|
1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
He is my shield[b] and the horn[c] of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I called to the LORD, who is worthy of
praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death coiled entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him –
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.[d]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, LORD,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my
|
|
disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
I have not done evil by turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
24 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop;[e]
with my God I can scale a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect:
the word of the LORD’s is flawless;
He is a shield
For all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the LORD?
And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he enables me to stand on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You give me your shield of victory,
and your right hand sustains me;
you stoop down to make me great.
|
|
36 You broaden the path beneath me,
so that my ankles do not turn over.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.
39You armed me with strength for battle;
you made my adversaries bow at my feet.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them –
to the LORD, but he did not answer.
42 I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind;
I poured them[f] out like mud in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
you have made me the head of nations.
|
|
People I did not know now are subject to me,
44 As soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
Foreigner cringe before me.
45 They all lose heart;
they come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Saviour!
47 He is the God who avenges me,
who subdues nations under me,
48 who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from a violent man you rescued me.
49 Therefore I will praise you, among the nations; O LORD,
I will sing the praises of your name.
50 He gives his king great victories;
he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,
to David and to his descendants for ever.
(NIV)
|
|
Psalm 18:- The psalm/song that David sang to the Lord when God delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. In 2 Samuel 22:2
It is a royal song of thanksgiving that reviews God’s deliverance of David from all his enemies. The title “servant of the Lord” places David in an elite company, namely, that of Moses, Joshua, and the Messiah, who also bear the title. The psalm includes a declaration of David’s love and trust in the Lord (verses 1-3), a narrative of his deliverance by the Lord (verses 4-19), an explanation of the cause for David’s deliverance (verses 20-24), an exposition of the display of God’s attributes to those who trust in Him (verses 25-30), a further description of David’s victory (verses 31-45), and a concluding word of thanks for God’s deliverance (verses 46-50). The description of the Lord’s intervention given (in verses 7-19), is called a theophany, one of many in the Old Testament, in which God visibly manifests Himself. The theophany (the revealing of God) characteristically has two parts: the Lord leaves His residence and nature reacts. It is thus a highly poetic and vivid way of describing the fact that the God of Israel intervened in history on David’s behalf. The entire psalm is a celebration of that fact.
I wonder how many of us have had things happen and say it could only be God at work. I am fascinated by stories of what could be angels stepping into our world to save someone. These angels do not appear with wings, but look like ordinary people, that people who saw them do not have much to describe them or forget what they looked like.
I remember when I was having Chemotherapy and felt down and all alone as my husband was working away from home. Within a few hours I had my fellowship group phoning me up to come out to dinner, and a letter from my Mum arrived in the afternoon, and my husband came home early that night. I can only say God was with me that day, for all those things to happen. On the day I was feeling so down and lonely.
|