My Strength, My Place of Safety (Psalm 18:1-6)

Intro

Today, we are going to look into Psalm 18:1-6, a Psalm of David, to learn through his story how to find strength and inspiration in our lives.

Many people think of David as King David or the little boy who defeated the 10ft tall giant, Goliath. Although throughout the past 2-3 weeks we have been constantly reading and talking about David, we realize as we learn more and more that he lived a normal life just like you and me. He lived on the highest places with the glorious status and riches of the world, but his story is composed more of struggles and hardships that he had to experience. Therefore, Psalm 18 is song of thanksgiving that David wrote after God delivered him from all of his enemies and Saul.

Let us pray….

Introduction about David and Psalm 18

So, let’s first look at the introduction of Psalm 18. It says: To the director: A song of David, the Lord’s servant. He sang this song to the Lord when the Lord saved him from Saul and all his other enemies. Even through the introduction, we can learn two things about David. First, look at how he introduces himself. He says he is the Lord’s servant. He did not describe himself as king or a man of power. Nor, is he expressing proudness of his status. Rather, David says I am the SERVANT of God. I am a MAN who is nothing without God the Most High. What about you? How would you introduce yourself? Would you introduce yourself as a child of God, saved by His grace? Without his grace, none of us would be sitting in this room. Nor, would we have purpose in our lives. Second, we can infer that David wrote this poetic song of thanksgiving in the latter part of his life to magnify God’s grace in His life for saving Him from all of his enemies and Saul. (Take a look at 2 Samuel 22 later and where it is located in the chronological order of David’s life. 2 Samuel 22 is a close reflection of Psalm 18) However the more interesting note here is that he describes everyone else who tried to kill him or who gave difficulties as enemies, but Saul as Saul. Isn’t that interesting? WHY? When David saw Saul, David did not saw a mere man, nor was anything great about Saul, but David saw Saul as a King who was anointed by God. David revered God and His works, displayed by David’s respect towards Saul. Even this description shows the struggles and conflicts that David experienced. As a young man throughout his whole life even as a king, he was chased by enemies after enemies who were trying to KILL him. That is a scary thought ya know? I mean we try to be careful at night with fear. Imagine you were chased by your enemies time after time. Even in his later years, his own son named Absalom, tried to take his throne and kill him. How devastating that must have been for David…. Still, time after time David found in his heart to forgive all of these people. Sure, there were times even David sinned in front of God and fell over. One point, he was so exhausted from running away, he hid himself amongst his greatest enemies, the Philistines. But, time after time David, overcame these situations. Do you know his secret? He prayed to God. He found strength in God. He found safety in God.

Psalm 18

Look at Psalm 18:1, David says I love you, Lord! You are my strength.

The first verse David expresses what is in his heart. Even though I have experienced so many hardships, broken heart, loneliness, tears, he says I love you God, because God was the SOLE reason I was able to overcome these emotions and situations. Because, God is my strength. When I pray to Him, he gives me strength to find rest in the midst of the storms of all my challenges. He gives me strength to not look back and move forward to what truly matters in life. Friends, Don’t look back to your past! Those times of loneliness, tears and struggle are gone past you. Rather, focus on what is ahead of you, the hope of eternal peace and eternal freedom in your lives.

Hebrews 12:2 “keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The people of Israel are the perfect example of what you go through if you keep living in the past. It all begins during the exodus out of Egypt. Initially, they were happy and filled with joy that they were freed from slavery. They took all of the golds and riches with them. I always thought about this, but do you think the Israelites were truly excited that they finally get to embark on this journey to the promise land to worship God or were they simply happy that they were no longer slaves of Egypt? Regardless, they travelled out of Egypt with joy then they came to the Red Sea. When they saw the hurdle of massive water in front of them and behind them were the angry Egyptians chasing after them, what did the Israelites say in

Exodus 14:10–11 “As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?”

This line is a constant repetition by the Israelites. They regretted and resented Moses and God time after time whenever they dealt with hardships. Oh, our lives were better in slavery under the Egyptians they would say. However, what happens despite their hard hearts and disbelief, God splits the Red Sea so that the Israelites can pass and what happens to the Egyptians? God closes the doors and all of the Egyptians were flooded in the Red Sea. This scene, my friends, I am pretty sure you look at this scene in the past and saw it as a miraculous act of God. Wow, Moses split the Red Sea. Rather, it is a symbolism of salvation. The Egyptians chasing after the Israel is your old life of Sin. The waters of the Red Sea represents the grace of God who can save you from your old life of Sin. Finally, the other side of the Red Sea is salvation. The new life that God promises. You can even say Moses represents Jesus in this manner as Moses is also seen standing next to Jesus in the New Testament. If you believe in the Savior, you will receive salvation from all of your enemies and sin. The problem was Israel’s disbelief. Unlike Israel, YOU “Do not look to the past God says. Through his grace, God has flooded all of your sins and worries in the depths of the water. Rather, continue down the safe passageway to the other side in the eternal promise.

