This is a song of praise and gratitude for God’s deliverance - past, present, and future. My aim is to draw out three things from this Psalm:

1. The LORD who delivers
2. The way the LORD often delivers
3. Deliverance, a cause for praise

Do you ever find yourself in trouble? In a battle? God’s people all throughout scripture find themselves in trouble. And the faithful always found God to be a God who intervenes and delivers. The nation of Israel knew God as One who delivers (examples). Paul was constantly in trouble. And yet, at the end of this life he boldly declared, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed” (2 Timothy 4:18). And when God delivers, what should the response be of those delivered? Praise. Worship. This is a psalm of praise that David sang to the Lord. 

Psalm 18 was written by David in the latter part of this life, (also found in 2 Samuel 22). And David sees the panorama of his life as a splendid display of the LORD’s deliverance. We hear David’s description of this in the inscription (in bible, before verse 1):

A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul

So David saw his life as one of being rescued by the Lord again and again. And I want to ask you this up front. Is this how you see your life? I hope so. And if you live to a ripe old age and your life winds down gradually, I hope you will look over the course of your life and say, “The Lord has rescued me time and again”. The Psalm begins with a declaration of David’s love for the Lord. In verse 1 he says, “I love you, O LORD.”

These are not David’s dying words - but having walked with God about 54 years, it was a statement in response to the overview of God’s dealings with him over the course of much of his life. John Owen’s final words on his death bed echo these words and carry the spirit of all who truly know the Lord:

I am going to him whom my soul hath loved, or rather hath love me with an everlasting love; which is the whole ground of all my consolation.

I don’t want to get overly sentimental. But do you love the Lord? Do you tell Him you love Him? The rest of the psalm helps us understand why David says this. Listen to verses 1-2:

1 I love you, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

In these two verses, David attributes nine titles to God. 

The LORD, my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 

It’s a mouthful. A glorious mouthful, especially glorious when you consider that all the titles except the covenant name (The LORD) include the possessive adjective “my”. This is deeply personal for David. For David, the LORD is not just a rock. He is “my rock”. He is not just a fortress. He is “my fortress”. He is not just a deliverer. He is “my deliverer”. And the person who can truly say these things about God possesses a strength that is more than a match for any and all trouble. For David, the LORD was living and active in his life. He saw God behind everything. He saw the LORD as a saving, rescuing God behind everything. We can go through life and go through certain events when things could have gone really bad (or worse) and chalk it up to coincidence or good luck or our ability to get out of a tangled mess. David attributes it all to the LORD. 

Verses 4-5 describes the kind of trouble David was in. He was near death. The tentacles of the grave were wrapped around him, dragging him down to Sheol. Sheol is an OT word that refers to the realm of the dead, the grave. Destruction was at hand. But verse 6 turns our attention to what David did in the midst of his distress… and this is key! This is for us.

The LORD Is our Deliverer

Verse 6 says, “In my distress, I called to the LORD”. He was about to die. Enemies were surrounding him on all sides to take his life. And he called to the Lord. And it says, “from his temple, the LORD heard him”, and deliverance came.

When did the LORD’s deliverance come? When David called to Him. Of course, the LORD didn’t just find out about David’s trouble. He knew. He knows our troubles too. He knows our need. He could step in at any time. But God loves when His people humbly cry to Him. When we turn away from our own strength and wisdom and ways and turn to Him, seeking his aid. 

Perhaps the trouble you are in or have been in seems to be completely out of your control - something happening to you. A person has come against you unexpectedly. Someone conspiring to harm you. A devastating diagnosis or a sudden sickness or injury. What are you to do? Call to the Lord, like David. Cry aloud to the Lord. He hears. Call out to him in your distress.

Maybe the trouble you are facing is self-inflicted. The root is sin and disobedience. Even still, call out to Him. That was often why Israel found herself in trouble. That was the reason for Jonah’s plight. And Jonah called to the Lord while in the belly of the great fish. In fact, Jonah’s prayer echoes almost verbatim what David says here:

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” (Jonah 2:1-2)

Is this what you do? If you are in Christ, you can. Sometimes we wrongly think that when we are in a mess we have made, we first need to get out of the mess ourselves and then call to the Lord. No. Call to Him now. So are you in trouble today? Whatever the reason for your trouble, take courage from David today and call out to the Lord. The deliverance comes when God’s people cry out to Him for help. He hears the cries of his people - he is not indifferent. 

The language describing the Lord coming to David’s rescue is striking in verses 7-19. We see the LORD coming in power to save David and God is revealed as a divine Warrior. 

