The God Who is Our Strength (Psalm 18)

Do I love the Lord this Much?

Psalm 18:1 ESV

1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.

We all too often want to rely on our own strength over the Lord’s.

We want to do it on our own. We want to take care of ourselves. We want the ability to do it alone.

Yet, we see here that David loves the Lord because He is his strength. This word love “is associated with a mother’s care for her children. David thus expresses his commitment to the Lord, who is his source of strength, comfort, and sustenance. The phrase “I love you” communicates the intimacy of his relationship with the Lord based on experience.” (Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms (Revised Edition), ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 202.)

So I ask again do I love God this much? Do you love God this much?

Let me put it to you like this.

I almost drowned one time. I was at Possum Kingdom and had been there all day. Me and a few other people were swimming around and having a big time.

I was out of the boat one time near the end of the day without a life jacket on, I am not a good swimmer. Well, the water got the better of me and I was not doing well. One of my companions came out to help but all I was doing was pulling her under. So, I pushed her away because I thought if I am going to die I do not need to take another with me.

Then my hero appeared. It was another lady who I was there with. She came out with a life jacket and wrapped it around me where I could cling to it and rest. She saved my life and I am forever grateful to her for doing so.

In fact you can say that I love her for this because she was my strength.

Now, my strength did nothing for me. I was floundering and about to go under. I was not doing well. My strength came in the form of another giving me what I needed to make it.

If I had depended on my strength alone, then I would have died back in 2011. Since I allowed another to be my strength, I am here now.

See if I had loved my strength and not hers it would have been disastrous. She saved me and because of this I know that anothers strength is what I need regularly.

This is why David had this deep love for God. He knew His strength is what will save and keep him. He knew nothing he does or could do is enough. He knows it is God alone who is strength. And because of this David loves God with a love that compares to a mother’s love for a child. This is a deep and profound love.

So again I ask “Do I love God like that? Do you love God like that?”

If we still struggle with this I pray that this Psalm will help to draw us all into a deeper love for our God Who Is Our Strength.

My Strength Or His Strength (Ps. 18:2-6)

We see in Ps. 18:2-6

Psalm 18:2–6 ESV

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.

David says that God is his strength by the number of times he says “my” in verse 2.

He says the Lord is “my–rock, fortress, deliverer, God, rock in whom he takes refuge, shield, horn of his salvation, and stronghold.”

Everything is placed on God. David takes no claim that any of these are his doings. He gives it all to God.

He emphasizes this by saying that he cried out to God and praises God alone.

All the bad and wicked things that happened to him he gives his rescue from them all to God.

What’s more, he says God hears and answers. This is much like my near drowning incident. The people with me heard my distress and they immediately jumped into action.

That is what David says God does for those who are His and rely on His strength over their own.

God can and will deliver us. He will shield and keep us. He is the one who saves us from evil and harm especially through His promise of Life in Him which has been made more prominent through Jesus Christ.

God is strong and powerful beyond anything and everything we can ever imagine. No matter if we are entangled in death, destruction, devastation, bankruptcy, divorce, abuse, fear, confusion over our identity, negligence, and just plain ole fear; God is our strength and power if we will just call to Him for it.

He hears. He loves us. David had this deep love for God because he knew that god is the one who is his strength.

He depended on Him fully just as I depended on that life jacket to save me. It did save me just as God saved David time and time again.

He will do this for you because He is able to d this and so much more.

He can because...

His Power is Above All (vv. 7-19)

The volcano that destroyed Pompeii was terribly powerful. It is said to have “violently spewed forth a deadly cloud of super-heated tephra and gases to a height of 33 km (21 mi), ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

Powerful isn’t it.

Tornadoes are powerful and destructive. Many have caused terrifying destruction. The national weather service says that tornadoes kill an average of 60 people a year. That is a decent number by a natural disastor.

Earthquakes are devastating. They destroy property and kill many people.

Hail is destructive and damages much property and crops yearly.

Yet, none of these compare to the power of Almighty God. He created the structures that these devastations come from.

They are beneath Him. They are subject to Him if He feels they need moved or used somewhere.

Much like the devastation of the Global flood that Noah and His family were spared from.

Like the fire and destruction poured out on Sodom and Gomorrah.

God is powerful above all things in this world. He is the creator of all things.

We read in these verses that Ps. 18:7-19

Psalm 18:7–19 ESV

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.

Ps 18:7-19 “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 …”

This is power and strength like nothing we have ever seen. All the powerful and devastating natural disasters can be piled together and they are only a fraction the power of God.

