PSALMS 16
THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE
Chapter 18
verse 1 "Thee will I love, O Lord, my strength. My fortress is the
Lord. My rock, and he that doth to me Deliverance afford."
verse 2 "My God, my strength, whom I will trust, A buckler unto me,
The horn of my salvation, too, And mt high tower is he."
verse 3 "The Lord is worthy to be praised, Upon his name I'll call;
And he from all my enemies preserve me safely shall."
verse 4 "Death's pangs surround me, ill men Like floods made me
afraid; Hell's sorrows compassed me about; Death's snares
were on me laid."
verse 5 "In my distress I called on God, Cry to my God did I;
He from his temple heard my voice, to his ears came my cry."
verse 6 "The earth affrighted then did shake, Upon it trembling
seized; The hill's foundations moved and shook, because he
was displeased."
verse 7 "Then from his nostrils rose a smoke, And from his mouth
there came Devouring fire, and coals by it Were kindled into
flame."
verse 8 "The heavens also he bowed down, and thence he did descend,
Whilest thickest clouds of darkness did Beneath his feet
attend.'
verse 9 "And he upon a cherub rode, Upon it he did fly;
Yea, on the swift wings of the wind His flight was from on
high."
verse 10 "He darkness made his secret place; Around him gathered were
For his pavillion, waters dark And clouds that filled the
air."
verse 11 "And at the brightness of that light Which was before his eye
His thick clouds passed away, hailstones And coals of fire
did fly."
verse 12 "Jehovah also in the heavens Did thunder in his ire;
And there the Highest gave his voice, Hailstones and coals
of fire."
verse 13 "He sent his arrows forth, and they Were scattered far and
near; His lightenings also he shot out, And they confounded
were."
verse 14 "The waters' channel then were seen, The world's foundations
vast At thy rebuke discovered were, And at thy nostril's
blast."
verse 15 "And from above the Lord sent down, And took me from below;
From many waters drew me out, Which would me overflow."
verse 16 "He me relieved from my strong foes, And such as did me hate;
Because he saw that they for me Too strong were, And too
great."
verse 17 "They rose against me in the day Of my calamity;
But even then the Lord himself A stay was unto me."
verse 18 "He to a place where liberty And room was hath he brought;
Because he took delight in me, He my deliverance wrought."
verse 19 "According to my righteousness He did me recompense,
He me repaid according to My hand's pure innocence."
verse 20 "For I have kept Jehovah's ways, From God turned not aside;
Before me still his judgements are, His statutes are my
guide."
verse 21 "Sincere and upright in my heart Before his face was I;
And watchfully I kept myself From my iniquity."
verse 22 "According to my righteousness The Lord did me requite,
According as my hands were clean Before his searching
sight."
verse 23 "Thou wilt thy tender mercy show To those who mercy love;
Thou also with the upright man Thyself wilt upright prove."
verse 24 "To those who walk in purity Thyself thou pure wilt show;
Any froward thou wilt prove to those in froward ways that
go."
verse 25 "For thou wilt the afflicted save In grief that low do lie:
But wilt bring down the countenance Of them whose looks are
high."
verse 26 "The Lord wilt light my candle so That it shall shine full
bright; The Lord my God will also make My darkness to be
light."
verse 27 "By thee through troops of men I break, And them discomfit
all; And, by my God assisting me, I overleap a wall."
verse 28 "All perfect is the way of God; Jehovah's word is tried;
He is a buckler unto all Who do in him confide."
verse 29 "Who but the Lord is God? but he Who is a rock and stay?
