Psalm 18:1-24
The
first three verses set the tone: Worship. What a great start to this
Psalm. Our attention is directed away from ourselves to the Lord: ‘my
strength...my rock, my fortress and my deliverer...my shield and the
horn of my salvation, my stronghold’ (1-2). The great testimony of verse
3 - ‘I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved
from my enemies’ - did not come easily (4-5). The enemies of the Lord
will be brought to judgment (13-14). ‘The cord of death encompassed
me...He delivered me from my strong enemy...’ (4-5,17-19) - Rejoice in
the risen Christ through whom we have the ‘victory’ over ‘the last
enemy...death’ (1 Corinthians 15:20,26,54). God is leading us into ‘a
broad place’ (19). Step into the future with Him. Don’t hold back! ‘Let
go and let God have His wonderful way’.
Psalm 18:25-50
‘This
God’ is ‘our God’. He is ‘the Rock’. He is ‘my Rock’. No one can
compare with the Lord our God. He is the living God, the God of our
salvation (30-31,46). In the Lord, we have salvation: ‘You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty’. In our God, we have victory:
‘You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at
my feet’ (27,39). Do you want to enjoy God’s blessing - His salvation
and His victory? God says, ‘Clothe yourselves with humility’. Together
with His command, we have God’s warning - ‘God opposes the proud’ - and God’s promise
- He ‘gives grace to the humble’ (1 Peter 5:5). There is a question
which each of us must answer: ‘Who is on the Lord’s side? There is an
answer which of us must give: ‘We are on the Lord’s side’ (Church Hymnary, 479).
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