#696 I Love You, Oh Lord

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death encompassed me;

the torrents of destruction assailed me;[a]

5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;

the foundations also of the mountains trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,

and devouring fire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

9 He bowed the heavens and came down;

thick darkness was under his feet.

10 He rode on a cherub and flew;

he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,

thick clouds dark with water.

12 Out of the brightness before him

hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,

and the Most High uttered his voice,

hailstones and coals of fire.

14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;

he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.

15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,

and the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your rebuke, O Lord,

at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16 He sent from on high, he took me;

he drew me out of many waters.

17 He rescued me from my strong enemy

and from those who hated me,

for they were too mighty for me.

18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

but the Lord was my support.

19 He brought me out into a broad place;

he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;

according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22 For all his rules were before me,

and his statutes I did not put away from me.

23 I was blameless before him,

and I kept myself from my guilt.

24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful;

with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;

26 with the purified you show yourself pure;

and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.

27 For you save a humble people,

but the haughty eyes you bring down.

28 For it is you who light my lamp;

the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

29 For by you I can run against a troop,

and by my God I can leap over a wall.

30 This God—his way is perfect;

the word of the Lord proves true;

he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

31 For who is God, but the Lord?

And who is a rock, except our God?—

32 the God who equipped me with strength

and made my way blameless.

33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer

and set me secure on the heights.

34 He trains my hands for war,

so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,

and your right hand supported me,

and your gentleness made me great.

36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,

and my feet did not slip.

37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,

and did not turn back till they were consumed.

38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;

they fell under my feet.

39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;

you made those who rise against me sink under me.

40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,

and those who hated me I destroyed.

41 They cried for help, but there was none to save;

they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind;

I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

43 You delivered me from strife with the people;

you made me the head of the nations;

people whom I had not known served me.

44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;

foreigners came cringing to me.

45 Foreigners lost heart

and came trembling out of their fortresses.

46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,

and exalted be the God of my salvation—

47 the God who gave me vengeance

and subdued peoples under me,

48 who rescued me from my enemies;

yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;

you delivered me from the man of violence.

49 For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,

and sing to your name.

50 Great salvation he brings to his king,

and shows steadfast love to his anointed,

to David and his offspring forever. Psalm 18 ESV

There is a long title to this poem which starts out similarly to others that it is being given to the Chief musician. Some think the Chief musician to be God Himself, but I don't see it the same way as those commentators. The title says to that musician, then it says the Author (David, a servant of the Lord), and then that this Psalm comes from the words that David spoke to the Lord on the day that he delivered him from Saul. The title affords us great context, the end of a very tumultuous period in David's life, him looking back upon it, and then praising God in retrospect. I see this more as his prayer to God, his worship of God, the things he said to God, now being put to song and shared with the musician.  

The Lord is my rock - Remember that 20 years or so prior to his deliverance he was the overlooked son of Jessie. He is chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to replace Saul. So a year goes by and another, he plays the harp for a psychotic king, he takes food to his brothers who scold him, he kills a giant, and still he is not made king. He is learning to wait upon God's time, and he is learning about the kingdom he will one day rule, but then come the lessons of adversity. Saul's eyes squint and harden towards the boy, for he has received praise over Saul, and Saul is of an unrepentant heart. He is like Herod when the Magi come seeking the Messiah, "find him, bring him to me." Now David had served him well, and this should put us in good standing, but not with the wicked, your good deeds are ever against them. You are heaping coals of fire with every loyalty and kindness you show. Saul acts as though he can circumvent the decree of God, yet now comes the solidness of faith, for David looks back and sees the rock in which he hid was God. He sees that his anointing was from God, the fact that so many stood against him, and those in power hunted him, yet here he is delivered and so looking back we may have light to look forward. If God be for us then, who can be against us now. There is no surer foundation. 

In the day of my calamity - He describes his enemies as too strong for him, which becomes all the more reason for praise. We have heard David cry out and mourn in times of trouble, and I do that much, when I can no longer think my way out, punch my way through, then I pray. The cloud here is lifted though, and David recalls it and so many more ways that God has rescued him. It was as though he were drowning in a tempest at sea, and God reached down, like He did for Peter when his faith faltered, helping him to stand. Oh, if my soul could learn this, pray without ceasing, in every thing give thanks. The more God is in His rightful place, the less your heart will falter.

With the merciful - David had more than one opportunity to take Saul's life, to punish those who agitated his own ego, yet he extended mercy instead. Sometimes it seems to spring from his own integrity, but in others it is clearly a work outside of himself, like in the voice of Abigail. 

Abigail

With the blameless - How can a man be blameless before God? Some will say that David wrote this before his great sin with Bathsheba, yet he also sings this song near the end of his days. There is a huge difference here that should be noted, and that is the way David reacts to being confronted about his sin and the way Saul reacts. One would kill the messengers and the other will prostrate himself, will search God's word and his own heart, begging for God's forgiveness. Once most men become king, they will think themselves above any reproach, and there was in reality never a time before Bathsheba that David was without sin, for all have sinned. There is undoubtedly in the call of God, a call to holiness, but there is in man a huge deficit as pertains to righteousness. Just like mercy though, one cannot appreciate holiness so well as in the realization of your bankrupt state. Even then the righteous lived by faith. It says, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 

As Benjamin Franklin wrote: “Many princes sin with David, but few repent with him.”

Among the nations - Just like Abraham's offspring would be a blessing to all nations, David would proclaim the greatness of the One true God, both in the story of his life in Samuel and Kings, the Psalms, and in the proclamation of Messiah to come, the Son of David, Seed of the woman, a Mediator.