St Louis UBF UBF Bible Study : Psalm 18

Bible Study Materials

Psalm 18

by Paul Choi 07/29/2012

Question

THE LORD IS MY ROCK

Psalm 18:1-50

Key Verse:18:2

Read verse 1. How did David express his love for God? Read verse 2,3. How did David describe God and what is the meaning of each expression? (Rock; 1Sa 23:25-28, Ps 62:2, fortress, deliverer, shield, horn of salvation; Lk 1:69, stronghold…)

Read verses 4-6. What was David’s situation and what did David do in such a desperate situation?

Read verses 7-15. How did God respond to David’s cry for help? What do the words ‘earthquake’, ‘Smoke,’ ‘fire’, ‘cloud’, ‘wind’ mean in God’s reaction?

Read verses 16-19. How did God rescue David from his enemies? Read verses 20-29. What was the source of David’s confidence in God’s salvation? How did David express his loyalty to God? (20-24) and God’s faithfulness to men? (25-29)

Read verses 30-35. David praised the goodness and perfectness of God in these verses. Why is God’s way perfect and his word flawless? (30) Why is the God of Israel the true God? (31)

Read verses 37-45. How did David praise God’s victory over his enemies and his glorious deliverance? Read verses 46-50 (Doxology). What does it mean “the Lord is my Rock!” to David, and to you? (46, Is 8:14, Ro 9:33, 1Co 10:4)

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THE LORD IS MY ROCK-ps18-questions.doc

Message

THE LORD IS MY ROCK

Psalm 18:1-50

Key Verse:18:2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Psalm 18 appears in 2 Samuel 22. People call Psalm 18 a ‘Royal Thanksgiving’ because it contains God’s deliverance of David and King David’s victory over his enemies. David wrote this song after the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. David praised God, describing Him in many ways such as his strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, refuge, shield, horn of salvation, stronghold and so on. In today’s passage, we will study about God, who is the Rock of Israel, the Rock of Ages, and the Rock of Salvation.

First, I love you, O Lord, my strength. (1) In this verse, David expressed his affection for God with an unusual word, “love”. Why ‘love’? We love God and love our neighbor. However, here the word “love” (r-h-m) is used to affirm God’s compassion for man. The verb ‘rhm’ implies the need of the one who receives the compassion and is associated with a mother’s care for her children. When David said, “I love you, O Lord, my strength”, he meant that the Lord (YHWH) took care of him with compassion and motherly love, which made David strong and courageous in times of trouble.

David was the king of Israel. He was also a musician and a poet. He seemed to have all the things which he desired. But there was no other man like David who suffered so much during his life time. He was despised by his own brothers. His country was frequently threatened by neighboring enemies. David served King Saul with loyalty. But Saul hated David because of jealousy, and David had to live as a fugitive for many years in the desert and on mountains. In each time of trouble, God took care of David. God had mercy on David and protected him from his enemies. The Lord was strength to David and the Lord was a compassionate mother to him. When David said, “I love you, O Lord…” it shows his intimate love and trust relationship with the Lord God.

Can you confess to the Lord today, “I love you, O Lord, my strength.” Some of us here may be in times of trouble. Some may be sick. Others may have lost their jobs. Still others may suffer from financial and other problems. In these times of trouble we must remember that we are not alone. The Lord is with us. Like a compassionate mother, God takes care of us and helps us. God is our compassionate father and we are his children. He will not leave us alone. He will care for us. So, let us turn our eyes to Jesus and make our love confession to God as David did. “I love you, O Lord, my strength!

