The Warrior - Psalm 18
Psalm 18
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16 He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his rules were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
26 with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27 For you save a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28 For it is you who light my lamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
29 For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
30 This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
32 the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.
33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great.
36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
43 You delivered me from strife with the people;
you made me the head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
45 Foreigners lost heart
and came trembling out of their fortresses.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
47 the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me,
48 who rescued me from my enemies;
yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;
you delivered me from the man of violence.
49 For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing to your name.
50 Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
David spent years living as an outlaw in the wilderness being hunted by Saul. Though Samuel had anointed David king of Israel, it was a long time before that became a reality. This psalm is repeated virtually word for word in 2 Samuel 22, and it is the summary song of David’s life—he faced difficulties, but the Lord delivered him.
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
In the striking list of metaphors David uses for the Lord, the sense is that God is like his mountain stronghold. David spent much of his time on the run among the rocks and cliffs of the Judean wilderness.
“The horn of my salvation” is a common way of speaking of strength—imagine a bull’s horns—and David is saying that the Lord is the source of his power. All of these metaphors are martial in their meaning.
These first 3 verses summarize the psalm: the Lord has saved me and been the source of my strength. When I called to him, he answered. The rest of the psalm will describe things in greater detail.
4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
It’s like death itself was trying to pull him under, entangling him and dragging him into its open maw; it was like a great flood was trying to carry him below. (Water was terrifying for the Israelites—they were not a seafaring people—and floodwaters are a common image of death and chaos and destruction in the psalms.)
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
But the Lord heard David’s prayers in the Temple!
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
Ever been through a thunderstorm of great power? The house shakes and rattles as the storm moves overhead. There are few experiences in life in which you sense raw power in the way you do through a thunderstorm.
When the Lord hears David’s cries for help, his power rolls in like a thunderstorm! The winds are so great that even “the channels of the sea were seen”—i.e., the waters are pushed back and the sea floor exposed.
One quick point: a cherub was the most terrifying mythical animal that the people of the ancient middle east could imagine. They were pictured are guarding entrance to the divine. After the Fall, e.g., the Lord places cherubs (plural “cherubim”) at the entrance to the Garden of Eden, preventing Adam and Eve from returning.
![[A cherub was a terrifying figure.]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d70f59aefca59000162e4e6/1588246272303-YDDNZ80XN6YZACUHADMS/cherub.jpg)
[A cherub was a terrifying figure.]
16 He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
The Lord places David in a “broad place”. Makes me think of the “green pastures” and “still waters” of Psalm 23.
20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his rules were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
David knows he has been faithful, and he trusts the Lord’s promise: be faithful to me, and you will be blessed.
25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
26 with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27 For you save a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
David knows that the wicked and arrogant will get what they deserve.
28 For it is you who light my lamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
The Lord shows him the way, even in darkness.
29 For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
30 This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
32 the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.
33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great.
36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
43 You delivered me from strife with the people;
you made me the head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
45 Foreigners lost heart
and came trembling out of their fortresses.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
47 the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me,
48 who rescued me from my enemies;
yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;
you delivered me from the man of violence.
David knows that the source of any masculine strength or martial prowess he has is the Lord. He uses image after image—a sure-footed deer on a cliff, strong fingers to bend a bow, great leaps—to exult in the strength the Lord has given him.
It’s a song of victory in battle—”I thrust them through”—filled with violent images, and throughout, David understands that the Lord is the source of his victories.
Reading this psalm, I am reminded of Whitman’s great line, which is how I imagine David exulting in the Lord’s victory:
“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”— Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
49 For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing to your name.
50 Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.
The word “anointed” is the Hebrew word Messiah.
On the one hand, this is the great summary psalm of King David’s life: the Lord delivered me from mine enemies and gave me strength and victory.
On the other hand, this is a Messianic psalm—it’s about the ultimate King and Warrior, Jesus. He was pulled down into death, but the Father raised him up in the power of the Spirit and gave him victory over the Enemy. AMEN.
(Go back again and read through the psalm with Jesus as the protagonist. Powerful.)
Christmas War
LUKE 2:8-16
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
The shepherds go to see the Savior of the world, lying in a manger.
The meaning of the entire Christmas story changes when you understand that the word “hosts” is just an old fashioned way of saying “armies.”
Christmas is about WAR—war with spiritual weapons.
We wage spiritual war through prayer, silence, and love.
How can you fight back through prayer today?
The Warrior [Psalm 18]
I taught a 15 minute Bible study on Psalm 18 this morning, and I’m including the video below. A great psalm!
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lorddelivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
David spent years living as an outlaw in the wilderness being hunted by Saul. Though Samuel had anointed David king of Israel, it was a long time before that became a reality. This psalm is repeated virtually word for word in 2 Samuel 22, and it is the summary song of David’s life—he faced difficulties, but the Lord delivered him.
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
In the striking list of metaphors David uses for the Lord, the sense is that God is like his mountain stronghold. David spent much of his time on the run among the rocks and cliffs of the Judean wilderness.
“The horn of my salvation” is a common way of speaking of strength—imagine a bull’s horns—and David is saying that the Lord is the source of his power. All of these metaphors are martial in their sense.
