Discover Psalm 18 Commentary in detail, with their Bible study and explained, as well as their meaning in the Catholic Bible among others.
Psalm 18-1
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
Psalm 18-2
Jehovah, my rock and my stronghold, and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I take refuge;
my shield and the power of my salvation, my high refuge.
Psalm 18-3
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I will be saved from my enemies.
Psalm 18-4
The snares of death enveloped me,
and the torrents of iniquity terrified me.
Psalm 18-5
The bonds of Sheol surrounded me;
the ties of death confronted me.
Psalm 18-6
In my distress I called upon the Lord,
and cried out to my God.
He heard my voice from his temple,
and my cry came before him, to his ears.
Psalm 18-7
And the earth was moved and trembled;
and the foundations of the mountains
were shaken, and they trembled, because he was indignant.
Psalm 18-8
Smoke rose from his nostrils
and consuming fire from his mouth;
coals were kindled by him.
Psalm 18-9
And he bowed the heavens and came down,
and thick darkness was under his feet.
Psalm 18-10
And he rode upon a cherub, and flew;
He flew on the wings of the wind.
Psalm 18-11
Out of the darkness he made his hiding place, his canopy around him;
darkness of waters, dense clouds of the heavens.
Psalm 18-12
By the brightness of his presence, his thick clouds passed;
hail and burning coals.
Psalm 18-13
Jehovah thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice;
hail and coals of fire.
Psalm 18-14
And he sent forth his arrows and scattered them;
and threw lightning and confused them.
Psalm 18-15
Then the depths of the waters appeared,
and the foundations of the world were exposed,
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the breath of your nostrils.
Psalm 18-16
He sent from on high and took me;
He drew me out of the mighty waters.
Psalm 18-17
He delivered me from my mighty enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were stronger than me.
Psalm 18-18
They assaulted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
Psalm 18-19
And he brought me out to a spacious place;
he freed me, because he was pleased with me.
Psalm 18-20
The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanliness of my hands he has rewarded me.
Psalm 18-21
For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Psalm 18-22
For all his decrees were before me,
and I have not departed from his statutes.
Psalm 18-23
And I was blameless to him, and I have kept myself from my iniquity.
Psalm 18-24
Therefore the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanliness of my hands in his eyes.
Psalm 18-25
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful,
and with the upright man you will show yourself upright.
Psalm 18-26
Clean you will be to the clean
and shrewd you will be to the wicked.
Psalm 18-27
For you will save the afflicted people,
and humble the haughty eyes.
Psalm 18-28
You, then, will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
Psalm 18-29
For with you I will destroy armies,
and with my God I will leap over walls.
Psalm 18-30
As for God, his way is perfect;
purified is the word of the Lord;
a shield is to all who seek refuge in it.
Psalm 18-31
For who is God but Jehovah alone?
And who is rock but only our God?
Psalm 18-32
It is God who girds me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
Psalm 18-33
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me stand on my heights.
Psalm 18-34
He trains my hands for battle,
and to draw the bronze bow with my arms.
Psalm 18-35
And you gave me the shield of your salvation;
Your right hand sustained me,
and Your kindness has made me great.
Psalm 18-36
You have enlarged my steps under me,
and my feet have not slipped.
Psalm 18-37
I pursued my enemies and caught up with them;
and I didn’t come back until I finished them.
Psalm 18-38
I struck them down, and they couldn’t get up;
they fell under my feet.
Psalm 18-39
For you have girded me with strength for battle;
you have humbled under me those who rose up against me.
Psalm 18-40
And you gave me the neck of my enemies,
so that I would destroy those who hate me.
Psalm 18-41
They cried out, and there was none to save them;
even to Jehovah, but he did not answer them.
Psalm 18-42
And I ground them like dust before the wind;
I threw them out like mud from the streets.
Psalm 18-43
You have delivered me from the strife of the people;
You have made me the head of nations;
people that I did not know serve me.
Psalm 18-44
So when they hear me, they obey me;
the children of foreigners obey me.
