I am reading through the Old Testament in my daily devotions on a plan that will take me through the Bible chronologically throughout the year. I have been reading through the books of Samuel and Chronicles that tell the story of David’s life, among other things, and I am reading some of the Psalms David wrote. Today, I read Psalm 18.
Psalm 18 is a song David wrote to the Lord “when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” The reading plan I am following is chronological, and that would put this Psalm near the end of David’s life. The timing of if make the things that strike me about it all the more… well… striking.
The most striking thing about the Psalm (and David’s life) is that he implicitly and intimately trusted God. We see this in the first five verses:
1 I love you, Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I have been saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
David always turned to God. When he was overwhelmed, as expressed in this Psalm, he turned to God. When he was victorious, he turned to God. When he failed to live up to God’s standards, he turned to God, and when tragedy struck, he turned to God.
In everything David did, he was fully and intimately mindful of God. Here David said, “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to God for help.” (Ps. 18:6) All of David’s life was lived in relation to and in orientation toward God.
Continue reading “King David’s Secret”
Navigating by Faith 