Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Journey of God's Faithfulness | The Writings | Psalm 18

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

Do you feel unsure of what God is doing in your life? Do you feel like he's forgotten you? Psalm 18 shares hope for you even when God feels far away. Join Jensen as she discusses Psalm 18 and God's faithfulness. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 18

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt-McNair. When I first read Psalm 18, I'll be honest, it was a lot. It isn't short, and it takes the reader on a long journey through David's life, with some vivid imagery thrown right in the middle. But the more I read and learned about this Psalm, the more excited I was to talk about it today. You see, this Psalm does take us on a long journey.

It's the journey of how God has been faithful to the anointed king and the Davidic line. Now, we could read this chapter and take out truths about God here and there. We could read about his faithfulness to David and take that as a promise that God will do the same for us. And certainly, there are truths about God in this chapter that are true for you and for me. David begins his psalm singing, I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my life. deliverer. My God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold. See, the Lord is all those things for us. And these very first verses actually tell us the theme for this entire Psalm. Psalm 18 is a song about how God has been faithful to defend and deliver David from his enemies. And we can read this Psalm and be grateful and in awe of this God who saved David. We can be comforted by the joy of David and God's work in his life. But this Psalm is also for us. You see, throughout Scripture, we see different types of Christ's. Romans 5 tells us that Adam was a type of Christ, a representative of humanity. But he failed.

And through his actions brought the curse of death to all. Of course, Christ, as the final representative of humanity, brought life to all through his life, death, and resurrection. But before we make it to Christ in Scripture, we meet many different types of Christ. David is one of them. He often is a representative of the royal kingship of Christ. God promised his people that he would send them a king who would conquer their enemies and rescue them from the grips of darkness. A good king, a just king, and David is a representative of that royal line of the anointed one that God uses to rescue his people. In verses 3 through 5 of Psalm 18, we see David facing his enemies.

The cords of death entangle him, the cords of the grave coiled around him, and the snares of death confronted him. And then in verse 6, he calls out to the Lord, and we get a triumphant picture of a powerful God and mighty God conquering the enemies that threatened David. God rescues him. Verse 16 tells us that he reached down from on high and took hold of me. He drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place. He rescued me because he delighted in me. Then David transitions to tell us, Why, God rescues him?

The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands, he has rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, I am not guilty of turning from my God. All his laws are before me. I have not turned away from his decrees. I have been blameless before him and kept myself from sin. The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight,

to the faithful you show yourself faithful. To the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. You, Lord, keep my lamp burning. My God turns my darkness into light. With your help, I can advance against a troop. With my God, I can scale a wall.

As for God, his way is perfect. The Lord's word is flawless. He shields all who take refuge in him. Now, if you know anything about David, you know that he can only be a type of Christ because he, like Adam, failed. He could not be the promised king, the true anointed one who would rescue because he lived a life of sin. He committed adultery, murder, greed, polygamy. He was a human plagued by the curse of sin. So how can he say that he was saved because of his righteousness? Well, we read in verse 21 that David says he is not guilty of turning from his God.

And in verse 28, we read that the Lord is the one who kept his lamp burning, who turns his darkness into light. In verse 30, he says that God's way is perfect. His word is flawless, and all who take refuge in him will be shielded. You see, David is blameless because the Lord is blameless and he follows in his way. It is not his own strength or his own righteousness, but that of the Lord's. The next six verses confirm this, boasting about who God is. He is the one who protects, provides, and strengthens. Verse 37 to 45 then details exactly how King David overcame his enemies.

In his triumph, he now rules over the nations. He has their obedience and their service. And unless we might begin to think again that David is becoming boastful, we read verses 46 to 50. The Lord lives. Praise be to my rock. Exalted be God, my Savior. He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes. From a violent man you rescued me. Therefore, I will praise you, Lord, among the nations. I will sing the praises of your name. He gives his king great victories. He shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever. The Lord is the one who saves, the one who exalts, the one who gives his king great victory. David ends by restating that God shows unfailing love to his anointed one,

to David and to his descendants forever. You see, the Psalm ends by pointing us forward, by reminding us that while David is a king is a type of Christ, he is not the king, the anointed one. Jesus. Matthew 1 tells us that from this line of David comes another, a baby born in a manger. Jesus.

We read the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. this Jesus will be the true king. Where David must rely on the Lord for his righteousness, Jesus stands righteous on his own. God became man, lives the only perfectly holy life, and he stands blameless before God. Like David, he will face the snares of death, but unlike David in this Psalm, he will die. But the same God who is faithful to rescue David is faithful to King Jesus. And by his power, Jesus is bodily resurrected from the dead. And through his resurrection, all enemies are trampled under his feet. No one can overcome him. He is victorious over death

and evil and darkness forever. Where David rescued his people from their enemies through battles and war, Jesus battled death on the cross and now his righteousness covers his people so that they too can stand blameless before God. They can live in his conquering kingdom, safe from death forever. And this kingdom, like David says in the Psalm, will consist of all people. All nations will serve and obey King Jesus. God always has been and always will be faithful to his anointed one. Psalm 18 gives us a beautiful picture of the work of God in King David's life. And as the people of God sang these words, they also looked forward to the one who would come from David's line to rescue them, to deliver them from their enemies, to restore them to the promised land to be a good and just

king. When Jesus came, he was not at all what the people of God expected. The people didn't believe he could be who God had promised. They wondered when God would be faithful to his promise of the anointed one. They wondered if he had forgotten. But as we read this Psalm, we can see so clearly how God was faithful. How just as he used David to rescue the people of Israel, he sent King Jesus to rescue his people not just from their worldly enemies, but from the very grips of death, from the spiritual curse that plagues all of creation. And just as David rejoices as the conquering king, we too can rejoice in the triumph of Jesus. He avenges the evil in this world. He is king over the nations. He saves his people from the grips of sin and death. He has been

exalted over all things and one day when he returns all of creation will praise and worship King Jesus. May we look forward to that day with expectant hope, praising and thanking, our faithful God who did not rest until he accomplished victory over the grave.