Nothing can compare to Him. Nothing can touch Him. Nothing is like Him.

He is the all-powerful creator God who can solve any problem in all of creation. Why do we think we can?

Why do we want to use our own strength to make it?

Our own strength will only pull us down deeper and deeper like my near drowning or like being caught in quicksand.

No matter how much we try to make it out, we only fall more and more.

It takes strength to rest us from the grips of this fallen and sick world.

Our strength does not cut it. It takes something superior to us. And this superior is the creator God. He desires us to cry out to Him. He wants us to love Him. He wants us to seek Him.

But this is something that we must do. No one else can seek Him for you.

No one else can have you rest in His strength.

This is something you must do. Something you are compelled to do by the word of God.

But to do this we must...

Humble Ourselves and Live for Him (vv. 20-50)

These last thirty verses speak of living a pure and humble life before God. That when we strive to live a life that is for the Lord and that gives Him glory, that is a life of humility, a life that is lived as righteous as possible–a life that knows God is our strength, then God deals with us by that standard.

If you are crying out to God but feel abandoned?

If we are in this position we may need to ask ourselves are we fully depending on God? Are we fully seeking His glory over ours?

Is my prayer really a plea for God’s mercy and love, or something from my pride?

Am I genuinely seeking to honor God or do I just want things as they were so I can continue to live how I was?

As David wrote in verse Ps. 18:20

Psalm 18:20 ESV

20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

Sometimes we seek God for the wrong reasons and we are dealt with as such.

Sometimes we seek Him for good and right reasons such as healing for a loved one or someone we just know, help in dire situations, protection, comfort in difficult times, and so on. Only to feel unheard.

Sometimes we are not praying for the right reasons and that is why there are difficulties.

Sometimes we are praying correctly but feel abandoned but God has a bigger plan.

Remember in our weaknesses He is strong and His power rests on us.

Sometimes the healing or prayers are not answered because we need to become even more dependent on His strength.

Sometimes it is also to humble us and make us see God in a new light.

Ps. 18:27 tells us

Psalm 18:27 ESV

27 For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.

Sometimes we are still depending on our own strength and only seeking God as a back up plan or to look righteous.

How often do we seek God for strength when we feel like we have everything under control?

Do we seek Him daily to get through the day even when the day is nothing difficult?

Do we seek Him and Him alone for our Joy even when we have Joy?

Do we seek His perfect ways and His perfect shielding as Ps. 18:30 says

Psalm 18:30 ESV

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.

Do we know that He is the one Ps. 18:32-36

Psalm 18:32–36 ESV

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.

Even when everything is going exactly correct, we need to acknowledge that it is because of God.

It is because of His strength. It is because He lives that we live.

All victories are because of the Lord. Whether this is a small victory or a large one, it is because of Him.

Do we always give Him the credit and praise? or do we sometimes? or do we only call to Him in difficulties?

Verses 37-50 speak of the victories belonging to the Lord alone. How God made the enemies flee. How He delivered David from strife. How the enemies lost heart. How their fortresses came crumbling down.

When we live a life that gives Him glory and praise for everything in our lives, and we seek Him always, and live in a manner that rest in His strength–I believe we will begin to see His righteous dealings with us in a clearer way.

Resting in The Lord Alone

A Pastor in the Philippines use the following parable to illustrate Christ's offer of rest (Matt. ll:28) and the response of people who won't trust Him completely: “The driver of a carabao wagon was on his way to market when he overtook an old man carrying a heavy load. Taking compassion on him, the driver invited the old man to ride in the wagon. Gratefully the old man accepted. After a few minutes, the driver turned to see how the man was doing. To his surprise, he found him still straining under the heavy weight, for he had not taken the burden off his shoulders.” (Larry Chell.)

This is what we are like unless we become like David and love God because He is our strength.

When we do this we will give Him all or struggles and all our praises in the good times.

He is our strength. He is our power. He is our rest.

Will you take the power and strength and rest that God offers you through Jesus Christ today, or will you try to continue to make it on your own?

Misery is here and around regardless which choice you make, but with the Lord it is so much more bearable.

As thankful as I was for the Life Jacket and the Lady who brought it to me, I am even more thankful for my God and Savior who is my strength in my weakest and strongest times. I know that He has me and will never lose me regardless what the times are like and what the world throws at me.

I will rest in Him fully and not continue to carry the pack like the Philippine man.

Will you do likewise or will you continue to struggle under the weight when the Lord is standing right here saying He is your strength?