Jehovah girdeth me with strength, And perfect makes my way."
verse 30 "He set me on my places high, Like hind's feet mine did make:
My hands he taught to war, my arms A bowl of steel did
break."
verse 31 "The shield of thy salvation thou Upon me didst bestow;
Thy right hand held me up, and great Thy kindness made me
grow."
verse 32 "And in my way thou hast enlarged My footsteps under me,
That I go safely, and my feet Are kept from sliding free."
verse 33 "My enemies I have pursued, And them did overtake,
Nor turned again till I of them An utter end did make."
verse 34 "I wounded them, They could not rise, They at my feet did
fall. Thou girdest me with strength for war; My foes thou
broughtest down all."
verse 35 "And thou hast given me the necks Of such as are my foes;
That I might them destroy who do With hatred me oppose."
verse 36 "That in their trouble cried for help, But there was none to
save; Yea, they upon Jehovah called, But he no answer gave."
verse 37 "Then did I beat them small as dust Before the wind that
flies; And I did cast them out as filth Upon the street that
lies."
verse 38 "Thou madest me free from people's strife, The heathen's head
to be; A people whom I have not known Shall service do to
me."
verse 39 "At hearing they shall yield to me, My will they shall obey;
From their enclosures struck with fear, Shall strangers fade
away."
verse 40 "God lives, blest be my rock, and praised Let God my Saviour
be. God doth avenge me, and subdues The people under me."
verse 41 "He saves me from my enemies; Yea, thou hast lifted me
Above my foes; and from the man Of vi'lence set me free."
verse 42 "I therefore will to thee, O Lord, In songs my thanks
proclaim; And I among the heathen will Sing praises to thy
name."
verse 43 "He great deliv'rence gives his king; He mercy doth extend
To David, his anointed one, And his seed without end."
Now, we will begin the verse by verse study from the King James
version of the Bible. Psalms 18:1 "{To the chief Musician, [A Psalm]
of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words
of this song in the day [that] the LORD delivered him from the hand of
all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,} I will love
thee, O LORD, my strength."
David was prouder of the fact that he was a servant of the LORD,
than the fact that he was king of the Hebrews. David is looking back
at the problems he had pertaining to Saul, and the wicked we have been
reading about in previous lessons. This is a song of thanksgiving for
the wonderful way God has brought him through his trials. David knows
full well that it was not his strength that saved him, but the
strength of God working in him.
Psalms 18:2 "The LORD [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my
deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and
the horn of my salvation, [and] my high tower."
David had hidden in the caves, and among the rocks, and found
that God was his protection. These are all things that every Christian
could say about the LORD, as well. I built my house, not on the sand,
but on the solid Rock {Jesus Christ}. He is my fortress. He has built
a fortress around me to protect me from the devil. He has delivered me
from all my sin. I will have no other god before Him. In my weakness
He has made me strong. I am as Abraham, who had faith and it was
counted unto him as righteousness. The horn, as we have studied in all
of these lessons, means strength. My salvation is bought by the
precious shed blood of the Lamb.
Psalms 18:3 "I will call upon the LORD, [who is worthy] to be
praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies."
God inhabits the praises of His people. We are to praise God in
all things. We, like David, should know from past blessings that God
will be with us in all our battles. He is our help.
Psalms 18:4 "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of
ungodly men made me afraid." Psalms 18:5 "The sorrows of hell
compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me."
David is telling of his condition, before the Lord came to his
rescue. David's fear was turned into joy. David was in danger of death
from his enemies, until the Lord rescued him.
Psalms 18:6 "In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried
unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came
before him, [even] into his ears."
In this David is setting us a pattern to follow when troubles
come upon us. In our deepest need, we should cry out to God. He will
hear and answer our prayers. God's ears are always tuned into the
needs of His people.
Psalms 18:7 "Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations
also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth."
Many times in the Bible, God shook the earth. Once was the
earthquake when Moses came down the mountain and saw the children of
Israel worshipping a golden calf. When Jesus died on the cross, the
earth quacked. The earth is God's and the fulness thereof. He can
shake it, if He desires to. When God's anger comes up in His face at
the end of the age, the earth will quake as never before. In fact, the
earth will quake so that it will be felt around the world. It is best
not to anger God.
Psalms 18:8 "There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire
out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it."