Psalm 18-45
Children of foreigners faint
and tremble out of their shelters.
Psalm 18-46
Long live the Lord and blessed be my rock!
and exalted be the God of my salvation,
Psalm 18-47
the God who takes vengeance for me
and subdues peoples under me,
Psalm 18-48
who delivers me from my enemies.
You also exalt me above those who rise up against me;
You free me from the violent man.
Psalm 18-49
For this reason I will praise you among the nations, O Lord,
and will sing to your name.
Psalm 18-50
He gives great salvation to their king
and shows mercy to his anointed,
David and his descendants forever.
Psalm 18 Meaning
The meaning of Psalm 18 is very interesting, it tells us about all the splendor that David feels looking at the past. Think of all the good that her faith has given her, that happiness that the Lord has given her for so long by feeling her faith.
Psalm 18 Commentary
In this psalm we find an interesting scripture, where we read:
To the main musician. A psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. Then he said.
These are instructions for the choir director. The author of the psalm is David, who was a servant of Jehovah. David became king of Israel and as such he was the most powerful man in the world in his time, but that was not a cause for boasting for David because David was well aware that upon him was the glorious person of God. Actually David was content to be a slave of God. Before being king of Israel and during the time of his reign, David suffered a lot at the hands of his adversaries.
Psalm 18 is the song of thanksgiving for the deliverance of his enemies.
One noteworthy thing is that when David speaks of his enemies, he clearly exempts Saul. As far as we know, Saul was one of the most ferocious persecutors of David. In reality, Saul persecuted David to death. However, David did not regard Saul as his enemy. You and I cannot prevent some people from becoming our enemies, but we can prevent ourselves from becoming their enemies. Our role is not to go around making enemies. Our role is to pray for those who hate us and never think of paying bad for bad. With this introduction let’s move on to analyze the first six verses of this psalm.
What we have here is the doxology for liberation, the magnitude of liberation and the cry for liberation.
Let us consider the first, the liberation doxology.
Psalm 18: 1-3 says,
“I love you, O Jehovah my strength. Jehovah, my rock and my castle, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in him will I trust; my high refuge. I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy of praise, and I will be saved from my enemies.”
David is exploding in praise and worship of Jehovah. It is what we would call a doxology or a speech that attributes glory to a person. Reason was not lacking because he had been freed from powerful enemies. After expressing his intimate love for the person of Jehovah, David leaves us with nine qualifiers of the person of Jehovah. David seems to have used all his vocabulary to exalt Jehovah.
First, my strength. This means that David was within Jehovah. There is no enemy strong enough to outwit the strength that is Jehovah.
Second, my rock . The rock is something stable, something that does not move. Jehovah as a rock offers security and stability to all who lean on him.
Third, my castle , this makes us think of an attack-proof building. As a castle, Jehovah offered David complete security.
Fourth, my deliverer. The enemies tried to corner David to finish him off, but Jehovah appeared as his deliverer. David was freed from the oppression of his enemies.
Fifth, my God . In the world there are many gods with a lowercase d , but only one with a capital D. That’s the God David trusted.
Sixth, my strength . Perhaps it would have been better translated as the one that strengthens me. Jehovah was for David the source of his energy, of his strength, of his vigor.
Seventh, my shield . The shield protects the soldier for battle. Jehovah was David’s protection in battle.
Eighth, the force of my salvation . David knew that he could do nothing in his own strength to fight his enemies. That is why he used Jehovah’s strength to guarantee his deliverance.
Ninth, my high refuge . This denotes an impregnable place, where there is total security against the enemy. With such a God, it was only necessary to invoke his name and that was exactly what David did.
What an amazing God we have right? The God of David is the same God yours and mine, listening friend. If you are going through difficult times in your life. If you are being persecuted by your enemies. Don’t fear, just trust. Set your sights on God and from him you will get the same deliverance that David got.
Let us now turn to consider the magnitude of the release.
