Psalm 18 - The LORD my rock

Psalm 18 is a powerful Psalm, words of someone who has ‘been there’. The titles of the Psalms were added sometime after they were originally written. However where there is a title it can be really helpful, helping engage our imaginations with the circumstances that gave rise to the words before us.

David first sang his song pf praise when the LORD had delivered him from the hand of Saul and from his other enemies (it seems there were many people out to get David).

The opening words are intensely personal ‘I love you, LORD’. We often talk about words such as ‘faith’, and ‘trust’ and ‘obedience’. This Psalm reminds us that at its core the relationship that Christians are called into with the Lord is a relationship of love. Jesus’ death on the cross is described in John 15 vs 13 as an act of great love. God loves us and He calls us to love Him in return.

Many of the words David uses are becoming familiar to us as we read through the Psalms. He praises God, his ‘rock’, his ‘refuge’, and his ‘shield’ (all in vs 2). He looks abck at a moment when he felt that the cords of death were entangled around him (vs 4), he was overwhelmed, death itself confronted him and yet when in distress he cried out the LORD heard and rescued him (vs 6). 

The God of Psalm 18 is a big God, parting the heavens and coming down to meet David in his turmoil (vs 9), a God who fights for His people (vs 14). This is a God who reaches down to save (vs 16), who is there (vs 19), and who enables His humble servant not just to survive but to thrive and to grow even in the midst of troubled times (vs 28-29, 32-36).

Prayer: LORD I love you and I look to you, my rock, my fortress. In you I take refuge. Thank you LORD for those times in my life when you have rescued me, from fears, from enemies, from things that would harm me. Lord Jesus humbly I look to you for all I need.