PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
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:
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.
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. (Psalm 18:1-29, NIV)
REFLECTIONS:
Today and tomorrow we'll focus our devotional thoughts on
Psalm 18. Due to the length of the psalm, we'll break it in half. Today, we'll
focus on verses 1-29 and tomorrow we'll look at verses 30-50. I have provided
thoughts on the various stanzas of the psalm, along with a summary question or
challenge for each section.
…………
Psalm 18 celebrates David’s victory over his enemies. Notice
the inscription at the beginning. This is the song David sang “on the day that
the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of
Saul.” David did not classify Saul as one of his enemies. Isn’t that
interesting? David was an enemy to Saul, but Saul was not an enemy to him.
We may not be able to prevent other people from being our
enemies, but we can prevent ourselves from being enemies toward others. Our job
is not to create problems and make enemies. Our job is to pray, to live for the
Lord, and to represent him in all we do.
The LORD delivered David from all his enemies. Amazingly,
I've heard it said that the Hebrew language contains twenty-three different
words for “deliverance.” The Jewish people knew something about deliverance.
Throughout their history God had delivered them from all sorts of enemies and
situations.
Who delivered David? God did. When did he do it? When David
called upon him. “I love you, LORD, my strength” (verse 1). As we look at
verses 1–6, we find nine different titles for God: my God, my Rock, my
Fortress, my Deliverer, my Strength, my Shield, the Horn of my Salvation, my
Stronghold, the Lord. Each of these descriptive titles contains a key word, a
word of utter importance: “my.” David knew how to lay hold of God personally
and say, “He is my God. He is my Deliverer. He is my Salvation.” You and I must
learn to do likewise. We must cling to God as our God, our personal rescuer and
the hero of our personal salvation. Who delivers you? The Lord. When will he
deliver you? When you call upon him. “I called to the LORD, who is worthy to be
praised, and I have been saved from my enemies” (verse 3).
David learned how to trust God for deliverance. Although his
circumstances were often difficult, God was his Stronghold, and David called on
him for help. Do you need deliverance? Is God your Deliverer? If so, call on him
for help.
…………
These verses present one of the greatest poetic descriptions
of a storm found in the Bible. It is a graphic picture of the way God works
when he comes to the aid of his children. David was saying in these verses that
God the Creator, God the Deliverer, used everything in nature to come to his
aid. The earth shook, down to its foundations. Smoke came up, and fire came
out. Coals were kindled. The heavens bowed down. The wind began to blow, for
God was coming on the wings of the wind. We see darkness, dark waters, thick
clouds, even hailstones and coals of fire. Thunder, lightning—the very breath
of God was blowing across the fields. When the child of God is in his will, all
of nature works for him.
When the child of God is out of his will, it seems that everything
works against him. Remember Jonah? He ran away from God in disobedience, and
what happened? A storm appeared. The wind and waves were violent. That little
boat went up and down on the ocean like a cork. Even the rugged sailors were
worried. Jonah disobeyed God, and everything in nature worked against him.
David obeyed God, and everything in nature worked for him.
God can use the storms of life to fulfill his will. Is the wind
blowing? He is flying on the wings of the wind. Are the clouds thick? He will
bring showers of blessing out of them. Don’t be afraid of the storm. May we
remember: storms often come from the hand of God and oftentimes serve as means
of blessing.
…………
For several years David had been forced to live in confined
places while he fled from Saul. More than once he fled to a cave to save his
life. Then God brought him out of the caves and out of confinement and into a
spacious place of abundance. “He brought me out into a spacious place; he
rescued me because he delighted in me” (verse 19). David was a man after
God’s own heart, and God delighted in him, just as he delighted in our Lord
Jesus. God said of him, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
We often talk about our delighting in the Lord. “Take
delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
That’s important to do. But what about God’s delighting in us? As parents, we
enjoy delighting in our children. In a similar way God delights in us.
Because God delights in us, he delivers us. And he uses the
difficult experiences of life to make us bigger. “He brought me out into a
spacious place” (verse 19). Verse 36 of this chapter says, “You provide a broad
path for my feet.” When God puts us into a large place, he has to give us
larger feet. But don’t stop there. David declared: “He makes me lie down in
green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He
guides me along the right paths for his name's sake” (Psalm 23:1-3). God
delivers us so that he can put us into a spacious place, so that he can refresh
our soul, so that he can enable us to take giant steps of faith for his glory.
