Thoughts on Psalm 18

Psalm 18 is a rather long psalm with 50 verses. In this Psalm, David remembers and recounts the various victories he has had. For David these would be military victories. Specifically, David fought against Saul, or usually ran from him, he fought the various armies that were occupying the promised land and he fought against his son Absolom when Absolom wanted to take the throne by force. David, near the end of his life, takes the time to understand that God’s hand was the victory in each battle David fought.

In the first part of the Psalm, David lists 7 metaphors to describe God. These metaphors denote strength and safety. The most repeated name for God in this psalm is “rock.” The Lord is David’s rock. A rock can be a place of safety and a place of refuge.

For us today, I think we can get so busy in doing the right thing, or doing things just to survive, that we forget how much God has done for us. Few of us today will be leading vast armies to take promised land, yet every Christian has had numerous victories that can be remembered. Christians gain victory over sin, restored relationship, better families, better jobs and clearly a better outlook on life. Christians need to be able to look back on their lives and see these things and praise God.

If I look back several years to how I behaved in certain situations and realize that I do not respond that way to that temptation anymore. This is because Christians grow and change through a process known as sanctification. God’s goal is to confirm every Christian to the image of his Son. Part of this process comes when we remember how God has brought victory.

When Jesus was giving his final instructions, he broke bread and poured wine and said to do this communion in remembrance of his death. So even in the final hours of Jesus’ life he instilled a remembrance into his newly birthed church. Christians must remember what Christ did and all that God has done and all that has happened recently. Remember, learn, grow and live.

Finally, we know that David had a rock in God. Christian also have a rock, which is Jesus Christ. Psalm 18:46 is a part of a psalm about how great God the Father is. Yet that verse is also a popular worship chorus that I grew up singing. Blessed be our Rock, Jesus Christ

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