“The Lord is my strength; I love you, Lord.”

 

 

 

[Psalm 18:1-19]

 

 

Why do we become discouraged? Why do we feel frustrated and despair?
There are often times on life’s journey when our strength fails.
At those times, we may be at risk of giving up completely.
We may feel the urge to let go of everything and quit.
When I thought about why this happens, three words came to mind: “reality,” “thought,” and “emotion.”
In other words, when difficulties and hardships overwhelm our life’s journey, how we respond to this reality — which we want to deny — is very important.

Our response is our “thought.”
When unexpected hardships or adversities come, there are four questions we might ask ourselves in our thoughts.
The first question is “Why?”
Questions like, “Why is this happening to me?” or “Why me?” are our instinctive and habitual responses.
Ultimately, this question “Why?” shows that we are denying the reality we face.
Such denial eventually expresses itself as dissatisfaction and complaints, revealing a victim mentality.
Besides “Why?”, another common question we ask is “How?”
We try to find solutions by asking, “How did this happen to me?”
But more often than not, we fail to find answers in these difficult realities of life.
Next, a question Christians often ask is “What?”
We repeatedly ask, “What is God’s will?”
We strive to find God’s will amidst difficult circumstances.
However, we cannot deny that there are far more answers we do not know than those we do.
How could we possibly know all of God’s will?
The question we should be asking in our reality and thoughts is “Who?”
We must ask, “Who is God?”
When we do this, for example, by believing and acknowledging God’s sovereignty, we accept our reality with faith.
This way of thinking allows us to express healthy emotions.
Not only do we avoid extreme emotional ups and downs, but we can show consistent emotions within consistent thoughts.

Today, the reality of the Psalmist David, described in Psalm 18 verses 4-5, is as follows:
“The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.”
David recalled the day when “the Lord delivered him from all his enemies and from the hand of Saul” (title),
and sincerely confessed from the depths of his heart:
“The Lord is my strength; I love you” (v. 1).
The word “love” David used is “raham” in Hebrew, which one pastor interpreted as:
“The mercy, compassion, and love God pours out on humanity —
a love so painful in God’s heart that it melts away inside Him.”
Dr. Park Yoon Sun also described this love as “deeply rooted in the human soul,” calling it “truly melted love.”
David confessed this love because God was his strength.
Having experienced God’s power and love saving him through countless crises, David said, “I love you.”
Recalling these past experiences of salvation, David accepted reality by faith and instead praised God (v. 3).

Why did God save David from all his enemies and from Saul? 

We can consider two reasons from today’s passage in Psalm 18:1–19.

The first reason is because of God’s divine nature—because of who God is.

Look at Psalm 18:2:
"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."
Because God’s nature is that of a Savior, He saved David (according to Dr. Yoon-Sun Park).
This nature of God is described with various titles in verse 2:

  • “My rock” (referring to land surrounded by rugged cliffs),

  • “My fortress” (referring to a high hill or mountaintop),

  • “My deliverer” (a savior in times of danger),

  • “My God,”

  • “My refuge” (pointing to the craggy peaks of rocky mountains),

  • “My shield” (to block the enemy’s arrows),

  • “The horn of my salvation” (symbolizing victorious power),

  • “My stronghold” (a shelter built on a high, rugged mountain).

In short, God saved David because He is his protector.
Therefore, David proclaimed in prayer that God is the Savior who protects him.

The second reason is that God is a God who answers our prayers. That is why He saved David from all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

Look at Psalm 18:6:
"In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice; my cry came before Him, into His ears."
God, who is my strength, is the Lord who hears my prayers.
Especially when I cry out in moments of extreme danger (verses 4–5: “death,” “floods,” “the grave”), and in the midst of urgent trouble, He hears and answers those prayers. This Lord is our God. – Page 130

In what way did God save David?
When we read Psalm 18:7–15, it’s hard not to be amazed.
The reason is that the way God’s deliverance is described in verses 7–15 reveals God’s majesty:

  • "The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook" (verse 7),

  • "Smoke rose from His nostrils; consuming fire came from His mouth" (verse 8),

  • "He parted the heavens and came down" (verse 9),

  • "He mounted the cherubim and flew" (verse 10),

  • "He made darkness His covering" (verse 11),

  • "Out of the brightness of His presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of fire" (verse 12),

  • He sent "thunder" and "lightning" (verses 13–14),

  • "The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare" (verse 15).

All these expressions declare the awesome majesty with which God came to save David—shaking heaven and earth as He came (Dr. Yoon-Sun Park).
God, who shakes heaven and earth, came in His majesty to save David.

Dr. Yoon-Sun Park remarked:
"This seems strange. God's revealed majesty is so great, and yet the object of that salvation is just one seemingly insignificant individual. Did God truly shake the heavens and earth to save just this one person?"

One might question whether the prayer of a single individual could be so significant.
Yet it’s awe-inspiring to realize that one person's prayer brought about a great act of salvation accompanied by cosmic trembling.

Here, I reflected on four aspects of an individual’s prayer:

First, prayer opens the gates of heaven.

Look at Psalm 18:16:
"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters."
Here, David says, “He drew me out of deep waters.”
This means that when he was surrounded on all sides—north, south, east, and west—by disasters and afflictions beyond human control, and when all earthly doors were shut, David prayed.
Then a door that no one could open was opened—the door of heaven.
There, God’s work of salvation was accomplished.
Unlike the Israelites who, when trapped, looked at the ground and grumbled with the question “Why?”, Moses looked up to heaven and prayed.
We already know that God heard his prayer, opened the gates of heaven, and poured out His saving grace.
Our prayer opens the gates of heaven.

Second, prayer is powerful.

Look at Psalm 18:17:
"He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me."
Through prayer, we come to experience the saving power of God, who is stronger than “powerful enemies and those who hate us.”
These enemies were stronger than David, yet through prayer, he experienced the saving power of the Almighty God.

Third, prayer is relying on God.

Look at Psalm 18:18:
"They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support."
Though David faced the “day of disaster” (v.18), when he prayed, that day of disaster was transformed into the day of salvation from the God he relied on.

Fourth, prayer helps us realize how much God delights in us.

Look at Psalm 18:19:
"He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me."
Through prayer, David experienced not only God's salvation but also His guidance.
What was even more amazing was that David came to realize just how much God delighted in him.
That’s why the praise that naturally rises from our hearts is:
“I want to be the joy of my Lord…”

In the end, no matter what difficult reality we may face, we must think of “the Lord who is my strength,” accept that reality with faith, and respond with prayer.
When we do so, our Savior God, who protects us, will come in majestic power as if shaking the heavens and the earth and will reveal His great saving power.
In the midst of that, as we experience how much God delights in us, we can’t help but praise Him. Hallelujah!

 

 

With a heart full of gratitude for the love and saving grace of God, who is my strength,

 

Shared by Pastor James
(Singing with the heart of “I want to be the joy of the Lord,” and “I will never trade You for anything in this world”).