A Study Of Psalm 18 Series

A Study of Psalm 18

Psalm 18

Introduction

- Psalms broken into 5 books, covered an extensive time period

- Gathered together as songs of praise & words of encouragement/warning

- We are studying book 1, Psalm 1-41 … Info: we’ll take break for Advent

- If we apply ourselves, this could be a life changing study (exp.)

- I want us, as a church, to examine if we can’t rejoice more

- We ought to be able to praise and want more of God every day

- Psalm 18 is a longer Psalm, so tonight we will just examine part of it

- Read Psalm 18:1-27 / Pray

Point 1 – How does David begin? Rejoicing!

How does David feel about God? (v1)

- Begins with: “I love you, Lord”

-- What a beautiful way to begin a prayer of faith to God

-- This confession sets the mood for the entire passage before us

- APP: directing your heart to the Lord should not be as hard as we make it

-- Consider: We tell everything else in the world we love/hate it

-- Can we not confess how we feel about God in the same manner?

- Our prayer life ought to reflect the inner (hidden) emotions of our heart

-- Being honest with God is not that hard b/c He already knows

- David is confident in God’s perfect protection for his life

-- Therefore, it is from a place of gratitude that he speaks: “I love you, Lord”

Who is David’s protection? (v1-3)

- He proclaims 7 different ways of God’s love to Him

-- All of these are military metaphors … projecting strength of God

• My rock: foundation of stability

• My fortress: a place of high refuge

• My deliverer: a savior in the evil day

• My rock: his strong defense

• My shield: a piece of armor for protection

• Horn of my salvation: David’s power in battle

• My stronghold: How God cares for His servant, David

- To David, God is all of these things and his gratefulness overflows from it

- CHALL: Most of us could just stop here and examine ourselves

-- Examine our own actions and how we need to make adjustments as well

-- Def. examine our own responses to God and make changes where required

- David is a master at explaining why he feels the way he does

-- This helps us to understand not just the words, but the motive behind his life

- TRANS: It really is in these reasons that we have our challenges

Point 2 – What are two of David’s primary reasons?

First, David rejoices that God rescued him in three ways (v4-19)

1. Personally, from death (4-6)

- Re: On the run and facing certain death by an angry mob

-- He is hiding in a cave, with no escape knowing that they would find him

-- David proclaims that God’s protection rescued him from certain death

- However, in a move that should teach us all something, he cries out to God (v6)

-- It is in his distress that he cries out to God – unable to do this on his own

- God, in His mercy and ability, heard David even from the throne room of Heaven

-- Confident of God’s ability to hear, He reached down & saved David from death

- The testimony here: God can hear your cries as well … if you’ll allow Him too

2. Powerfully from heaven (v7-15)

- Coming to his rescue, he stepped in and provided safety to David

- God’s power caused the earth to tremble and quake by His authority

-- The Heaven’s parted and his powerful weapons cleared the path

-- Why? Because when God speaks even creation moves out of the way

-- APP: All of creation obeyed because they heard God’s commands

- David’s rejoicing because this is what he feels God did for Him

-- Even the weather changed to cause the conditions to favor David (v11)

3. Perfectly from his enemy (v16-19)

- In the face of certain destruction (Absalom had David’s army)

-- God rescues him because he prayed, and asked for help, and God heard

-- David says, “The Lord was my support” (v18b) … powerful confession

- It is not David who did the rescuing or had the authority to defeat his enemy

-- But God, and David’s prayer reflects gratitude back to what we saw in v1

- APP: When God answers, the outcome is for His glory and our witnessing

-- Here, David was rescued from a confined space (cave) to an open one

- 1 Sam 24 shows David went into the stronghold after encounter with Saul

-- APP: He was released from his confinement; and rewarded for faithfulness