And you will experience what David knew all of his life. Look at Psalm 18:2-3. “The Lord is my Rock, my fortress, my place of safety. He is my God, the Rock I run to for protection. He is my shield; by his power I am saved. He is my hiding place high in the hills. I called to the Lord for help, and he saved me from my enemies! He is worthy of my praise!”

David was a KING! He had all the riches in the world. He could order his workers to accomplish a task by the snap of his finger, but King David says God is the place of safety for Him. He is my shield and by his power I am saved. David is showing us the truth of this world. He was the most advanced and resourced man during the time. However, David says only by God’s power can he be saved. Reaching a high status and equipping with yourself with the resources in your life will not save you. We are mere human beings. We cannot save ourselves. Therefore, like David, we have to go back to the scripture and restore ourselves back to God not once or twice, but every single day.. That is why Jesus tells us in the Lord’s prayer: “give us this day our daily bread”. This meaning references our physical nutrition but also our spiritual nutrition. There’s a reason why it is daily bread. We need spiritual nutrition through the scripture daily.

And, as David says in verse 3, I called to the Lord for help, and he saved me from my enemies. He is worthy of my praise! Why is David so filled with joy? What does it mean by he called to the Lord? It means that every single moment David prayed to God. Yes, prayer is a powerful necessity we need in our lives. David proclaims with excitement: He is worthy of my praise! Because, in my opinion, David found where he belonged. You know that feeling when you are away for a long time even at work you say man I just want to go home right now. Home represents a place of comfort, peace and rest. Well, David realizes here that his spiritual home where he truly belongs is not in his high throne, but within God. To be in God, he finds protection and salvation. Where do you find your home of rest? Brothers and sisters, find your peace in God. You will experience what David experienced and realize that I am home when you seek shelter in God.

To continue, David says in Psalm 18:4-5, “Death had its ropes wrapped around me. A deadly flood was carrying me away. The ropes of the grave wrapped around me. Death set its trap right there in front of me.”

Do you remember what I said in my introduction of David that is more of a normal person just like you and me? This is why. He had all the power, riches and glory in his life. Still, David experienced these struggles in his life as well to say that death had its ropes wrapped around me. He felt suffocated by the hardships in his life. Do you ever feel like your heart is just overwhelmed when you are going through something difficult or tough? Its that feeling. David experienced this feeling his whole life. He felt so overwhelmed that this death is just carrying him away like a strong current of a river. When currents of the ocean or even a river are so strong, we can try to fight back but we are carried away. David tried endlessly to pull away, but it kept pulling him towards the grave like it was waiting for him the darkness of the night. Do you ever feel like life’s worries is pulling you into its grasps? The most important thing is that David did not lose His faith in God. He found shelter, rest and Salvation in God. You probably heard this phrase, I got your back. It means someone will be right behind you supporting you. God is saying this to us every day, I got your back.

Reference to Jesus

The most important thing for King David was that He acknowledged God was the true King in his life. Although he was king, he realized and understood that God is the King of Kings. In the book A Tale Of Three Kings by Gene Edwards, it states that David learned the simplicity of absolute obedience. The simplicity. How? By acknowledging that God is the Lord of His life. We are mere glorified extras in this life standing in his place. What does that mean for us? Do you acknowledge that Jesus is the King in your life? The problem is that we do 99% right but we are brought down by the 1% wrong that happens in our life. Let Jesus Christ, the Savior, uphold your right and let Him lead your life. All you need to do is two things. First, slow down and enjoy the abundant life found in Christ. Seize the Day is a famous term that most people heard about. Today is your day to worship Jesus and enjoy in the abundance of joy and peace He provides in your life. Look around you. The 1% wrong is such a burden for us, but the beauty around us display the beauty of God’s creation and the healing it provides. Second, look and listen to the voice of God. Our lives are so buy that we miss the voice of God for our lives. Jesus is our shepherd and desires to lead us to a good life. If we just listen to his voice and follow his lead, our life will be filled with an abundance of joy. What happens when you miss a turn by your GPS? The arrival time delays a couple of minutes right? Sometimes, when you keep missing your term because honestly some roads in some states are so confusing it can extend to 15 or 20 minutes. Our Lord and Savior is the GPS of our lives. Allow Him to steer you because he knows the best for you. Everything falls in place when you take a step back and just listen. Amen?

Conclusion

Psalm 18:6, “In my trouble I called to the Lord. Yes, I cried out to my God for help. There in his temple he heard my voice. He heard my cry for help.”

Brothers and Sisters, God is sitting His temple in Heaven and He hears our prayers and our hearts. Just because we cannot see God, it does not mean that God is not here. Yahweh, the Savior, is Here! He was here yesterday when you prayed to Him. He is here today when you cry out to Him. He will be here tomorrow when you seek Him.

Take all that is in hearts and pray to Him. In the hymn called “Go, Carry Thy Burden to Jesus”, the first verse says: Go, carry thy burden to Jesus, And lay down thy load at His feet, Where Calvary's cross is uplifted, Find pardon and comforting sweet. O, steal away softly to Jesus, To Him let thy heart be outpoured; Thy Father, who seeth in secret, Shall give thee a gracious reward. Amen.

Let us pray..