Psalm 18: 4-5 says:
“The bonds of death surrounded me, and torrents of perversity terrified me. The bonds of Sheol surrounded me, they bound me with death.”
David’s enemies did not beat around the bush. What they wanted was David’s life. That is why David says that he was surrounded by the bonds of death. This brought a lot of fear to David. The wickedness of his enemies was such that David felt as if struck by a fierce stream of water that carried him away. The situation was so critical that David found himself with one foot in the grave or in Sheol. Enemies were following in his footsteps to catch and kill him. I do not know if you have ever been in danger of death, but if you have been, either due to illness or an accident, etc. perhaps you will understand what David is trying to communicate.
His situation was extremely critical. But from all that he was released by the power of Jehovah. For God there is no impossible. An old hymn says there is no problem that God does not solve. This is my listening friend. Suddenly you are facing a problem as serious as David’s. Do not despair. God is an expert in the impossible and surely He will bring you out of the fiery furnace when it is time, before your foot descends into Sheol. But from all that he was released by the power of Jehovah. For God there is no impossible.
An old hymn says there is no problem that God does not solve.
This is my listening friend. Suddenly you are facing a problem as serious as David’s. Do not despair. God is an expert in the impossible and surely He will bring you out of the fiery furnace when it is time, before your foot descends into Sheol. But from all that he was released by the power of Jehovah. For God there is no impossible. An old hymn says that there is no problem that God does not solve. This is my listening friend. Suddenly you are facing a problem as serious as David’s. Do not despair.
David was a smart person. He had an extraordinarily powerful God in one hand and an extraordinarily dire situation in the other. What is appropriate to do in these circumstances? Well, just that. Cry out to God for deliverance with every fiber of your being.
Finally, let’s consider the cry for deliverance.
Psalm 18: 6 says,
“In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry came before him, into his ears.”
Notice that David was in distress. Believers are not free from anguish. God has never promised that we will never be in distress. What he has promised is to be with us in anguish to know how to free ourselves from it. In his anguish David cried out to the only one who could deliver him and God heard that cry from his temple. Jehovah’s ear was attentive to David’s cry. The remainder of the psalm is God’s response to David’s cry, which resulted in his deliverance.
What you are experiencing has also brought fear into your life. You too feel surrounded by the bonds of death. That is why you are in anguish. It seems that your situation is hopeless. Perhaps it is a serious illness or a spouse that has marred the marriage, or a son or daughter who has gone astray, or a business that is on the brink of bankruptcy, or a church that is on the way to division. etc. Remember that God is an expert in the impossible. He did it with David and he can do it with you too, but it requires you to trust God and cry out to him with all your being.
Let’s open our Bible to Psalm 18. It is up to us to study verses 7 to 19.
By way of introduction, let me point out that Psalm 18 was written by David and is a song of praise to God on the day God delivered him from the hand of his enemies and from the hand of Saul. In the first part of the psalm, David exploded in praise and worship to God, then he showed us the gravity of the situation he was in because of the fierce enemy attack and finally David cried out to God for help in the midst of his anguish. What was God’s response to David’s cry? This is exactly what we find in the portion that corresponds to us to study at this moment.
What we first notice is commotion in the earthly sphere.
Psalm 18: 7-8 says:
“The earth was moved and trembled; the foundations of the mountains were shaken, and they trembled because he was indignant. Smoke rose from his nostrils, and consuming fire from his mouth; coals were kindled by him. .”
Well, here we have God expressing his anger that one of his own has been attacked. His fury shakes the earth to the point that the foundations of the mountains are shaken. It is the result of God’s indignation. The psalmist sees God in his fury as someone from whom smoke comes from his nose and fire from his mouth. The fire is so intense that charcoal is kindled in its presence. It is the figure of a God outraged by the attack that one of his own is suffering. But it was not only the earth that was shocked by God’s indignation.
The text shows us that there was also commotion in the celestial sphere.