• Verse 7 → When God reveals himself as a warrior, the imagery is of the very natural world convulsing (READ)
• Verse 8 → Nostrils and mouth are standard figures of speech for anger. Smoke and fire - God coming in judgment on his enemies.
• Verse 9 - darkness under his feet. God coming on the storm clouds into battle (Psalm 68:4; 104:3: Nahum 1:3; Daniel 7:13). In the NT, Christ is pictured as coming on the clouds in judgment on his enemies (Mark 13:26; Revelation 1:7).
• Verse 13 - He thundered in the heavens, He uttered his voice
• Verse 14 - He sent out his arrows, scattering them - flashed his lightning 

This is imagery meant to communicate God coming to the rescue of David against David’s foes. 

And when God came as a warrior to rescue him, David says, 

• He drew me out of many waters (v. 16) → the waters of chaos and trouble and distress
• He rescued me (v. 17)
• He brought me into a broad place (v. 19) → a place of safety, comfort, and abundance 
• He rescued me because he delighted in me (v. 19). Do we understand that God delights in us. He delights in his people. He doesn’t just put up with us. He does not rescue us merely because he has to. He signed a contract and needs to hold up his end of the bargain. He delights in his people and he delights to show off his power on their behalf and rescue the people he purchased through Christ’s blood. That’s you.

But often the Lord delivers, not by whisking out of harms’ way, but by giving us strength for the battle. He still delivers. But often through the strength he provides to overcome. He delights to come to deliver and help us by strengthening us to overcome in the midst of the battles we are in. When we think of David’s story, we see this. The Lord delivered him from his enemies. But how? Not by keeping David from the battle. But by giving David strength for the battles. This is what David testifies to in verses 28-39.

The way in which the LORD often delivers

• Verses 28-39 - read through and give some commentary. 
• The Lord gives victory. The Lord delivers. But he does so often by giving strength to his people for the battle. Romans 8:37 (“In all these things…) So we fight and wage the good warfare, but we do so in the strength the Lord supplies. So at the end of the day, we turn around and say, “The LORD won a great victory. The Lord has rescued me.”
• We fight in the strength the Lord supplies and He delivers; he rescues. 

[Finally we see the Lord who delivers is worthy of praise. Remember this psalm was written on the day when the Lord had rescued him from the hand of all his enemies]

Deliverance, a Cause For High Praise

We see this determination to praise the Lord at the beginning and the end. Verse 3 says, “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised…” He was worthy to be praised by David. He is worthy of your praise. But this is not to be limited to me in my heart or us in our church. It is to go global. David’s desire is for the Lord’s delivering power to be known “among the nations”. His rescuing power is to be known throughout all the earth, so he says in verse 49:

For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing to your name.

Here, the great King of Israel David, sounds like a missionary. He wants all the nations to hear the glad news of a saving God. And for good reason! The bible, from beginning to end, reveals a God who wants the nations. Israel was God’s appointed, covenant people. But the NT reveals what may seem somewhat concealed in the OT - God wants the nations.

And so, this psalm is ultimately about the King of kings, offspring of David, and his great saving work - His purpose to rescue all the nations of the earth. We know this because of how verse 49 is used in the NT. In Romans 15, that great chapter about Paul’s missionary endeavors, the apostle says the purpose of his ministry was that the gentiles might glorify God for his mercy and then he quotes Psalm 18:49: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

Our rescuing God is worthy of praise in your heart (no doubt) and in this church and churches across this country. But he is worthy of praise in Mozambique and Iran and Israel and Russia and Ukraine and Gaza and China and Argentina and Sri Lanka and among every tribe and people and language. And he will get it! The LORD of our salvation wants the nations to hear of his salvation so they too can come into the joyful praise of his name. 

So, what should you do from this today?

1. When you are in trouble, call out to the LORD. Don’t wait. Do so now. In your distress, get on your knees and lift up your voice to the Lord. He hears and He will come!

2. Call to mind the times the Lord has delivered you. 

We sing the song Come Thou Fount. And there is that line: “here I raise my Ebenezer…” the ebenezer stone was a stone of remembrance. Israel would often build monuments of remembrance - crossing the Jordan River (Joshua 3-4). Do you have stories of God’s deliverances? I am sure you do! Like David, we need to remember. 

Here’s the thing - if you are in Christ, you have a story of the greatest deliverance! If you are in Christ, He has delivered you from the devil (Colossians 1:13) and sin (Romans  and death (John 11:25-26). These are the greatest enemies. 

In our plight, Jesus came… and through his perfect life, spotless death, and triumphant resurrection, He saved you! Do you know that? Do you remember? This morning, we will take the Lord’s supper in remembrance of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. This is personal. He is my Rock and my Deliverer. 

3. Spread the good news of deliverance through Jesus Christ. With your lips and your entire life, praise the Lord for his saving power and do so among other people who need to hear.

Let’s pray.