1I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2The 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.
3I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
5the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6In 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.
7Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
10He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.
12Out of the brightness before him
hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15Then 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.
16He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
17He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
18They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
20The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
21For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22For all his rules were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
24So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
26with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27For you save a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28For it is you who light my lamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
29For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
30This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
31For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
32the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.
33He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights.
34He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great.
36You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
37I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
38I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
39For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
41They cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
43You delivered me from strife with the people;
you made me the head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.
44As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
45Foreigners lost heart
and came trembling out of their fortresses.
46The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
47the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me,
48who delivered me from my enemies;
yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;
you rescued me from the man of violence.
49For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing to your name.
50Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.
Notes:
This psalm is found, with a few minor variants, in 2 Samuel 22.
Verse 2: Derek Kidner notes that “in the rush of metaphors David re-lives his escapes and victories, and probes into their meaning.” Kirkpatrick states that, “the rock…the stronghold… the rocks of the wild goats…were all emblems of Him who had been throughout his true Refuge.”
Verses 4-19: Notice that God dispatches this mighty rescue for an individual! God loves His children. David’s language here recalls God’s deliverance of His people at the Red Sea (fire, cloud, parting of waters). It also has imagery from Mt. Sinai (the quaking ground and the filling of smoke). David sees his story as reminiscent of the story of His ancestors. God rescued the nation in a time of need, and God did the same with David!
Verses 20-30: God saved David because of David’s righteousness? How do we make sense of this language? David has several of these seemingly self-righteous segments in his psalms (see 5:4-6; 17:1-5). In each of them, it is important to understand that this language has a limited range. David is not speaking of his absolute internal righteousness that caused God to see David as holy and a candidate for heaven based upon his impeccable record. Rather, David is referring to his activity as it relates to his enemies. The immediate context is his rescue from his enemies: literal armies filled with men who wanted to kill him. He did not compromise his integrity as he dealt with these stressful situations, and God vindicated David’s actions. For an example of this kind of righteousness on display, read the accounts of David’s refusal to hurt Saul recorded in 1 Samuel 24 & 26.
Verse 49: Romans 15:9 attributes this verse to the Messiah. Paul quotes it as a proof that Christ came for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews (Romans 15:8-12). David saw the fame of the LORD going out because of God’s willingness to save his people. This was fulfilled in a greater way when Jesus, the son of David, came to rescue men and women from all nations from their captivity in sin and bring them into fellowship with God!
Questions:
- Have you ever had a moment of excitement like this in your life? Have you ever endured a season of trial, obeying God’s word even when it was hard, and found that He delivered you in a miraculous way?
- If the answer to the above questions is “no”, then ask yourself whether or not you have ever really prayed and sought the Lord in the times of crisis in your life. What do you do when hard times come?
- Respond freely to the Lord after reading this. Some of you may have questions about the text. Write them down and pray and ask God to help you find answers. Some of you may simply want to pray, “God, I want to be able to experience what David did. I want to face trials in a godly way and then watch and see You deliver me in Your way in Your timing. I want to have a life filled with rejoicing like this.” Talk honestly with Him about it.
- Romans 15 states that Jesus came in order to gather a people to Himself who would know and love the one true God. Are you one of these people? Have you ever looked to Christ to rescue you from your sin? If not, consider turning now to the beginning of the book of Romans and reading the first five chapters. In it Paul describes our desperate condition before God, and the remedy provided by Jesus. Spend some time here and consider the claims of Jesus. Seek out counsel from a Christian friend or pastor if you have questions.
This is a long one, but it is also a lot of fun! As you can see from the title below, this is a song of celebration that David wrote after years of being chased by Saul and pursued by enemy armies. After innumerable battles, escapes, tears and prayers, David found that God had given him peace. Read this psalm all the way through (try to feel David’s exuberance and sense of relief as you read!) then ponder some of the questions below.