Psalm 18: 9-15 says:
“He bowed the heavens, and came down; and thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub, and flew; he flew on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his hiding place, his curtain around him; darkness of waters, clouds from the heavens. By the brightness of his presence, his clouds passed; hail and burning coals.
The Lord thundered in the heavens, and the Most High gave his voice; hail and coals of fire. He sent forth his arrows, and scattered them; he threw lightning, and he destroyed them. Then the depths of the waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were revealed, at your rebuke, O Lord, by the breath of your nostrils.”
Truly God is outraged. The psalmist describes the commotion in the heavenly sphere. God inclines the heavens to descend to earth. He wants to personally attend to the need of his son in tribulation. The descent of God from his abode takes on spectacular characters. Darkness surrounded their feet. He moved as nimbly as if he were riding on one of his angels, a cherub. His presence raised a fierce hurricane and it seemed that He was flying on the wings of the wind. No one could face him because the darkness was his hiding place.
Around him was like a black curtain of waters and clouds from the heavens. The presence of Jehovah was so wonderful that the clouds, instead of giving water, gave hail and burning coals. The noise was awful. Jehovah thundered from heaven. Almighty God made his voice heard protesting the suffering of one of his own. Hail and coals of fire descended from heaven. Now God is aiming his heavy artillery at David’s enemies. The text read says that God sent his arrows to scatter David’s enemies.
As if this were not enough, God sent his lightning bolts that destroyed David’s enemies. As a result of this astonishing manifestation of divine fury, the seas of the earth dried up and its dry bed appeared. It was all because of Jehovah’s rebuke, because of the supernatural manifestation of his power encouraged by the cry of one of his own who was in anguish because of the persecution of the enemies.
Maybe it seems like an exaggeration to you. But David didn’t think it was an exaggeration.
It was what David needed to be able to rid himself of his powerful enemies. What happens is that it is difficult for us to understand the God we have. We have a wrong concept of God. Our God is often no more than someone who, like us, is also at the mercy of the enemy. But David did not fall into this satanic trap. David met an Almighty God, the Most High, who is above everything and everyone. This God was capable of supernatural things.
Perhaps at this very moment you are under the mighty hand of some enemy. It can be an enemy of flesh and blood as were the enemies that David faced, or it can be an emotional enemy, suddenly discouragement, doubt, depression, etc. or it may be a spiritual enemy, perhaps Satan himself or his demons. In these conditions you have felt without protection and have thought that there is no more hope.
I would like to encourage you with the fact that you have not yet reached out to someone who can truly help you.
That is God. Cry out to him with all your heart. Tell him what you are living and feeling. Admit you are distressed and offer the Lord a prayer for deliverance like David did. But don’t let it be an insincere sentence. Tell God that you can no longer deal with that problem you have and deposit that problem in God. Once you’ve done that, don’t try to fix the problem yourself again. If you wait on God, it is very possible that God will do to you what He did in the past to David. God will shake the earthly sphere and the heavenly sphere in his favor.
After the commotion in the earthly realm and the commotion in the heavenly realm, God proceeded to the consummation of the ransom.
Psalm 18: 16-19 says,
“He sent from on high; he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my mighty enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were stronger than me. They assaulted me in the daytime from my distress, but the Lord was my support. He brought me to a spacious place;
Liberation for David could not come from below, nor from the sides, but from above. It was from on high that help for David came.
The same is with his life. Your liberation will not come from your friends or your resources, or from yourself. Your deliverance must come from God, from on high. Jehovah came from on high and drew David out of many waters. It may be that you are with the water that reaches your nose, but even so, do not despair, wait on Jehovah who will draw you out of the many waters. It doesn’t matter how strong the enemy is, how fierce the adversary. Jehovah is stronger than all of them and if you let him, Jehovah will take care of all of them. Lean on Jehovah because He is adept at rescuing his own when they are broken by the enemy.
