This song of praise has quite a history in David’s life. Its setting in this chapter suggests that these are his final words (see 23:1). But this is the work of a young man.  

With only a few variations, we are in Psalm 18, ascribed to David as he sang to the Lord when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. This incident is chronicled in 1 Samuel 31 and 2 Samuel 1 but it may also have been written during the period leading to David’s enthronement (2 Samuel 2–5). It’s a long psalm of extravagant praise and imagination. 

Once David’s cry is heard in God’s temple, there are earthquakes, fire, smoke and drama as the Lord acts on his behalf. So why does this psalm crop up again at the end of his life? Maybe David regarded this psalm as his signature tune. Maybe this poem encapsulated the deep song in his heart. Maybe we too have a signature tune that speaks of God’s dealings with us.

‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.’¹

In recent chapters the writer has been raising many hard questions about David and the way he exercised his kingship. Perhaps the inclusion of this wonderful psalm, also found as Psalm 18, is to remind readers that David was a man of many parts. He may have had faults, but there is no doubt he was a godly poet who had, and was able to present, a powerful understanding of who God is and where David and his readers stand in relation to their great God. It is worth noting that this psalm was written right at the beginning of David’s reign,² well before any of the events that we have been looking at recently. It is important for us to be realistic about our leaders, but here is a reminder to look beyond those leaders to God – and maybe to the good things that they have taught us about him. 

Take time to read the whole psalm aloud and reflect on each phrase and the ways in which that might be, or might have been, a reality in your life. David knew God as strong and as safe, as one who protects (vs 2,3). He knew God as one who was always there, always ready, always listening and responding when David was experiencing circumstances which seem totally overwhelming and impossible to cope with (vs 4–7). He knew that God was not to be put in a box, not controlled by outside influences, but was himself controlling the universe (vs 8–16). David would have understood completely what CS Lewis meant in describing Aslan as ‘not a tame lion’.³ He knew that God heard him, but that any action taken would be entirely up to God and might not fit into his own presuppositions as to what God ought to be doing!

Lord, thank you so much for being my ‘rock, in whom I take refuge’ (v 3); for hearing my voice and listening to my cry; and for being you!

¹ 1 John 5:14  ² See the heading to Ps 18  ³ CS Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe