Daily Meditations

Psalm 18:43b-45  Foreigners!     What a series of scenarios has been presented to us in this Psalm. David has wrestled with death. He has wrestled with himself. He has faced the conflict of betrayal in his own family and from his own people. He has gone out as the warrior king and destroyed the pagan, wicked nations that inhabited the land. And now there is yet another potential threat – foreigners! These are individuals and groups who have come into Israel, they cannot be annihilated, and they are not part of the area of conquest, these are visitors or potential residents from other lands but who do not belong. To David’s surprise and relief, it seems, these aliens do not cause trouble or question his leadership, instead they serve him and obey him. Indeed, they lose heart or courage and come trembling before him. It’s impossible to not be drawn back to that synagogue in Capernaum mentioned in the context of verse 41, where Jesus had an evil spirit cowering with fear simply bec

Psalm 18:43a   Victory in the end    David’s journey had been fraught with danger, disappointment, death and despair as he had battled with himself, with his spiritual foes, with pagan nations and even with his own family and people. During the reign of King Saul, few had sworn allegiance to young David the Pretender, and he must have questioned the wisdom of God’s calling as he watched the people gullibly follow their chosen monarch. The allegiance of the masses is often short-lived and so it had proved during Absalom’s rebellion when David had fled Jerusalem and the royal throne in fear for his life. But, this striving with his own people had now come to an end, the Lord God had delivered him and brought peace.  It is true for us too that while there is indeed a spiritual element to all the battles we face, too often we find ourselves battling with those who are close to us. Politicians face this kind of treachery all of the time, but it is prevalent in churches as well. Whisp

Psalm 18:42  Trample on them!      This is a very vengeful verse and we need to try to understand if David is being particularly boastful or does this text have a deeper meaning? The Israelites made a Golden Calf that they worshipped while Moses was hidden on top on Mount Sinai, where he received the Law and Commandments from God. As Moses made his way down the fiery mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hands he was shocked to see the people, led by Aaron, prostrating themselves to this abominable, golden image. Subsequently, for 40 days and 40 nights he would not eat or drink for fear of the Lord’s anger against the Israelites. God listened to his cries and did not destroy the people, so Moses took the calf and burned it in the fire and then crushed it and ground it down to a powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a mountain stream. Deuteronomy 9.  We have come to realise that David often uses analogies from earlier events in Israel’s history to describe

Psalm 18:41   What are we afraid of?       Here we have a picture of the true plight of the enemy. David witnessed the sheer terror of his adversaries who, when they realised that they were outnumbered and out manoeuvred, cried out for mercy. As their doom impended and defeat and destruction stared them in the face, I’m sure they would have willingly changed sides, but it was too late. Their pleas to David’s God, to the Lord, were genuine but no one came to their rescue and the Lord God did not answer. What a picture this is for us! Somewhere unseen, there are hosts of the Satan’s attendants who have believed his deceitful propaganda and who have fallen for his lies. However, when confronted by greater powers and the name of Jesus Christ and the spiritual authority of His people, they realise that their fate is sealed. Listen to the cries of the impure spirit encountered by Jesus, early in His ministry, in the synagogue at Capernaum. “ Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of

Psalm 18:40   Liable to destruction       Images of a savage warrior, armed to the teeth, pursuing his enemies with spine chilling cries are the stuff of novelists and comic heroes. It would be tempting to see King David in such a light, a mighty man of valour indeed, muscles rippling, sword flashing, a snarl on his lips and a look of gruesome determination in his eyes. This Israelite King is a warrior, his enemies take one look and flee in utter terror! The reality, it seems, is rather different. This verse has echoes of the Lord’s words to Joshua whose army had just been routed by the men of the city of Ai. Unknown to Joshua there was sin in the camp, one of his soldiers, called Achan, had helped himself to some of the spoils from the defeat of Jericho. The valuables were devoted to the Lord and intended for His treasury, thus anyone who kept some of them had stolen that which was devoted to God. Achan had hidden, under the ground in his tent, a beautiful robe from Babylonia,

