Day Three

Psalm 18
I love Psalm 18. What is interesting to me is how my eyes were opened to it in stages as God knew what I needed to know about Him, when I needed to know it. It is a psalm that captures orientation, disorientation, and reorientation in one fell swoop. I would love it if you would join me as we break it down.
Vs 1-3-David is feeling the love and gives love to the LORD. This is a tender, touchy love. It is like the love you feel when you see a sweet baby. It's that tender.
Vs 4-6 But then life happens and things are changing. The enemy is attacking. David is feeling frightened, he fears for his life and he cries out to God. This is a cry of anguish, of being at the breaking point, of feeling oppressed. I am thankful for a God who "From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him into his ears." He cannot ignore you or not hear you anymore than you can ignore the cry of a baby. I am thankful for a God that doesn't wait until I ask nicely in a polished, pretty prayer. He hears the raw cries that come from hurt, pain, and fear.
Vs 7-15. In the past, I stopped at verse 6 and I praised God for hearing my cries. The one night when things were especially hard in my world, I read on. In my eyes, these verses illustrate how God comes to our aid when we are in the middle of an attack our enemies. I broke it down verse by verse because I wanted to see how he fights in these attacks. What I realized at the end was that God can take an attack from the enemy and use it for my good. What satan wants to destroy, God can turn it into a way I can grow. "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done." (Gen 50:20). God is not caught by suprise by the failures and fallings in our life. He can use it for our benefit if we let him. If we are willing to go someplace we may not want to, if we are willing to see things we don't want to see.
Vs 16-19 Some of my favorite verses in the Bible. "He brought me out into the spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me." My chest always relaxes in the spacious place. No cords around me here. No it wasn't easy, but now you are in the spacious place and it is even sweeter because he delighted in me. Not because he felt obligated or he had too. He rescues us because he delights in us. Someone told me recently that the root of "spacious" is the same root as "salvation." I think I have that right. It makes perfect sense to me.
For along time I stopped there because I like the spacious place but the psalm does not stop.
V 20-31-David recounts what he learned about God in the battle. It is a good thing to note these things. These conflicts will bring a fresh revelation of Him and ourselves. I do not ever want to go through a painful battle without being able to point to God's hand and the lessons I learned.
Vs 32-45-Suddenly there is another battle. This time is different. David finds out that God gives us the same strength to fight for ourselves with His strength. "It is God who arms me with strength." (vs32) No longer is David being pursued by an enemy. He is persuing them and WINNING! "I pursued my enemies and overtook them." (vs 37) Can you see me going "Yes!" That's right. We aren't going to play defense anymore, we are going to play offense!
Vs 46-50-He ends the psalm the way we all should-praising and thanking God for all He is for us and all He does for us and how much He loves us.
God, our Savior, you come down from on high and you save us and then you use the battle meant to destroy us to bring us closer to you and how you created us to be. In You and Your strength, we are warriors. Give us the strength we need each day. You are our Rock. Amen