God is not pleased to see one of his children in distress. So God brought David out to a spacious place. What a beautiful description of the freedom that God wants to grant his children. For now you are imprisoned by so many things that are against you. But it won’t always be this way, because God is ready to take you out into a spacious place. This is how God treats those who wait for him. So God brought David out to a spacious place. What a beautiful description of the freedom that God wants to grant his children.
For now you are imprisoned by so many things that are against you.
Well, God caused a commotion in the earthly sphere, because one of his own was being attacked by his enemies. God also caused a commotion in the celestial sphere by his indignation at the attack on one of his children and finally God accomplished the rescue of his anguished son. If God did it to David, why can’t He do the same to you and me? The only thing we lack is the same confidence that David had. I challenge you to have it.
Sow winds and you will reap storms, goes the popular saying. Much of the popular wisdom has its foundation in the Bible, the word of God. The Bible says in Galatians 6: 7 “Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked: for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
This is the law of sowing and reaping. He who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Sowing for the flesh means giving free rein to our passions. Sowing for the Spirit means submitting our will to the will of the Spirit. Live you in fights, in immorality, in lies, in gossip, in pride, in greed and very soon, your life will go down the cliff. But live in obedience to God and very soon, your life will turn toward sweet communion with the Lord.
Open your Bible to the book of Psalms, and look up Psalm 18. Let’s consider verses 20-30.
First, let’s look at God’s treatment of the righteous.
Psalm 18: 20-25 says:
“Jehovah has rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanliness of my hands he has rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I have not departed from his statutes. I was righteous toward him, and have kept myself from my iniquity, for which the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanliness of my hands in his sight. With the merciful you will show yourself merciful, and upright with the man of integrity.”
All right, several things are worth mentioning in this biblical portion.
Number one,
That God is attentive to the believer’s effort to live in holiness. Many believers think that no one takes into account how much they struggle to live in holiness and in many cases, they become discouraged and fall into sin. It may be that human beings overlook what someone is doing to live in holiness, but one thing is for sure, God will never overlook how much it costs us to live in holiness. Ultimately, what matters is not the opinion that people have about us, but the opinion that God has about us.
Number two,
That God rewards or rewards is the effort we make to live in holiness. He did it with David and he will also do it with you. While it is true that we do not live holy lives to be rewarded, nevertheless it does not hurt to be rewarded for that. The reward may be in this life, as it was in the case of David, or it may be in the future life, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, when all our works will be examined, not to know whether or not we are going to heaven, because the entrance to heaven it is not by works;
Number three,
A cursory reading of this biblical passage can leave a feeling that David is bragging about his integrity. As if someone is throwing flowers at himself. But that is not the case. All David is doing is recognizing that by the power of God, he has been able to live in holiness. Remember that Psalm 18 in its entirety is a song of praise not to David for his integrity, but to God for the deliverance he brought to David.
- Let us now look at God’s treatment of the unjust. Just as God rewards or rewards the just, it is to be expected that God will pay due to the unjust.
Psalm 18: 26-27 speaks of this, it says:
“You will show yourself clean towards the clean, and you will be severe towards the wicked. For you will save the afflicted people, and you will humble the haughty eyes”
Interesting that God treats us as we treat him. Clean you will show yourself to the clean says the text. If you start to offend God, don’t expect God to treat you well. That is why Scripture declares: it is a horrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. If you start to disobey God, don’t expect God to congratulate you. God will certainly punish you. God is a just and holy God and therefore he treats us as we treat him.
This may be a problem for you because you know that even though you have tried your best, nevertheless, He continues to offend God with his sin, but this is where God’s saving work in Christ comes in. God is willing to do in you what you are not able to do for yourself. God wants to make you a new creature, so that you can treat God well and that way so that God treats you well. Falling into the hands of God for having treated God badly is something tragic.
The passage read says that God will be severe towards the wicked. Don’t expose yourself to being harshly treated by God. If that happens, you will end up in hell for eternity. But the great news is that God does not want to treat you harshly. That is why he has given us his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that by believing and trusting him and receiving him as our Savior, we can be treated well by God.
Remember that God saves the afflicted people and humbles the haughty-eyed.