David had gone through several years of confinement, difficulty, persecution,
and sorrow. But when it was over, he was a bigger man.
Let the trials of life make you a giant, not a midget. Let
God put you into a large, broad place, where you can take giant steps of faith
for his glory.
Life’s trials are not easy. In fact, they are oftentimes incredibly
painful. But in God’s will, each trial has a purpose. Often he uses them to
enlarge you. Are you feeling confined? Be encouraged that God delights in
delivering you from confinement. Difficult times stretch and strengthen and
build up your faith… if you let him use them for his glory.
…………
No matter how difficult our trials are, if we have clean
hands, God will fill them with blessing. “The LORD dealt with me according to
my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me” (verse
20). “The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the
cleanness of my hands in his sight” (verse 24). David’s hands were clean.
His enemies were lying about him—those people in Saul’s court who wanted Saul’s
attention and affection. They lied about David. They accused him of all sorts
of false things. They said, “Saul, David said this,” but he never said it.
“David is doing this to you,” but he never did that. David’s hands were clean.
When our hands are clean and we are keeping the ways of the Lord, God will work
for us. He will give us what we need, protect us, and see us through.
God responds to us as we respond to him. “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 [opposed]” (verses 25–26). We decide how close God will
be, how much affection he will be able to show us. “He rescued me because he
delighted in me” (verse 19). The LORD delights in children with clean hands and
a pure heart. Integrity is the key word. David was a man of integrity. Saul was
a man of duplicity. He was double-minded, looking in two directions at once.
But David kept his eyes on the Lord.
When our hands are clean, no matter how difficult life may
be, God will see us through. He will take us through any and every trial and heal
enable us to bring glory to his name when it’s all over.
God rewards us according to our righteousness. Are you keeping the ways
of the Lord? lf so, know that you may indeed depend on his protection and strength. When your
hands are clean, he sees you through your difficult trials and circumstances.
…………
God wants to have a personal relationship with each of us.
He is the God of the individual believer through Jesus Christ, and he delights
in us just as we delight in those we love. The highest and holiest experience
we can have is the worshipful delight of the Lord.
This passage gives us insight into how we can delight in God
and how he delights in us. First, how do we delight God? By our character.
David had “clean hands,” which I take to mean integrity (verse 20). He was
not free from sin, but his heart was devoted to God. Righteous means “obedient.”
David was obedient (verses 21–22). He had the word of God in his heart. God
delights in us when we do what he wants us to do the way he wants us to do it (Matthew
3:17). What counts is that he delights in what we do, not what our neighbors
think about us.
Second, how does God deal with those in
whom he delights? He treats us the way we treat him (verses 25–27). We
grow as close to God as we want to be. David was wholly devoted to him, so God
was able to bless him. David was merciful to those who wronged him; God was
merciful to him (verse 25). David was loyal; God was loyal to him (verse 25).
David was pure, submissive, and humble.
In contrast, Saul was devious. Shrewd means “to wrestle.”
God wrestles with us when we are perverse and devious (just as he did with
Jacob in Genesis 32:22-32). Parents often wrestle with their children when it
comes to discipline. God wrestles with us to bring us where he wants us to be;
then he can delight in us.
Third, how can we increase our delight in God and his
delight in us? Believe that he wants you to be happy. Now, that might
sound trite and cliché-ish. But it's the truth. God desires for us to
experience the abundant life of walking in intimacy with him. The Bible describes
this life of intimacy with the term “blessed.” Another translation for
“blessed” is “happy.” When we experience the touch of God's grace, when we
experience his deliverance, when we taste the freedom he brings into our life,
when we experience the peace, contentment, harmony and wholeness of walking in
fellowship with him, we are truly happy. And because of all that God has done
for us, we desire and are empowered to walk in a new way. A way of holiness. Happiness
and holiness go together. Submit to and enjoy God’s will, but not grudgingly. He
will give us the best. When we delight in him and he delights in us, life
becomes delightful, and we bring glory to our Father’s name.
Delighting in God is an expression of our personal relationship with him.
His delight in us is an expression of his love for you and me. Today, be the kind of
person who delights God. Walk with integrity and heart-felt obedience to his
word. He will bless you and use you to bring glory to himself.
I am Tres Sansom, and I love using Psalms as a guide for my
prayer life. David and the other psalmists put words to many of the emotions
and thoughts I wrestle with. I love the raw-ness and authenticity of the psalmists.
And, I love the way the psalmists work their way through difficult and painful
circumstances and somehow keep a God-centered focus.
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