David's Testament
Psalm 18: 1-24
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
Sometimes when people read of the incredible escapes and dramatic acts of Biblical characters, their first temptation is to suspend belief in the facts as revealed. The popular impression is that all stories are as trustworthy as the pulp papers sold at Supermarket check outs or the propaganda passed out on through the major Media outlets! Historic reality and objective truths are not readily appreciated or understood in our time.
Every year some of my history reports in class are challenged as to incredible to be real. Several times I have had to bring into class documentation of the tales that are told. One story concerns Field Marshal Erwin Rommel whose aide Schmidt tells how, while observing an action before Tobruk, Rommel, as if warned by a higher power, would suddenly shift from one position to another before incoming rounds landed. Another time a sudden deluge of rain turned the barren desert wastes to mush right at the beginning of a concentrated British attack on both Rommel himself and his Afrika Korps.
Closer to home a farmer in my Dad's neighborhood (when the horses were still used) was dishing a field. Suddenly the team of three horses froze in their tracks and refused to budge. The farmer stomped to the front of the team, grabbed their reins and tried to lead them forward. As he was trying to get their attention, the ground suddenly gave way under his feet and a large sink hole appeared when a cave roof collapsed. Had the horses, driver and equipment been eight feet further along, death or serious injuries would have been shared all the way around in the midst of the crashing and thrashing of three tons of horseflesh.
Again, one of my neighbors was waiting for a school bus with his daughters at the end of their lane one windy, rainy morning. Suddenly an old tree crashed in front of their truck. Then another crashed in the rear as well! Providentially, no one was hurt.
Just as there are incredibly true escapes and dramatic acts in our memories, so also we may trust the truth of the Biblical reports of like escapes and travels. Our psalm today celebrates the providential delivery of the Lord's saints from all their troubles. We may certainly see this fact in the title of this Thanksgiving psalm written by King David.
We will divide this psalm between two weeks. One commentator notes the parallelism between the I and Thou as symbolizing the relationship of the deliverer and the delivered. Another commentator notes the recording of this psalm twice, both here in the psalter and earlier in 2 Samuel 21. While there are minor differences, these may be slight editorial changes made by David much later in life.
This same Richard Steele compares this particular psalm to what used to be called a last will and testament. In our times, wills have become completely secular without much testimony. This was not so earlier in our own century. The banker J.P. Morgan left a glowing testimony to his particular faith. So did Kaiser Wilhelm leave a letter of testimony to his son. In this sense we may see this psalm as one of David's great testimonies.
It begins in verse one with a declaration of David's love for the God of heaven. How often do we declare such love to our Lord Jesus Christ? There is a sad problem with the English language in that we have only one word to express what the French and Latin have three and the Greek four words to accomplish. The particular Hebrew word here indicates that this love comes from the innermost part of man, from his bowels, or as we would say, from the bottom of his heart.
The intensity of this love is like that of a mother and child as the Westminster Assembly declared. So we see David in this verse declare his love for God. Are you able to join with David in this declaration of love to God?
David continues his testimony. He tells us that the Lord is his rock, his fortress and deliverer. The repetition in the third phrase of verse two emphasizes the complete sufficiency of our God. Upon that complete sufficiency David will call in verse three where he declares the experience of his long life. The next three verses are an expansion on the theme of verse three.
There in the torrents and snares we may see the realities of possible death in combat and the further intrigues of an oriental court. In spite of all these dangers, David knows that God has constantly been his faithful protector. In the last couplet of verse six he notes that God has heard his voice with earth shaking reality. In like manner an older commentator reports that Luther's enemies felt the weight of his prayers. Also the Queen of Scots professed she was more afraid of the prayers of John Knox, than of an army of ten thousand men. Would that the world could learn the same fear in our own time!
David's reports in verses seven through fifteen meld together the events of the Exodus, Sinai and experiences of Joshua and the Judges. The wrath of God against the enemies of His people is described in the terrors of a timely thunderstorm.
Some years ago, when I was driving to Florida there was a sudden storm along I75. As I came up over a hill I could see about a mile down the road where the rain storm was beginning. It was unreal, you could see the exact line across the road where the dry surface ended and the storm began. Something like that happened to a farmer who scoffed at his neighbor for praying for rain in the midst of a drought. Later that week he looked out his window and saw a storm line like the one I saw on the line fence between his farm and his neighbor's. Suddenly, that farmer became interested in learning about the realities of prayer!
David's storm served to protect him from his enemies. In a like manner, storms, hurricanes and all of the natural disasters may call people either to repentance or to destruction; and in such a sense God's will is completely accomplished.
In verses sixteen to nineteen David describes the providential effect of God's saving work in his own life. "He reached down from on high and took hold of me." This is still God's work of salvation, He takes direct action through the work of the Holy Spirit. And so David's experience continues. People are still rescued from the power of Satan and from the cords of sin.
We see in verse nineteen that salvation opens our lives up through the wideness of His grace. We must also note that we are rescued because He has taken delight in us. So salvation is by grace alone, but David's continuing obedience to the will of the Lord brings its own rewards. And to the regular blessings of God over the course of his long life, David gives his testimony.
"For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not done evil by turning from my God. All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees." At the ending of our lives, may we give such a testimony? You see, the actions here are the result of the love pledged in verse one. Love, real love is not an emotional trip, no real love is the doing of chores, sharing the feelings of our heart, and pleasing the one we love!
Now, perhaps you sense a slight dichotomy between the essential grace in verse nineteen and the blessings for righteousness in verse twenty-four. Spurgeon notes that God first gives us holiness, and then rewards us for it. We are his workmanship first last and always. Notice the emphasis in the last line of verse twenty-four: "according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight." "In His sight" is an important limitation so that we do not become puffed up and self sanctified. "In His sight" also is indicative that not only is God the author of our salvation but the perfecter of our sanctification as well. Like David, we must necessarily place ourselves wholeheartedly into the loving hands of our God and King. May the Spirit so work in each and everyone of us. Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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King, Kendall. |
"Footnotes", Strategy & Tactics (Nov 88). | |
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Spurgeon, C.H. |
The Treasury of David. | |
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The Holy Bible, New International Version. International Bible Society (1973, 1978, 1984) | ||
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018a |
26 May 91 & 30 May 99 | |