Deuteronomy 9:3 "Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy
God [is] he which goeth over before thee; [as] a consuming fire he
shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so
shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath
said unto thee." Hebrews 12:29 "For our God [is] a consuming fire."
We know that the wrath of God is something we do not want to
encounter. If God is a flaming fire, and the Word says He is, it would
be only natural for His anger to proceed from His mouth as a fire.
Psalms 18:9 "He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and
darkness [was] under his feet."
God showed Himself to the Israelites in a fire by night, and a
cloud by day. He descended and His presence was over the mercy seat.
As far as the people were concerned, this cloud was as thick darkness,
because they could not see God. For that matter, all things are under
His feet, not just darkness.
Psalms 18:10 "And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did
fly upon the wings of the wind."
This is just David's explanation of how God can move through the
air, as He moves through the earth. Jesus rose into heaven after 40
days of ministry here on the earth after his resurrection from the
dead. He did not need an airplane to carry Him, He just went up on a
cloud.
Psalms 18:11 "He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion
round about him [were] dark waters [and] thick clouds of the skies."
The smoke in the holy of holies was so thick that the high priest
could not see the presence of God, even though he was in the same room
with Him. Jesus opened the way in to the heavenlies for you and me.
Some day, the darkness of clouds surrounding the Father will be
removed, and we will see Him as He is. That is when the secret of God
will be revealed in heaven to us.
Psalms 18:12 "At the brightness [that was] before him his thick
clouds passed, hail [stones] and coals of fire." Psalms 18:13 "The
LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice;
hail [stones] and coals of fire."
The strangest hail, that ever hit the earth, was the hail mingled
with fire that God rained on Pharaoh in Egypt. The anger of God was
kindled against him and it hailed this strange hail, because he would
not let God's children go. We, also, know that fire and brimstone from
heaven rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah in God's anger toward them.
Even the elements of hail and fire are at the command of God.
Psalms 18:14 "Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them."
One of the most frightening times in my life was a night out
west, when it was lightening so bad that it looked as if the world was
coming to an end. The lightening seemed to come from all directions.
Men pale in front of God who controls even the lightning.
Psalms 18:15 "Then the channels of waters were seen, and the
foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the
blast of the breath of thy nostrils."
We will see a small illustration of the power of the nostrils of
God in the next verse, where the Red Sea was opened and the children
of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground. Exodus
15:8 "And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered
together, the floods stood upright as an heap, [and] the depths were
congealed in the heart of the sea." As I said in the beginning, this
is just a minor illustration. God could blow with His nostrils and
blow the whole world away.
Psalms 18:16 "He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of
many waters."
David's work, and our work, is dependant upon Him protecting us.
He brings us out of our troubles. In Revelation, we read of the
Christians standing around the throne in white robes washed in the
blood of the Lamb. They have been brought out of great tribulation
upon the earth.
We will continue on with this chapter in the next lesson.
Questions 16
1. Who was chapter 18 addressed to?
2. What made David more proud than the fact he was a king?
3. What is David giving thanks for in this first verse?
4. What things does David call the LORD in verse 2 ?
5. Where does the Christian build his house?
6. Who is the solid Rock?
7. He has delivered me from what?
8. How are Christians like Abraham?
9. What does the horn symbolize?
10. God inhabits the _________ of His people.
11. David's fear was turned into ___.
12. What should we do in our deepest need?
13. Name a time when God shook the earth in His anger.
14. Our God is a __________ _____.
15. How did God show Himself to the Israelites?
16. Why did the people think of this cloud as thick darkness?
17. How did Jesus go to heaven after His 40 day ministry on the earth
after the resurrection?
18. Why had the high priest, who went into the most holy place, not
seen God?
19. How was the way to the heavenlies opened for you and me?
20. What was the strangest hail that ever fell?
21. Where do we find the Scripture that tells us the nostrils of God
opened the Red Sea?
22. Where have the Christians, in Revelation, come out of?
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