Week 20: Day 5

Intro: Hi everyone, it’s our last day together on Orbit for now so thanks for sticking about and listening to my accent this week! Today we are looking at Psalm 18.

Bible: Psalm 18:1-6 says:

I love you, Lord, my strength.

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.

I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

Thoughts: Psalm 18 is a long psalm; there are only three psalms longer in the entire collection of psalms. Its length is well suited to its theme, as described in the title.

“A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all of his enemies and from the hand of Saul.”

In the title David tells us whom the psalm was written for: God himself, who is the “Chief Musician”. He tells us more about himself, that we should consider him the servant of the Lord. He tells us that the occasion for the writing of the psalm – possibly not only the immediate aftermath of Saul’s death (described in 1 Samuel 31 and 2 Samuel 1), but also of the period leading to David’s enthronement (2 Samuel 2-5). He tells us also something about Saul, who out of great kindness on David’s part, is not explicitly counted among the enemies of David.

Since he was taken from the sheepfold and anointed the future king of Israel, David had lived some 20 or so years as a fugitive, and as a man who had lost everything. He lost his safety, he lost his youth, he lost his family, he lost his career, he lost his rights, he lost his connection with the people of God, he lost his comforts, and at times he even lost his close relationship with God.

Despite all, he remained faithful to the Lord, and God – in his timing – delivered David and fulfilled the long-ago promise of his anointing. That’s why he is praising God here in these opening lines with such enthusiasm and joy!

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer” – David knew this to be true before, but he knew it by faith. Now David sang from a perspective that knew this by experience in a greater way than ever before…

David knew the triumph of God’s strength over his many trials. Many people would fall away from God under the excruciating length of an extended season of trial, but not David. He held onto God and God cared for him. He knew that his cry to God would fall upon God’s ears and he trusted God to always be there for him.

Pray: Lord we don’t pray that hard times won’t come because we know they will, we pray that will not falter and we will not grow faint or weary, but will soldier on with you as our rock! Amen.

Silence: And now a few moments of silence for you to pray, reflect on these ideas, or simply sit and be still.

Action: Maybe each of us can remember this when we are going through hard times, that sometimes seem to last for a long time – God is always there, willing to listen to our cries and he WILL respond to us and help us if we continue to trust in him. Write down and note how you feel about the hard times you are going through and pray into them. Then you will look back and see how God brought you through the other side! David had many ups and downs in his journey with God but he never stopped trusting God. Can I also encourage you to read the rest of Psalm 18 today after you’ve watched this and pray that God will speak to you through it?

Outro: It’s been a blast doing Orbit this week guys and I hope and pray you have been blessed by our daily time together. God bless and keep tuning in!