By Caroline Speas
Psalm 18 is on our daily reading plan for today, and it is not a short one. I know it doesn’t have 176 verses like Psalm 119 does, but when you consider that the typical Psalm is around 16 verses long, this Psalm, weighing in at 50 verses, is no lightweight. And personally, I find that if I’m just reading through it without context or application, I can get a little bit lost reading it. But when reading this Psalm, I think it’s important to remember that this is the song David sang on the day he was delivered from his enemies and from Saul.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:
I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my [strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:1-3)
Those first few verses are some of my favorites in the Bible. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust. It’s like you can almost hear the sigh of relief coming out of David through these words. He had been trusting God to take care of this whole enemy situation. He had even had the opportunity to end the problem on his own terms by killing Saul himself (1 Sam. 24). But he chose to trust God’s way instead. He let his personal preferences (you know, like not wanting to be killed) decrease so that God’s perfect will could increase. And then, in response to God’s answer, he praised the Lord - his rock, his fortress, his deliverer. As I was reading and taking notes on this chapter a year ago, I broke it down into four different parts.
The first part focuses on God rescuing David from his wicked and violent enemies. (Verses 1-19)
The second part speaks about how God helped him because He found him righteous and blameless. (Verses 20-27)
The third part asserts that God does everything perfectly. (Verses 28-45)
The fourth and final part is full of praise and thanks for what God had done for him. (Verse 46-50)
I hope you have never been hunted down by a proud, power-hungry king who hated your guts. But if you are in a difficult season – whether you think it pales in comparison to what David had to deal with from Saul, or if you think it’s just about that bad – remember that we have a Rock, a Fortress. We have a God who delivers us. We have a God who takes care of the righteous. We have a God who is perfect in everything He does. We have a God who is worthy of our thanksgiving and praise. May we, like David, allow our personal preferences to decrease so that God’s perfect will can increase. May we place our trust in Him at all times. In times of difficulty and in times of victory, may we call on Him. He is worthy to be praised.
If you are following our “Daily Bible-Reading Plan,” today's passages are John 16 & Psalm 18.