Psalms 18:20-50 – Learning from God’s past dealings

In the first 19 verses of Psalm 18, David first praised the Lord and saw Him as his mighty defender and shield. God’s protection was upon him as he encountered his enemies. David narrated how he came face to face with death and yet came out unscathed. Because his voice came up to the Lord who then delivered him from what seemed like certain death. In verses 1-19, we saw how God in all His sovereign power waiting to come to the rescue of His own. He is just one prayer away. Remember, a simple call for help from the Almighty will trigger His assistance. Our prolonged distress is often due to our failure to call upon Him.

In verses 20–45 David then shows us plainly the lessons gleaned from his past experiences, empowering him for the future victory. Like him, we too will often realize God’s dealings with us as we reminisce His past dealings with us. As we recall His goodness, they provide us with the confidence to trust Him for our forward encounters. In verses 20-24, David tells us that our God rewards righteousness. His victory was secured because he knew he was in right standing with God. He did not do anything that would prevent God from intervening on his behalf. As he remained in right standing with God, he found out that God turned what seemed like darkness into light. This set for us an example that we should actively pursue the path of righteousness too, so that we will inherit his blessings. Isn’t this what Jesus our Lord also calls us to do? He said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” It behooves us therefore to seek His reign over our life, and also to go after His righteous standard in our living.  

In his experience, David also realized that God’s way is perfect and blameless, and that it was His purpose to make David’s way perfect as well. So in verses 35-45 he narrated how this worked out for him. He was empowered to gain victory in the midst of all his struggles. As we think about this, we will realize that this is so true for us too. God wants us to be perfect and blameless as He is. As we arm with this thought, we are somehow enabled to walk victoriously. Jesus once reminds His followers to be perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect. The question is how can we ever be perfect as the heavenly Father? Put it this way, we may not be perfect in the way in conducting our life, but we can be perfect in the attitude as we go about conducting it. The issue is not so much in what we do to obey Him, but in how we go about doing what we do to please Him. Remember, it’s not our aptitude that will determine our altitude. It’s our attitude that will define our altitude. When we are perfect in attitude we can attain much in life. So we see how this worked out for David. It empowered him for victory in the midst of all his struggles, which he narrated for us in verses 35-45. The last five verses of the Psalm end the way it began. David raised his praise to the Rock of his salvation. What an apt ending!