Interesting that God allows affliction in his people, not necessarily as a form of punishment or discipline, although that can be given, but to show his power in liberation. so that by believing and trusting in him and receiving him as our Savior, we can be treated well by God. Remember that God saves the afflicted people and humbles the haughty-eyed. Interesting that God allows affliction in his people, not necessarily as a form of punishment or discipline, although that can be given, but to show his power in liberation.
So that by believing and trusting in him and receiving him as our Savior, we can be treated well by God. Remember that God saves the afflicted people and humbles the haughty-eyed. Interesting that God allows affliction in his people, not necessarily as a form of punishment or discipline, although that can be given, but to show his power in liberation.
Psalm 18: 28-30 says:
“You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will light my darkness. With you I will destroy armies, and with my God I will storm walls. As for God, his way is perfect, and the word of the Lord is refined; a shield. it is to all who wait for him. “
When we are surrounded by enemies, it does not matter if they are enemies from within or enemies from without, it is as if we were in darkness, as if we were inside a dark tunnel where the exit cannot be seen. But if we put our problems in God’s hand, as David did, He will light our lamp and we can know the path we must take to cross the valley of affliction. But God not only shows us the way we should walk, but He enables us to defeat the enemy. That is why David said: With you I will destroy armies, and with my God I will storm walls.
The enemies are so numerous that they look like armies and they are so strong that they look like walled cities.
But this is not a problem for God. With God we will do exploits and he will trample down our enemies, says the word of God. All this is because God is perfect in his way and his word is refined, that is, without any flaw. God is a shield to all who wait for him. The problems you have are like mighty giants, but don’t be dominated. Trust in God and he will surround you with light in the midst of darkness.
Then he will guide you to bring down armies and fortresses. That is his word. He cannot lie. The only thing missing is that you believe and trust him. The first step of trusting Him is receiving His Son as Savior. If you haven’t done it before, do it today.
In this biblical portion we find the quality of God that we have, the care that we have in God and the conquest that we have in God.
To see the quality of the God we have, let’s read Psalm 18: 31-34 where it says:
“For who is God but Jehovah alone? And what rock is outside our God? It is God who girdles me with power, and who makes my way perfect; who makes my feet like deer, and makes me stand firm on my heights; who trains my hands for battle, to bend the bronze bow with my arms. “
Here we have David, the author of the psalm, lifting God up. He does it with two questions. Who is God but only Jehovah? In the world there are many gods. The sun is god to some. Animals are god to others, a piece of carved wood or a plaster figure or a painted image is god to many, they are all false gods, because there is only one true God, and the name of that true God is Jehovah.
Then David says: What rock is outside our God?
The answer is none. Rock is the place of rest, stability, security, and trust. Nothing in the world is totally safe, totally stable, totally reliable. You need to look outside the world to find it. There the person of God, the rock, arises. When one trusts in the God called Jehovah, he has leaned on the unshakable rock. David did it, and that is why he was girded with power, his path became perfect for him, his feet were made like deer, this speaks to us of agility to flee from the enemy. It made him stand firm on the heights, this tells us of a place out of reach of the enemy.
God gave him skill and strength for battle. David could bend the untamed bronze bow. Isn’t it beautiful? That is the quality of God that we have. It has been rightly stated that if you have God, you have everything, and if you don’t have God, you lack everything.
Do you have God?
If you don’t have it, you can have it today. For this, all you need to do is receive Christ as your Savior, because Jesus said: I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me. You have everything and if you don’t have God, you lack everything. Do you have God? If you don’t have it, you can have it today. For this, all you need to do is receive Christ as your Savior, because Jesus said: I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.
You have everything and if you don’t have God, you lack everything. Do you have God? If you don’t have it, you can have it today. For this, all you need to do is receive Christ as your Savior, because Jesus said: I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.
Let us now consider the care we have in God.
Psalm 18: 35-36 where it says:
“You also gave me the shield of your salvation; your right hand supported me, and your kindness has made me great. You have widened my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped.”
