Slices
Prepare
Are you a faithful person? Most of us like to think we are – but are you? Do you keep secrets? Do you love others even when they make it really hard? Do you let God mould every part of you?
Bible passage
For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:
1 I love you, Lord, my strength.
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.
3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I have been saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
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.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him –
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.
Explore
Psalm 18 is above all a song of thanksgiving. Being honest, the first five verses describe how I have felt for much of the past 18 months. I suspect you may feel the same way: confronted by death, opposition and struggle, both internally and ‘out there’.
What do you do when you are ‘in distress’ (v 6)? In those darkest times, where do you turn? What brings you comfort? This psalm reminds us of the truth that God is not only the right place to turn (we all know that), but the best place to turn (sometimes we forget that).
How do you feel about verses 20–24? It can be hard to read David’s opinion of himself! Two things are going on here. First, he was, compared to others, genuinely holy, the man ‘after [God’s] own heart’ (1 Samuel 13:14). Secondly there is a prophetic side to many psalms, as David speaks words true of Jesus – and us. For, by God’s grace, the rewards of the true faithfulness of Jesus are given to us who are ‘in Christ’.
Respond
This is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving, so why not spend some time doing exactly that? You may like to use some of the words of the psalm (eg vs 6,16,17,28), or your own words.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Corinthians 4; Revelation 16
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray that the Praise Camp taking place between Christmas and New Year in Basel and in which SU Switzerland is participating will be transforming for the 5,000 young people present as they meet with God.