Second, the Lord is my rock (2) Look at verse 2. “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” When David called the Lord my ‘rock’, he had had a personal experience of God’s deliverance from King Saul. Here the word ‘rock’, ‘Sela’ in Hebrew, indicates cliff. According to 1 Samuel 23:25-29, King Saul and his men were chasing David. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and hid himself in the Desert of Maon. To David, it was a life-threatening and critical moment because King Saul was closing on David. If David had been found, he would have been killed by King Saul. However, the moment Saul approached David’s hiding place, a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” Then Saul stopped chasing David and went to fight the Philistines. Saul chose national security more than his personal feud. In this way, God saved David’s life and David narrowly escaped death. Later David called the place, “Sela Hammahlekoth”, which means “rock of parting.” (1 Sa 23:28)

I like to watch American western movies, especially those casted with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. The movie scenes of their gun fighting with American Indians and gangsters are very exciting. Especially, I find a lot of thrill and suspense in their gun fighting in the Rocky Mountains. In the gun fighting, the actors used rocks as shields, sometimes hiding themselves from their enemies, and other times escaping from bullets and arrows. We also are often situated like David, who was chased by many enemies. We may be attacked by Satan from all directions without any protection. We may be exposed to the bullets and arrows which Satan shoots. But the Lord is our rock. God will provide for us a hiding place from our enemies. God will enable us to escape from Satan’s arrows and bullets. Above all, God will turn the attention and direction of Satan from us to others. When David said, “the Lord is my rock,” he meant that the Lord God was his rock of salvation.

In verse 2, when David called God ‘rock’ for the second time, “my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.”, he used the word “Sur”, which means crag or cave. According 1 Samuel 24, David had a chance to kill King Saul in a cave, but he did not do so because he feared God. After King Saul came back from pursuing the Philistines, he continued to chase David. At that time, David and his men were hiding in a rock, a cave. By accident, King Saul entered into the same cave where David and his men were hiding. David had a chance to kill his enemy Saul while Saul was sleeping. However, David only cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. (1 Sa 24:4) This was because King Saul was the God-anointed king even though he was an evil enemy of David. David feared God. He did not kill God’s anointed king. David put the destiny of King Saul into God’s hand. David spared Saul’s life and later wept aloud before God. Thus, David won spiritual victory over himself and over King Saul.

The Lord is our rock, Sur, a cave, our hiding place and our shelter. Geographically, Israel has many mountains and deserts. A cave gives travelers a shelter for escaping from the scorching heat, thunderstorms, and even wild beasts. In the same way, the Lord is our shelter which provides us safety and rest. No matter how many heat waves attack us, no matter how many thunderstorms come upon us, we are safe as long as we stay in the cave of God. As God protected David through the rock, the cave, God will protect us from all storms of life. Let us sing like David, “my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.” Amen.

Look at verse 2 again. David called God, ‘my fortress and my deliverer;” Here, fortress is a stronghold, an isolated high place in a mountain which provides strategic advantages. David often himself escaped into the fortress. (1Sa 23:14, 24:22, 2 Sa 5:17) Martin Luther, who had started the religious reformation in AD 1517, also often escaped into the fortresses of kings who supported him and hid him from his pursuers. However, Martin Luther did not depend on any men or human fortress because the Lord himself was his fortress. So he wrote a hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” Psalm 46:7 says, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

The Lord God was a deliverer for David. The word ‘deliverer’ reminds us of God, who delivered his people the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. God delivered the Israelites from the hand of King Pharaoh and brought them into the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The Lord God delivered David from the hands of his enemies, especially from King Saul. In the Old Testament, God sent Moses as a deliverer for his people. In the New Testament God sent Jesus Christ as the deliverer to save his people from their sins. Jesus delivered us from death to life. Jesus delivered us from the slavery of sin. We need a deliverer in all situations. This country needs a deliverer who rescues her from economic recession. We need a deliverer who can deliver us from the pit of failure and destruction. The Lord is our deliverer. Jesus is our deliverer. I pray that Jesus may deliver all of us from all dangerous situations and from all trials of life. Amen.

Look at verse 2c. “He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” In Genesis 15, when Abraham was filled with fear and loneliness, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Ge 15:1) A shield protects you from arrows, swords and spears. The Lord meant that he himself would protect Abraham from his enemies. The Lord is also the horn of salvation. Here, a horn is the symbol of strength. The Lord our God is strong enough to protect us, deliver us, and save us. In Luke’s gospel, Zechariah praised Jesus as a horn of salvation. Filled with the Holy Spirit he said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David…” (Lk 1:68,69) Our God is mighty to save. There is a song, “Savior, he can move the mountains. My God is Mighty to save. He is Mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation, he rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave.” Jesus is the horn of salvation and the Mighty God.

Third, David’s affliction and the Lord’s salvation.(3-30) Verses 4,5 shows us David’s poetic expression of his intense affliction and anguish. “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.” Imagine being wrapped by the cords of many different problems and difficulties and you can’t move even a finger. What did David do in this time of trouble? He prayed to God. He cried to God for help. Look at verse 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.” Yesterday when I heard that Msn. Elizabeth Han was hospitalized again, my heart was broken. I cried to God for his help. I believe that the Lord answers my prayers. He will not despise the prayers of the righteous. James 5:13-15 says, “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord….And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up…..The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Let us pray for those who are sick. Let us call to God for his help for Msn. Elizabeth Han, Dr. Pitch, and other brothers and sisters who are in distress and in need. Indeed, the Lord hears our prayer from the temple and our outcry reach to his ears. Amen.

Verses 7-15 describes God’s reaction in heaven toward David’s affliction. Look at verses 7-13. In these verses, earthquake, smoke, and consuming fire remind us of how God appeared at Mount Sinai.(Ex 19:18) The earthquake was the expression of God’s anger, and smoke and fire were the readiness of God to avenge himself on his enemies. God descended, riding clouds as a chariot blown by the wings of the wind. (9-10) He terrified his enemies with hailstones and bolts of lightening. (11,12) He shot great bolts of lightning like arrows until his enemies were totally destroyed. (14,15) Indeed, our God is the Lord of heaven and earth. He is Mighty to save. When David was helpless, surrounded by many enemies, God was his support. God scattered his enemies and brought David into a spacious place. (17-19)

God’s deliverance was not because of what David had done, but because of God’s righteousness. In verses 20-24, David showed his loyalty to God. This was praise for God’s righteousness toward his servant, not David’s own self-righteousness. Probably David wrote this part before he had committed the sin of adultery. David was blameless before God and kept himself from sin (23) He believed that the Lord would give a reward to those who have a right relationship with him. Above all, David believed God’s faithfulness despite his unfaithfulness. Look at verses 25-27. “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd. You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.” When we come to God, we must trust in God and in his faithfulness and goodness. God saves us and helps us not by what we have done, but by his own faithfulness and goodness. Depending on God’s faithfulness and goodness, we come to God with confidence.

In verse 28 David prayed to God. “You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning.” The lamp is a metaphor of God’s presence. David believed that the presence of the Lord gave him victory. David earnestly prayed to God, seeking God’s presence. Look at verse 30. “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.” Do you believe that God’s way is always perfect? Do you believe God’s faithfulness and his goodness in the time of your trouble and suffering? God’s love never fails. God never leaves us alone. He keeps his promise. His word is truth. He is our shield.

In verses 31-50 David again praised the Lord as the Rock of Salvation. Verse 31 says, “For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?” In verse 46 David also said, “The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!...” Our God is the Rock of Ages. He is the Rock of Israel.(Ge 49:24) Now, Jesus is the Rock of Salvation. When we say that Jesus is the Rock of Salvation, we mean that Jesus himself became the rock, the foundation of our eternal life. Jesus laid the foundation of salvation through his death on the cross and resurrection. Whoever believes in Jesus will be saved. Whoever receives Jesus as Lord and Savior will have eternal life. Whoever comes to him will receive peace, rest, and protection. Jesus is the Rock of Salvation. He is our fortress and stronghold. He is our deliverer and shield. There is eternal security in Jesus. There is eternal fellowship with God in Jesus. There is no other name except Jesus by whom we can be saved. There is no other foundation except Jesus on which we can stand. All other ground is sinking sand. There is a hymn, ‘Rock of Ages’, which goes, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee, Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure..” Amen.

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