Psalm 18

Psalm 18 (NRSV)
Psalm 18
Royal Thanksgiving for Victory
(2 Sam 22.1—51)
To the leader. 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, 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,
so I shall be saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of perdition 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 upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering around him,
his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
there broke through his clouds
hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice.a
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 reached down from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of mighty waters.
17 He delivered 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 delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his ordinances were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from guilt.
24 Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

Lord,
I love the phrase, “he delivered me, because he delighted in me.” I love to believe that you take delight in me, that you take delight in each of your children. Jesus caught this spirit when he proclaimed that you know each of us so intimately that you have counted the hairs of our heads. That kind of intimate knowing only comes out of powerful loving. I gasp to think of the way in which you pay attention to us and in the way that you delight in us…in me. I can hardly take it in.

Now I’m struggling. The poet is convinced that he has been rewarded for his righteousness. Maybe so. But I also remember the Apostle’s teaching that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. What am I to make of that? And is it a contradiction? I’m certain that somebody can explain it away. That’s what we do with apparent contradictions. Perhaps, even though we all sin, you reward the higher achievements in righteousness? It’s not that anybody can claim absolute righteousness but the higher grades are rewarded. Then, I wonder, how to explain Job?

Lord, I really don’t know. So how about this? Help me to do the right thing in the right way at the right time and forgive me when I am wrong. And, in the words of the old preachers, let Christ’s righteousness stand in for me. If I cannot come to you as one who is righteous, allow me to come before you as one who has been forgiven.

And when this forgiven sinner needs help, please hasten to my rescue.

PERSONAL PRAYERS:
Ask God to guide you through this day, to do the right thing in the right way at the right time.
Name 5 things for which you are grateful and say “Thank you” to God.

In Christ’s name,
Amen.