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Context No. 3761 of 4322 · Psalms

Context · Reflection

Psalms 18:1-16: in context

1I love you, LORD, my strength. 2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. 3I call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies. 4The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 5The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me. 6In my distress I called on the LORD, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears. 7Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. 8Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. 9He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. 10He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind. 11He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. 12At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire. 13The LORD also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire. 14He sent out his arrows, and scattered them. He routed them with great lightning bolts. 15Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 16He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.

David begins this psalm with a rush of images for the God who has rescued him: I love you, O LORD, my strength; the LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Each name reaches for a different aspect of the security he has found in God, solid ground, safe refuge, sure defense.

Then he recalls the rescue itself: in his distress he called on the LORD, and God heard his voice from his temple. The psalm paints God's answer in dramatic terms, the earth shaking, the heavens bowing, God riding on the wind, reaching down from on high to draw David out of the deep waters that would have overwhelmed him. Two things stand out. The many names for God reflect a security found in him alone; he is rock and fortress and deliverer to those who take refuge in him. And God hears and acts when his people cry to him from their distress; David called, and God reached down to draw him out. When the deep waters rise around us, we can call, as David did, on the God who is our rock, and who reaches down to draw us out.

When distress closes over me like deep waters, do I call on the LORD my rock and deliverer, trusting that he hears from his holy place and reaches down to draw me out?

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