This is the care that we have that we trust in God. God gave David the shield of his salvation. This is a way of saying that God protected David until he was delivered from his enemies. The right hand of God brought sustenance to David. In God there is abundance of everything. If his right hand sustains us, then we lack nothing. It was David who said in Psalm 23, Jehovah is my shepherd, I will lack nothing. Then we see that the kindness of God made David great.
We all know that David became the king of Israel and the most powerful man in the world in his day. How did David come to all this? It was for the kindness, or the disposition to do good, of God. Once in this situation, David’s steps were widened under him. This speaks to us of prosperity. David’s feet never slipped. This tells us about security. This is the care of God that we have.
Finally let us consider the conquest with the God that we have.
Psalm 18: 37-45 says:
The children of strangers submitted to me. The strangers grew weak and came trembling out of their confines.”
In this portion of the psalm, David is recounting the conquest of his enemies in the power of the God in whom he had trusted. Strengthened by the power of the Most High, David pursued his enemies and caught up with them. There he engaged in battle with them and did not return to his camp until he had completely finished with them. The massacre was merciless. The enemies were mortally wounded and fell under David’s feet. It was all the result of the power that God gave David.
The enemies were totally humiliated. God even made David’s enemies turn their backs on him to flee from before him. It was as if the very presence of David was instilling fear in the enemies. David had nothing to do but receive the victory that God was placing before him on a silver platter. The enemy cried out for help to their gods, but there was no help for them. They even cried out to Jehovah for help, but Jehovah did not answer them. Jehovah responds only to those who are his, not to those who name him like any other god.
There was no compassion for the enemies. David ground them like dust and cast them out like mud. David was thus freed from the continual strife among his people. But more than that, David was even recognized as the head of the nations. He became the most powerful man on earth.
People he never knew submitted to his rule.
The foreigners had so much respect for him that they seemed to be afraid of him and came trembling from their hiding places. It is Jehovah perfecting David’s conquest. David was thus freed from the continual strife among his people. But more than that, David was even recognized as the head of the nations. He became the most powerful man on earth. People he never knew submitted to his rule. The foreigners had so much respect for him that they seemed to be afraid of him and came trembling from their hiding places.
It is Jehovah perfecting David’s conquest.
David was thus freed from the continual strife among his people. But more than that, David was even recognized as the head of the nations. He became the most powerful man on earth. People he never knew submitted to his rule. The foreigners had so much respect for him that they seemed to fear him and came out trembling from their hiding places.
It is Jehovah perfecting David’s conquest. The foreigners had so much respect for him that they seemed to be afraid of him and came trembling from their hiding places. It is Jehovah perfecting David’s conquest. The foreigners had so much respect for him that they seemed to be afraid of him and came trembling from their hiding places. It is Jehovah perfecting David’s conquest.
We have considered the quality of the God that we have, the care that we have in God and the conquest that God has with us.
But my question is: Why then do we live defeated as believers? Why do our enemies have dominated us? Why do we live in constant anguish because of our adversities?
Well, adversity is necessary to build our character. David had to endure great adversity at the hands of his enemies. But David trusted God for his deliverance and God honored that trust. What happens to many of us is that we do not have the same trust in God that David had and that is why we have to live at the mercy of our enemies. But it shouldn’t be like that. I challenge you to start trusting God like David did. Don’t forget that the first step of trusting God is receiving Christ as your personal Savior.
If you haven’t done it before, do it today. For that, all you have to do is recognize that you are a sinner, recognize that you are separated from God by sin and in danger of spending eternity away from God in hell. You need to recognize that God loves you and that in His love, He gave His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to die for you. Finally, you need to recognize that you must receive Christ as Savior. Talk to God today and receive Christ as your Savior.
