Scripture Daily

Context No. 1391 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

Context · Reflection

2 Samuel 22:1-16: in context

1David spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul, 2and he said: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; 3God is my rock in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence. 4I call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. 5For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 6The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me. 7In my distress, I called on the LORD. Yes, I called to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came into his ears. 8Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. 9Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. 10He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. 11He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind. 12He made darkness a shelter around himself, gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies. 13At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled. 14The LORD thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice. 15He sent out arrows and scattered them, lightning and confused them. 16Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the LORD’s rebuke, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

This is David's song of thanksgiving, sung when the LORD had delivered him from all his enemies and from Saul. It opens with a torrent of names for God: the LORD is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my high tower, my refuge. David recalls his distress: the waves of death surrounded me, the cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called on the LORD, he says; he heard my voice from his temple, and my cry came to his ears. And then a vast picture of God's response: the earth quaking, God bowing the heavens and coming down, riding on a cherub, thundering, sending out lightning to rescue his servant.

The center of the song is a single line and the astonishing scene that follows it: in my distress I called on the LORD; he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears. That is intimate and small, one man crying out in his trouble. And then David describes what that cry set in motion: the whole cosmos convulsing, the earth shaking, the heavens bowing, God himself coming down in fire and storm, riding the wind, hurling lightning, to rescue him. The scale of the response to one man's cry is overwhelming. David pictures God moving heaven and earth, tearing the sky open and descending in his strength, all in answer to the voice of a single servant in distress. Whether or not the earth literally shook, the poetry tells a truth: that when one of his own cries out to him in trouble, God is not indifferent or distant but moved to his depths, ready to bring the full weight of his strength to bear for the rescue of one person he loves. It is worth letting that reframe how we think our small cries are received. We imagine our troubles too minor to trouble God, our voice one among billions; David pictures the God of the whole earth hearing his single cry and coming down with the heavens themselves to save him. The cry is small; the response is the God who bows the heavens. Our God hears the individual voice, and no rescue is too great for him to mount for one he loves.

Do I imagine my cries too small to move God, when David pictures the God of the whole earth hearing one man's voice and bowing the heavens to come down and rescue him, and can I cry out in my distress trusting that he hears and is moved to save?

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