Thoughts on Psalm 18

“The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”  Psalm 18:2

Psalm 18:1-15  “Fort Jehovah”

“Let’s build a fort,” said one child to the other.  So they took blankets and quilts and threw them over chairs creating a haven in the midst of the living room.  They felt protected and secluded from all that would harm them, until Mom came into the room and said, “Company’s coming.  Clean up this mess.”  Their shelter was only make-believe.  However, the fort that God builds around us has all the strength of God.  He is our protector from dangers both seen and unseen.  He hears our cries.  The earth moves at His command,  All the wicked will feel His wrath and know there is none other like Him.

Psalm 18:16-29  “Like Father, Like Son”

I was about to drown in my sorrows when God reached down lifting me from my misery.  My enemies would suffocate me if it weren’t for God who delivered me from their clutches because He loves me.  And I love Him which gives me the desire to behave righteously.  We’re God’s children.  He wants us to act like it.  He gives mercy for mercy, uprightness for uprightness, purity for purity, but to those who are contrary, He frustrates their purposes.  It is a nasty fall from a “high horse”.  God has a candle of unending light for those who suffer the wicked’s darkness.  Their armies and their walls cannot stop our God from rescuing us.

Psalm 18:30-50  “He Loves Me Like A Rock”

God is a shield against Satan and his influence upon God’s children.  God is the only One able to keep us from the devil’s clutches.  There is none other to which we can turn.  The LORD is God.  He gives us strength and clears the path for us so that we don’t stumble and fall.  He gives us grace and swiftness like a deer so that we can escape to a high and lofty place above our enemies.  He gives us strength and the weapons to fight spiritual warfare.  He gives us victory after victory over our enemies.  God cares about His children and turns a deaf ear to those who would harm us.  He gives us preference over our enemies and causes them to submit to His children.  None of this is possible in our own strength.  We thank You, O God, for all Your mighty wonders that You have done to help us.  Thank You for Your love and mercy.  Thank You, thank You, thank You.

Epilogue

David penned this Psalm as a praise to the LORD for all of His mercies that He extended to David.  It was first recorded in II Samuel 22 and included in the Psalms with minor variations.  David, like us, certainly had a lot to be thankful for.  He made many bad judgments in his life, yet God forgave him, just as He forgives us when we call upon His name.  This song of praise is a good reminder to us to be ever thankful for God’s mercies, even those seemingly insignificant moments in our lives when God protected us from ourselves.  We are not even aware of the many times that God has rescued us from a potential situation that could have caused us great harm.  It behooves us to express gratitude to God on a daily basis for we never know what a day may bring.

Many times David saw no way out of his troubles.  Death stalked his trail endlessly surrounding him like the waves of the ocean.  Hordes of ungodly men swarmed over him like a flood.  He felt like he was in a hell on earth with no way out.  I have felt that way.  Some of you have as well.  The only recourse for David was to call on the LORD, to cry out for help.  That, too, is our only recourse.  God’s ears are always open wide to the cries of His children.