God my Sovereign Savior

Psalms 18:1-24

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:

1 I will love You, O LORD, my strength.
2 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.

3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.

4 The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
8 Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.
10 And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
He flew upon the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness His secret place;
His canopy around Him was dark waters
And thick clouds of the skies.
12 From the brightness before Him,
His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.

13 The LORD thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
14 He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe,
Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.

15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered
At Your rebuke, O LORD,
At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

16 He sent from above, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me,
For they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the LORD was my support.

19 He also brought me out into a broad place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me.

21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.

22 For all His judgments were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.

23 I was also blameless before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.

24 Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

As we see also in 2 Samuel 22:1–51, this is a song of praise and adulation to God who delivers in His sovereign grace.  It is a song of rejoicing and great thanksgiving for salvation from enemies when in deep distress and seemingly hopeless circumstances.  It looks to God as a fortress of protection (Psalm 31:2-3), a solid rock as foundation (Matthew 7:24-25), a shield to protect from evil (2 Samuel 22:31, 36), and a stronghold of strength and salvation as a fort.  Praise for Him who is all these things ring out here in joyful song by David as a man after God’s own heart!  And so should we meditate on these attributes of God and His working in our salvation from enemies, the chief adversary being the one who brought the destruction of sin and its eternal corruption.  Christ is our rock of deliverance and protection from the fiery darts of that one, and the foundation of our faith in His work is our righteousness and eternal hope.  Because He is worthy of praise, we call to Him for help and grace in our own times of great need, as David gave the example (Hebrews 4:16).  God’s wrath on sin is also on the evil one who brought it to Eve and Adam; His vengeance will be satisfied on the day of final judgment as He shakes the earth (Hebrews 12:26), a truth to build upon as we suffer in hope until that time.  As the LORD thunders from heaven and illuminates the world with lightning, as He brings floods and fiery hail mixed together, so He delivers His people with infinite power and authority.  He will deliver us as the psalmist from our enemies, from those too strong for us to defeat and who hate us for the sake of Christ in us (Matthew 5:11-12), because we are God’s people as was king David.  Remember, He delivers us because He delights in us!  And as we honor in thankful and willing obedience in return, the righteousness of Christ in whose grace we stand is worked out to conform us to Himself from this tarnished image to reflect Christ as intended at creation (Romans 5:2, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Philippians 3:21, 2:12-13, 1:6).  Therefore, He has rewarded us not based on our inherent righteousness, but on the faith in imputed righteousness and subsequent participation in the work of our sanctification.  We are saved by grace to live towards holiness because He is holy and our goal of life’s race we run (Philippians 3:13-14).  May we do as David sung of here, keeping God’s word in our vision and in our footsteps, walking out this trusting reliance on our Lord as we daily choose to avoid sin and find our reward accordingly.  This song of the king is ours as well.  God is my Sovereign Savior!