Psalm 18:1-24
Thanksgiving for Deliverance
181 I will give you my love, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my Rock, my walled town, and my saviour; my God, my Rock, in him will I put my faith; my breastplate, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3 I will send up my cry to the Lord, who is to be praised; so will I be made safe from those who are against me. 4 The cords of death were round me, and the seas of evil put me in fear. 5 The cords of hell were round me: the nets of death came on me. 6 In my trouble my voice went up to the Lord, and my cry to my God: my voice came to his hearing in his holy Temple, and my prayer came before him, even into his ears. 7 Then trouble and shock came on the earth; and the bases of the mountains were moved and shaking, because he was angry. 8 There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: flames were lighted by it. 9 The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and it was dark under his feet. 10 And he went in flight through the air, seated on a storm-cloud: going quickly on the wings of the wind. 11 He made the dark his secret place; his tent round him was the dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. 12 Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and fire. 13 The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out: a rain of ice and fire. 14 He sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled. 15 Then the deep beds of the waters were seen, and the bases of the world were uncovered, because of your words of wrath, O Lord, because of the breath from your mouth. 16 He sent from on high, he took me, pulling me out of great waters. 17 He made me free from my strong hater, and from those who were against me, because they were stronger than I. 18 They came on me in the day of my trouble; but the Lord was my support. 19 He took me out into a wide place; he was my saviour because he had delight in me.
20 The Lord gives me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean before him. 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not been turned away in sin from my God. 22 For all his decisions were before me, and I did not put away his laws from me. 23 And I was upright before him, and I kept myself from sin. 24 Because of this the Lord has given me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean in his eyes.
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Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 18:1-24
Commentary on Psalm 18:1-19
(Read Psalm 18:1-19)
The first words, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength," are the scope and contents of the psalm. Those that truly love God, may triumph in him as their Rock and Refuge, and may with confidence call upon him. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it. David was a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. God's manifestation of his presence is very fully described, Hebrews 5:7. God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.
Commentary on Psalm 18:20-28
(Read Psalm 18:20-28)
Those that forsake the ways of the Lord, depart from their God. But though conscious to ourselves of many a false step, let there not be a wicked departure from our God. David kept his eye upon the rule of God's commands. Constant care to keep from that sin, whatever it be, which most easily besets us, proves that we are upright before God. Those who show mercy to others, even they need mercy. Those who are faithful to God, shall find him all that to them which he has promised to be. The words of the Lord are pure words, very sure to be depended on, and very sweet to be delighted in. Those who resist God, and walk contrary to him, shall find that he will walk contrary to them, Leviticus 26:21-24. The gracious recompence of which David spoke, may generally be expected by those who act from right motives. Hence he speaks comfort to the humble, and terror to the proud; "Thou wilt bring down high looks." And he speaks encouragement to himself; "Thou wilt light my candle:" thou wilt revive and comfort my sorrowful spirit; thou wilt guide my way, that I may avoid the snares laid for me. Thou wilt light my candle to work by, and give me an opportunity of serving thee. Let those that walk in darkness, and labour under discouragements, take courage; God himself will be a Light to them.