Psalm 18:20 The Lord rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not turned from my God to follow evil. 22 I have followed all his regulations; I have never abandoned his decrees. 23 I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin. 24 The Lord rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity. 26 To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd. 27 You rescue the humble, but you humiliate the proud. 28 You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. 29 In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.
30 God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. 31 For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock? 32 God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect. 33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. 34 He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow. 35 You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand supports me; your help has made me great. 36 You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping. 37 I chased my enemies and caught them; I did not stop until they were conquered. 38 I struck them down so they could not get up; they fell beneath my feet.
At first when we read these verses, we might think David is boasting about his integrity and his faithfulness. Certainly, David goes through a kind of checklist for all the virtuous things he has done, but actually, David is boasting about God. While David mentions his innocence and his commitment to righteousness, he fully realizes that these qualities only allow God to help him, but without God’s help, he has no strength whatsoever. While David speaks of himself in the first few verses, after that, he graphically describes all the ways God has helped him.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity. 26 To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd. 27 You rescue the humble, but you humiliate the proud. 28 You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. 29 In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.
30 God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
We might feel that David is boasting about his own virtue; however, consider the setting out of which David has come. There is nothing to suggest that David’s family worshiped God at all. David met God out in the sheep pastures, not at home. Under the circumstances, David is not vaunting his own strength or wisdom, but the wisdom and strength he has received from God. But have all these answers to prayer come instantly? Far from it! Read David’s story and you realize that David has survived any number of near-disasters. David has had to work very hard to avoid capture by King Saul, and yet, God is the One who has guided David and who has even moved outsiders to attack Israel, forcing Saul to suspend his pursuit of David.
What can we learn from these verses? When we wait patiently for God, He can strengthen and deliver us just as He has David. Repeatedly, David encounters challenges only to find that God is already there protecting him and preparing him for even greater things. God will do the same thing for us.
Trust God! God does not play favorites and He will do for us what He has done for David and for so many of the other saints. God will give us “the shield of victory” if we will only wait for Him.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to trust You and to wait for You to strengthen us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Burunche's Blog 
Leave a comment