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
Secondly, David confesses that God rewarded him (v20-27)
1. By David’s righteousness (v20-24)
- David lived a life that honored God; he was devoted to all that God commanded
-- David was: clean, refrained from evil, blameless, righteous
-- He did not claim to be perfect … but devoted to God (great lesson for us)
-- Therefore, his reward from the Lord was one of redemption
2. By God’s faithfulness (v25-27)
- God rewards us according to our character and how we live
-- Note the key words in this passage: faithful, blameless, pure, humble
-- David knew that pursuing God would lead to the best things
-- However, he also confesses that pursuing wickedness has its own reward
- TRANS: For us, there can be no greater example to living for Christ
Big Idea – Live righteously and receive righteous rewards!
- Challenge to each to read the rest of this Psalm
- See if you can identify what else God did for David
- Would you be willing to ask Him to do the same for you?
- If David can cry out to the Lord and know he’d be rescued, why can’t we?
-- Sometimes, we just need to humble ourselves and pray … and worship
- That’s our daily challenge, and certainly one we face TODAY
- Pray
