Exalt the God of Your Salvation!

Psalms 18:25-50

25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
27 For You will save the humble people,
But will bring down haughty looks.

28 For You will light my lamp;
The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by You I can run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.

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

31 For who is God, except the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength,
And makes my way perfect.

33 He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And sets me on my high places.

34 He teaches my hands to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand has held me up,
Your gentleness has made me great.

36 You enlarged my path under me,
So my feet did not slip.

37 I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
38 I have wounded them,
So that they could not rise;
They have fallen under my feet.
39 For You have armed me with strength for the battle;
You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

40 You have also given me the necks of my enemies,
So that I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried out, but there was none to save;
Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them.
42 Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind;
I cast them out like dirt in the streets.

43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;
You have made me the head of the nations;
A people I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me they obey me;
The foreigners submit to me.
45 The foreigners fade away,
And come frightened from their hideouts.

46 The LORD lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
Let the God of my salvation be exalted.

47 It is God who avenges me,
And subdues the peoples under me;
48 He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.

49 Therefore I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the Gentiles,
And sing praises to Your name.
50 Great deliverance He gives to His king,
And shows mercy to His anointed,
To David and his descendants forevermore.

The second half of the song is where king David extols the LORD for His deliverance, His salvation.  He begins with the humble ones who see this deliverance, not the devious.  The humble are merciful, blameless, and pure in heart; these are the ones who seek God and to pleasing Him according to His word.  God gives light for direction of the life and strength to fight the battles, which the psalmist extolled God for, and which we can in similar manner.  David acknowledged again that God’s way is perfect, that no other way of his own even comes close to this perfection.  His word, the scriptures, is altogether true as demonstrated throughout history and in David’s own experience.  This is true in ours as well as we look back on His faithfulness to us and to others in the Bible.  If we trust Him as this king did, we will also find His protection as a shield for our faith and lives.  Why?  Because only He is God, our rock foundation and strength to perfect us into the transforming of the image of Himself, which is Christ, the expected and anticipated Messiah whom David awaited as his spiritual descendant in the line from Adam the son of God through him to Jesus to come (Luke 3:31, 38).  He found skill and strength to wage war and overcome his enemies, swift and protected on the high ground to victory.  Most importantly, the king had the promise of salvation as a shield to protect him as our own shield of faith in God’s word, and he was upheld by God’s providence and grace of goodness which made him great in the calling as leader of His people.  We find the more clearly certain promise of eternal salvation in Christ to be the shield of faith in the one holding us in His hand to keep us until the final day.  He is magnified in us as we walk out that trust in Him.  He makes the path straight and sound for us to walk and keep us from stumbling as well (Jude 1:24-25)!  We are not warriors as king David was, but God still gives us victory against heavenly forces (Ephesians 6:12, 3:10).  He will make us rulers over them as David was over his earthly enemies defeated by God’s strength and abilities.  His descendant of the flesh, Jesus the Christ, would rule over all as Head with every nation and people bowing to His authority (Philippians 2:10-11) in the end.  Like the psalmist king, we echo his jubilant praise, The Lord lives!  Blessed is my Rock!  Let my saving God be lifted up in exaltation!  God brings justice and vengeance, deliverance and exaltation to the humble, and elicits praise from those He delivers from sin, death, and eternal punishment.  Our response must therefore be the same as here, with thanksgiving and praise for our salvation and His mercy.  Amen.