These first 3 verses summarize the psalm: the Lord has saved me and been the source of my strength. When I called to him, he answered. The rest of the psalm will describe things in greater detail.
4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
It’s like death itself was trying to pull him under, entangling him and dragging him into its open maw; it was like a great flood was trying to carry him below. (Water was terrifying for the Israelites—they were not a seafaring people—and floodwaters are a common image of death and chaos and destruction in the psalms.)
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
But the Lord heard David’s prayers in the Temple!
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
The other night here in Dallas we had one heck of a thunderstorm—the house shook and rattled as it moved through, just before midnight. There are few experiences in life in which you sense raw power in the way you do through a thunderstorm.
When the Lord hears David’s cries for help, his power rolls in like a thunderstorm! The winds are so great that even “the channels of the sea were seen”—i.e., the waters are pushed back and the sea floor exposed.
One quick point: a cherub was the most terrifying mythical animal that the people of the ancient middle east could imagine. They were pictured are guarding entrance to the divine. After the Fall, e.g., the Lord places cherubs (plural “cherubim”) at the entrance to the Garden of Eden, preventing Adam and Eve from returning.
[A cherub was a terrifying figure.]
16 He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
The Lord places David in a “broad place”. Makes me think of the “green pastures” and “still waters” of Psalm 23.
20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his rules were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
David knows he has been faithful, and he trusts the Lord’s promise: be faithful to me, and you will be blessed.
25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
26 with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27 For you save a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
David knows that the wicked and arrogant will get what they deserve.
28 For it is you who light my lamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
The Lord shows him the way, even in darkness.
29 For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
30 This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.31 For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
32 the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.
33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great.
36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.43 You delivered me from strife with the people;
you made me the head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
45 Foreigners lost heart
and came trembling out of their fortresses.46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
47 the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me,
48 who rescued me from my enemies;
yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;
you delivered me from the man of violence.
David knows that the source of any masculine strength he has or any martial prowess is the Lord. He uses image after image—a sure-footed deer on a cliff, strong fingers to bend a bow, great leaps—to exult in the strength the Lord has given him.
It’s a song of victory in battle—”I thrust them through”—filled with violent images, and throughout, David understands that the Lord is the source of his victories.
Reading this psalm, I am reminded of Whitman’s great line, which is how I imagine David exulting in the Lord’s victory:
“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”
49 For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing to your name.
50 Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.
The word “anointed” is the Hebrew word Messiah.
On the one hand, this is the great summary psalm of King David’s life: the Lord delivered me from mine enemies and gave me strength and victory.
On the other hand, this is a Messianic psalm—it’s about the ultimate King and Warrior, Jesus. He was pulled down into death, but the Father raised him up in the power of the Spirit and gave him victory over the Enemy. AMEN.
(Go back again and read through the psalm with Jesus as the protagonist. Powerful.)
What Does Jesus Mean When He Speaks About Satan?
Jesus sends out 72 of his followers on a mission trip. When they return, they enthusiastically tell him all the cool stuff that happened:
"The seventy-two returned with joy and said, 'Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.'”
Luke 10:17
Jesus replies,
“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."
Luke 10:18
What does that mean?
I found this passage from one of my commentaries on Luke to be helpful:
"Jesus' vision of Satan's downfall can be a mental image...for what has happened or is happening in his own mission and that of the seventy-two....
"Jesus, therefore, can put his followers' success in a heavenly perspective that is hidden from them. He projects the limited defeat of demons onto the broader screen of the cosmic conflict between God and the forces of evil. What is happening is not simply the expulsion of random demons that they might come across in their travels but the beginning of the complete overthrow of Satan's rule. The disciples only see the battle picture from the limited perspective of their hand-to-hand combat in the trenches. They have charged into the line of demons and routed them in various skirmishes. Jesus sees the whole war map. Satan has been knocked off his throne in 'heaven,' representing the 'summit of his power,' and is in full retreat. He is still kicking and will unleash woes, but he will assuredly be vanquished. His final defeat with be consummated at the end of time....
"The vision of Satan's fall does not make Jesus' death and resurrection superfluous, and the final victory does not even come in Jesus' death and resurrection because Satan continues to work damage in Acts (13:4-12, 26:18). But the cross and the resurrection do mortal damage to the satanic realm (Heb 2:14)."
David Garland, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Volume 3
Pretty cool!
Today’s Scripture:
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Jesus & the Demonic
Mark tells us that the central message of Jesus was that the Kingdom of God has arrived through him. This message provokes immediate conflict, and one of the forms this conflict takes in Mark's Gospel is spiritual conflict with the demonic powers. For many modern Americans, the idea of demonic oppression is lunacy. Yet, I don't think you can read Mark and conclude that the conflict Jesus has with demons is merely metaphorical. I have personally never seen a demon, but I do know that Christians in other parts of the world have a much wider view of spiritual conflict than most Americans, and I know enough about life to admit that there do seem to be evil forces at work warping and tempting human desires. That said, however, the point of today's reading is not the reality of evil, but the power of Christ over evil. I find this comforting: Jesus is stronger. Period.
Today’s Scripture
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