Psalm 18:1-50
18:1-3 David proclaimed that he would continue to love the Lord. He listed his reasons, and more specifically, the offices God filled in his life: his strength and foundation, fortress, protector and deliverer; the most faithful, trustworthy force in his life; his shield and salvation and stronghold. For all of the places God filled with strength, love and provision, David knew that God was worthy to be praised. David praised God who made him safe from all of his enemies, within and without.
God's love and protection is comprehensive. He fills all of our needs and delights in providing additional blessing. David proclaimed that he did not just love God in the present moment but that he would continue to. We must be as steadfastly loyal to God as God is to us.
18:4-6 David experienced fear and sorrow, and captivity to distress but God rescued him from all of it. God heard his voice. If God is listening for us, we have the opportunity to speak to Him; we have access to God's arsenal of power we need only to ask for it.
18:7-12 God came into David's love as a storm, the storm of storms, against his enemies. Never doubt that God can rush into your live with forces strong enough to dispel whatever plagues you. In ways that cannot anticipated He sweeps in to change and rectify, indignant on behalf of His beloved child.
18:13-15 For David, God scattered the foe. The Lord did not arrive swiftly and powerfully in David's life because David was perfect. David was not perfect. Yet his unyielding love and obedience to his faith initiated the power of God in the circumstances of his life.
18:16-19 In the way that only He can, God reached down and lifted David out of his troubled waters. He plucked David up from people and situations which were more powerful than he was. And though David was confronted on all sides by enemies, God was his support blocking each of them. He rescued David and then delivered him to a broad place, a safe place of joy and opportunity... a place to express his love for God without toxic distraction.
18:20-24 As long as David's intentions remained good, his love for God pure, God's power was active in his life. God has laid out careful, simple instructions for us on how to live righteously. David followed those instructions and a righteous lifestyle results in peace. Peace upheld by the hand of God. A righteously lifestyle disallows the infiltration of unrighteousness, there are no cracks through which it can enter when your relationship with God is solid.
18:25-27 Our relationship with God is what we put into it. We fill our own basket; we reap what we sow. What we put into the world is what we build around ourselves.
18:28-30 Light and power. God illuminates the darkness, expels the monsters. He is our wall and army. Our springboard out of old places and into new ones. Our God is perfect therefore our trust in Him should be secure.
18:31-34 David marveled at the uniqueness of our God. Nothing compares. He makes us able and eloquent, deft and raised. He instructs and comforts, prepares and leads and protects.
18:35-36 God's support is firm, His touch is gentle. He is a patient father, tenderly teaching us the way through new or difficult things. Present and beaming in our happiness, resilient and wise in our sorrow.
18:37-42 God made David strong enough to conquer his enemies. Whether our demons are internal or our enemies external, God will empower us to be stronger. He pulls the weeds in our lives up from the root, the dissipate as dust and ashes in the wind.
18:43-45 Even though so many people and nations were against David, none of them prevailed against God. God made a seemingly impossible dream a reality for enemies to balk at and his children to marvel within.
18:46-49 David reiterates that God is worthy of praise. The beginning and end of everything should be praise for our Father, who does for us as He did for David. Ultimate, impenetrable protection. Abundant provision. Lasting peace. Perfect justice. Swift rescue. Safe haven.
18:50 God is good and merciful to His children.