Psalm 18:46 says:
“Long live the Lord, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation”
Here we have a David excited by what God has done for him. Perhaps in this part of the song the voice was raised to live Jehovah, to bless his name, to exalt his being. Many believers think that getting excited in the praise and exaltation of God is improper or that it is only reserved for our Pentecostal brothers, but here we have David, I imagine myself, screaming at the top of his lungs: Long live Jehovah! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be the God of my salvation!
There is nothing wrong with getting excited to exalt God. The bad thing is in letting the emotions get out of control, which in no way are we insinuating worse or even recommending. Sometimes I think that we lack a bit of emotion in our praise of God. If only we could recognize how much God has done for us by saving us, we would never see contrite faces during the time of praising and worshiping our God. It is the expressed doxology.
But we also find the doxology explained. Why is David expressing this heartfelt doxology?
Psalm 18: 47 and 48 give us the reason. It says thus:
“The God who avenges my wrongs, and subdues peoples under me; who delivers me from my enemies, and even lifts me up above those who rise up against me; you rescued me from a violent man.”
God did a great thing with David. When David was wronged, God delivered him from those wrongs and punished those who had committed the wrong. The peoples were subdued under his feet. David’s enemies fell before him. The people who rebelled against him were subdued and he was placed as an authority over them. Ultimately, God delivered David from everything that ever brought him distress.
Well, all of this is more than enough to get David excited praising and worshiping God. But do you know what? If you are a child of God; you have received a much more precious favor than David received. Indeed, you were spiritually blind and now you see. You were deaf, spiritually speaking and now you hear. Were spiritually mute and now you speak. You were spiritually invalid and now you walk.
In short, you were spiritually dead and now you are alive.
Now you can aspire to a meaningful life in this world and an eternity with God in heaven awaits you. God took him out of the muddy pit and put him in the king’s palace. Can there be anything greater than this?
But the big question is: How do you respond to what God has done for you? Have you forgotten about God? When you have the opportunity to praise and worship God, do you do it as if you are torturing yourself? Or do it from the heart, with joy, with emotion if you want. I
am totally sure that if the believers had a better conscience of what we were before being saved and what we are now that we are saved, we would never stop proclaiming: Long live Jehovah! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be the God of my salvation! Let’s not be badly grateful. Ingratitude is the worst scourge of humanity. The expressed doxology and the explained doxology.
Lastly, let’s consider the expanded doxology.
Psalm 18: 49-50 says:
“Therefore I will confess you among the nations, O Jehovah, and sing to your name. Great triumphs give to their king, and show mercy to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever. “
Part of these verses were quoted by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, to indicate that Christ Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed One, became a servant of the circumcision to show the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for his mercy.
We can then properly say that Psalm 18 is a Messianic Psalm, because it contains prophecy about Christ.
To tell the truth, everything that Psalm 18 says was fulfilled in David, in his time, but David is like a type of Christ in this Psalm, because everything that Psalm 18 says was fulfilled in Christ, in his death, in his resurrection, in his ascension and will be fulfilled in his second coming.
David is expanding his doxology, so that the person of God is known not only among the people of Israel but also among the Gentiles, among the nations. That is what David meant when he said: I will confess you among the nations, O Jehovah, and sing in your name. David ends by recalling what God has done. He says that God has given him great triumphs and has shown him mercy.
David did not deserve to be treated as he has been treated by God. David deserved punishment from God, because he was a sinner, but God did not give him punishment but great triumphs.
This is the God we have. He is such an excellent God that his mercy was not limited to David but to his descendants. Let us remember that Jesus was a descendant of David according to the flesh, and certainly Jesus received that favor from God the Father. Jesus was freed from his enemies, he was freed from death because he rose again. Jesus was ascended to glory and the day of his second coming is near.
We see a David enthusiastic about praising and worshiping God. We cannot do less, listening friend. But if you have not yet received Christ as your Savior, you have no part in praising and worshiping God because you are still in bondage to the enemy, Satan, and company. If you want to get rid of him and those who are with him, you need to turn to God. That is why Christ came into the world. Today receive Christ as your Savior and you too can sing a song of deliverance like David’s in Psalm 18.
