Psalm 18: 2,6,19 (NIV)
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
This is a long Psalm! There are only three Psalms longer in the entire book (78, 89, 119) and its 50-verse length is well suited to its expansive theme, as described in the title: “To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all of his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:” This psalm was written on the heels of Saul’s defeat and death but shows up again (literally) near the end of David’s life when he sings it word for word in 2 Samuel 22…looking back on his life and walk with God with great gratitude.
One of the most amazing aspects of David’s life – and we see it so personally in this psalm – was his intimate walk with the Lord. In verse after verse, David credits God with every good thing in his life, but also acknowledges the fact that he had to do something with that which the Lord had provided. David acted with great strength and courage but knew that both came from God (v. 2). David chose to cry out to the Lord in his distress and knew that God not only heard him…but cared (v. 6). David lived a life of up’s and down’s…obedience and disobedience…amazing victories and crushing defeats…but in the end, he knew that God had brought him through all of it and blessed him, simply “because he delighted in me” (v. 19). David did not live a perfect life – far from it – but the arc of his life was towards God’s will and because of that…God took delight in him.
Do you ever think that God delights in you? That he blesses you and cares for you simply because he loves you and takes great pleasure in your unique existence as his blood bought child? Like David, we all have our good days and bad days, but does the general arc of your life bend towards God rather than away from Him? The great Charles Spurgeon captures this beautiful thought well in his commentary on Psalm 18:
“Rest assured, if we go deep enough, sovereign grace is the truth which lies at the bottom of every well of mercy. Deep sea fisheries in the ocean of divine bounty always bring the pearls of electing, discriminating love to light. Why Jehovah should delight in us is an answerless question, and a mystery which angels cannot solve; but that he does delight in his beloved is certain and is the fruitful root of favors as numerous as they are precious. Believer, sit down, and inwardly digest the instructive sentence now before us, and learn to view the uncaused love of God as the cause of all the lovingkindness of which we are the partakers.”
Take a few moments to look back on where you have come from…and how God has brought you through it all to where you are today. Consider what you have done, but remember it was God who gave you the strength and ability to do every good thing you have accomplished. It was God taking pleasure in you that delivered you and protected you and blessed you. He has done all of those things because as His son or daughter, He delights in you! He has in the past…He does today…and He will forevermore. Amen.
