, God had their deliverance already there for them. They\njust could not see as God could see. Their fear was unnecessary,\nbecause they were safe in God’s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThis is also a\ntruth for us at this time of peril in our land. God knows exactly\nwhat He plans for each one of us. We are not forgotten, nor are we\nignored. As we call out to the Lord, He hears us, and He knows\nexactly what He has planned for us. He is in our future the same as\nHe is in our present. And whatever He has determined to allow for us,\nHe has us safely in His hands. If it is for life, then well and good.\nIf it is for death, then even better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tBut however this\nturns out in the future, trust in the Lord and be at peace in His\nloving hands. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThere is a song we\nsing that is taken from Psalm 18. It\ncomes from verses 3 and 46.\nPerhaps we can sing this truth to encourage ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tNever forget that\nthe Lord lives and remember to exalt Him. Peace, in the midst of this\nstorm, will flood your hearts and minds, if you focus on the Lord and\nHis care for you.<\/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-706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastorsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706","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=706"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":749,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions\/749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionchapel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}