Praise for God’s Mercy and Goodness

2 Samuel 22:26-37

26 “With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
27 With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
28 You will save the humble people;
But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down.

29 “For You are my lamp, O LORD;
The LORD shall enlighten my darkness.
30 For by You I can run against a troop;
By my God I can leap over a wall.

31 As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the LORD is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

32 “For who is God, except the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God?
33 God is my strength and power,
And He makes my way perfect.

34 He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And sets me on my high places.
35 He teaches my hands to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

36 “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your gentleness has made me great.

37 You enlarged my path under me;
So my feet did not slip.

Here the song of David continues from praise for deliverance to praise for God’s great mercy and goodness to the humble.  He begins by acknowledging that the LORD will not bless the proud, devious, merciless, and impure in heart.  David admits how God lights his way through life, exposing darkness and giving victory.  He most of all declares that the LORD is perfect and perfectly to be trusted according to His absolute word which has been proven over and over (Joshua 21:45).  He alone is the sovereign and almighty God, a solid foundation to stand firm upon (1 Samuel 2:2, Matthew 7:24) for his (and our) source of strength to make us more conformed to the image designed for us, which now is our sanctification in conformity to the image revealed in Christ.  This is the perfection He is building within us, to be completed in the resurrection.  God also gave David the warring skills and strength to keep running the race in battle and in life, which He gives us now until they day (Philippians 3:12-14, Hebrews 12:1).  His deliverance, His salvation shields us from the judgement to come against His wrath on our sin by grace alone, and by this gentle demonstration of mercy He makes us great instead of despised and forsaken.  This is how he gave a certain path to David and held him up as he stumbled through life in failures and victories, and how He will likewise lead us home as well by His goodness of mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen!