Psalm 18:31-42 English Standard Version
31 For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
32 the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.
33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great.
36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,[a]
and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
In the early Christian church a man named Marcion pitted the “God of the Old Testament” against Jesus, the “God of the New Testament.” He said that the Old Testament God was hard fierce and demanding and that the New Testament Jesus was merciful, loving, and gentle.
The church rightly rejected that idea as a contradiction of the Bible’s teaching.
In more recent contemporary times, the reverse has taken place. Among people who want rapid social change, the gentleness of Jesus is treated with scorn, as if he was a mere weakling, easily manipulated, used by the corrupt establishment.
However, the careful and diligent reading of the Bible teaches that God is both.
He is full of wrath against evil, unconvinced by lame excuses, demanding true justice and goodness.
At the same time he is gentle, humble, and mild toward all who become his disciples, because he empathizes “with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15).
“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).
He is the perfect Teacher for us, if we authentically, seriously take his yoke on our shoulders to sit still. to learn, understand and grow into how to be godly.
We have a lot to learn from this God we worship, for we often tend to be angry when we should be gentle, and gentle when we should be fierce enemies of evil.
What we could be learning of God’s Gentleness …
David in Psalm 18:35 wrote,
“thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.”
David had full recognition of the vast mercies provided by the Lord.
The provisions, protection, and empowerments were full contemplations and gentle manifestations of a righteous and sovereign God. As we inspect our own lives, we can see that the Lord’s gentleness has indeed made all the difference.
1. He Is Our Sure Defense
The gentleness of our God has the attributes of love, grace, mercy as well as judgment. He can exercise each office concurrently while at the same time not neglecting any of the other attributes.
Certainly, God would have been justified in allowing the enemies of David to prevail against him as judgment for his indiscretions.
He was an adulterer, murderer, and bad father.
No doubt he was punished for the consequences of his sins, but the providence of our Lord had a greater eternal plan for the life of David.
His testimony was one of a lowly shepherd boy who was most unlikely to wear the most powerful crown in the world.
He was anointed and trained for over ten years before he was fully equipped, however, to reign over the land.
The patience of this process exhibited God’s gentleness as David was not thrusted into the position prior to the “fullness of time.”
In the first section of Psalm 18, David wrote about the strategies and ways of his enemies and Saul.
Notice in verse one that “enemies” and Saul were separated, contemplating certain respect endowed to the fellow king irrespective of his evil motives and tendencies. David painted a hopeless picture of being compassed about with “sorrows of death” and being afraid of the “floods of ungodly men.”
Even worse than death, David describes the “sorrows of hell” and the “snares of death.”
Immediate and eternal death would certainly be a more desirable position than being tortured and tormented by the prospect of hell and vices capable of death but falling short.
David called upon the Lord in his condition from the temple.
It was not in the plan of God for David to succumb to the throws of his enemies or especially Saul as he was promised as much.
Today, we have the same promise about the snares and the evils of the day.
Isaiah 54:14-17 reminds us that “in righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.”
Indeed, we give Him all the praise because “this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
2. Our Prayers to Our Gentle Savior Make It “Even into His Ears”
Not only did David’s plea for help make it to the throne of Heaven, but “even into his ears” indicating the plea penetrated the being of the Lord.
The same can be said about our pleas, prayers and petitions summoning the attention from the Most High.
Until the enmity between us and the throne of heaven was removed by our mediator Jesus Christ, cries could not reach the heights necessary for action.
1 Peter 3:12 assures the New Testament saint that, “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open until their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.”
Thus, we cannot neglect the privilege of reaching the ears of our Savior by crying out with our prayers and concerns.
3. God Is Gentle to His Children, but Powerful to Their Enemies
In verses 7-15, David reflected the sheer force and might of a covenant God when in defense of His covenant man.
The Lord God made “the earth shook and tremble” to such a degree that “the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken.” His person blew out “smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured.”
The Creator “bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.” Even though the consequences of His power reached the earth severely, “he rode upon a cherub, and did fly” “upon the wings of the wind.”
Certainly, the creator of creation and the maker of man has the power to call upon His creation in subserviency.
Jesus is quoted in Matthew 12:29, “or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his good, except he first bind the strong man?”
When we are being opposed, we view our enemies as mighty and strong.
Thanks be to our Heavenly Father, however, the believer has access to that “stronger man” who is able to bind the “powers of this dark world” and the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12.)
4. His Gentleness Is Our Deliverance
The strength of the enemy was so great David fully recognized it was the Lord who “delivered [him] from [his] strong enemy” because “they were too strong for [me].”
The gentleness of Lord preached messages of love, forgiveness, and a need for spiritual cleansing to the masses despite a world who hated Him.
Regardless of his unpopularity, His gentleness led Him to a cross on Calvary.
He had access to the highest throne in heaven, but His gentleness permitted our sins to be thrusted into His skin.
Even with His innocence, His gentleness died upon this cross of judgment.
Despite physical death, His gentleness fought the grave and delivered unto us our salvation.
The strength of man’s sin was too much of an enemy for our meager will power and great desires of the flesh.
It was the gentleness of our Lord and Savior who had convicted our soul of our lost and defeated condition.
5. His Gentleness Guides Us to Obedience
David understood the importance of obedience and the cleanliness.
He wrote in verse 20, “the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands.”
Even our obedience is not glory attributable to us via our own abilities.
The cleansing and empowerment of the Holy Ghost gives us the desire and the instruction necessary for obedience.
Thus, our obedience is nothing of ourselves and is effortless from our own hands.
In Hebrews 5:8, we see that “though [Jesus Christ] were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”
Therefore, through Jesus’s suffering obedience we are granted with the gentleness of His guide.
6. His Gentleness Gives Us a Strong Footing
David understood the importance of a foundation for strong and agile footing when we wrote in verse 31, “who is a rock save our God?”
He gave us the strength and safe passage upon the journey because
“He maketh my feet like a [feet] hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.”
It is the position of the high places that we can fully appreciate our ascension through the power of Christ.
Just as the church, our foundation is established in the sure footing through Christ.
By the provisions of His Word and the Holy Spirit, “thou has also given [us] the shield of thy salvation.”
These armaments “teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.”
Our feet may physically progress, but it is He that “hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.”
When we take a position in accord with the Word of God, it is “He [who] gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.”
Thus, not only does our Lord have all power, but He has the ability and desire to bestow power.
The gentleness from both His mercy and grace culminates from the gift of “the shield of salvation.”
Our reliance is His righteousness as it is His “right hand [that] hath holden me up.”
David writes about his greatness solely because of what the Lord did throughout his life.
All of our greatness and righteousness is found from Jesus Christ and His work on the cross.
His gentleness is what “hath made me great.”
7. His Gentleness Guarantees Our Victory
The Psalmist then changes tone from being mired against prey unto a state of victorious enablement.
Such as us when we were neck-deep living in a lost sin dominated life and without hope.
Paul in Romans 8:37 declared us “more than conquerors through [Jesus Christ] that loved us.”
In Psalm 18 verse 37, David wrote that he pursued his enemies and overtook them because his “feet did not slip.”
He was not fatigued by the fight but was given persistence unto victory until the enemy was consumed.
Accordingly, the Holy Spirit seals us until the time of redemption until our ultimate realization of salvation and the glorification of our bodies.
In this ultimate victory, we will be able to declare just as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Our daily spiritual victories upon this earth in this fleshly body will pale in the comparison to the victory over death as our “vile body” will be “fashioned like unto his glorious body.”
8. His Gentleness Is Our Praise
David concludes with verses 49 and 50 by giving “thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.”
The psalm began with a desperate plea for help but ends with the singing of “praises unto thy name.” The praise is personal as David wrote, “great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed.”
Indeed as our Savior, Lord, and King, Jesus is due all of our praise and adoration.
He did not forcibly enter the chamber of our heart in order to procure our salvation.
As a prerequisite to salvation, he did not place the onerous burden of abiding the law upon us by requiring its recantation and its physical manifestation adorning our clothing as a constant reminder.
God forbid.
No, it was His worldly paradoxical power of might combined with His greatest gentleness that performed the greatest miracle by the twain of two opposite forces of perfection and sin into “one new man, so making peace” as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:15.
By this witness, we can testify that truly “thy gentleness hath made me great!”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 5 English Standard Version
Lead Me in Your Righteousness
To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
5 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you[a] and watch.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 