Psalm 18:39   Winning - God's way       Here is a verse of contrasts; on the one hand the Soldier in God’s army is strengthened, on the other, the adversaries are humbled.  “In the Lord alone is deliverance and strength,”  writes Isaiah in 45:24. We have seen throughout this Psalm that unless we are clothed with God’s strength, we are helpless and weak. Our own strength, cleverness, drive and ambition will not pull us through the spiritual battles in our lives. We have to learn dependency, we have to recognise the unrelenting, devious plots of the enemy, we have to submit to heaven’s commands and heaven’s tactics. God will do the unexpected, he can outwit, out-manoeuvre and overpower our enemies but only if we let Him!! We have seen how He arms us and prepares us for war, now we have to let Him do it His way. Simon Peter waved a sword around in Gethsemane and Jesus healed the ear of the man who was injured. This was NOT God’s way to wage war, the battle had already been foug

Psalm 18:38   Destroying the enemy!        “I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.”  This language may seem brutal and gruesome, here is no Geneva Convention or UN Charter of human rights. This is all about ethnic cleansing, about complete victory and the absolute destruction of the enemy. And David gloats in it and David recognises the hand of God in his triumphs over his enemies. How, as Christians, do we make sense of this? Firstly, we need to remember that from the time Abraham was granted the land of Canaan under promise, to its occupation by the Israelites was over 400 years. There was plenty of time for the pagan nations to repent and to acknowledge the God of Israel. Their vile practices and their evil idol worship was no mystical philosophy; these people were violent, depraved, semi-human perverts who thought nothing of the sanctity of human life, they even sacrificed their own children. They were arrogant, God-haters who practiced every

Psalm 18:37   Pursue your enemies!     Much of what we have read and discussed thus far has been concerned with the defensive operations of the Christian soldier. Yes, we have the sword of the Spirit and the power of prayer, but the battle often seems relentless and we feel like we are not really gaining ground. If that is your experience, take heart from David’s comments here, there is a time to pursue the enemy and to take the land! These observations of our mentor King are founded in the instructions given through Moses to the Israelites in the Book of Leviticus 26:6-8. “ I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.”  Never forget, whilst Davi

Psalm 18:36   Get running!       “ I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go,”  Psalm 31:8. What a promise this is! David not only knew the promise but had experienced the consequences as he could write here,  “You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.”  The truth is, the closer we grow to the Lord the broader the path that we walk! This sounds a bit contradictory to what has been said previously; surely the growing menace of the enemy, the difficulty of the spiritual ascent and the awareness of the obstacles we face will lead to a narrower path? The paradox is that all of the problems are very real but as our faith grows so does the certainty of our purpose, we fix our eyes on the Lord and our hope of reaching the summit transcends the problems along the way. Ankles grow stronger by faith, knee joints are repaired, spiritual muscles are toned and there is literally a spring in the step of the man or woman of God who walks the r

Psalm 18:35   God helps us!     And so back to the text!  As if to back up what has already been said, King David, writing around 1,000 BC, is able to identify the saving help of the Lord God as his shield. As he goes to the battlfield he knows that the Lord God of Israel is there beside him, to protect and guard him against the enemy. We need to stress this point again, there is no point in learning all about the armour of God unless we believe that He is with us. His armour has a lifetime guarantee and is the very best available, the Satan’s henchmen cannot break through it but unless we believe in the one who trains our hands and who stands beside us, it is useless. The Shield of Faith is called just that for a reason, it is faith alone that will allow us to press on, to defeat the enemy, to overcome all the obstacles and to one day rest in victory. Sunday School children used to be able to recite the armour of God but few of them would have known about the battle ahead. Faith,

Psalm 18:34g   One more thing!     Now we have our armour firmly in place we are ready to go out and fight and our God will train our hands for battle. Or is there something missing? Picture the soldier in the barracks who has been putting on his helmet, his breastplate, his shoes and his belt. He picks up his shield and his sword and now he is ready to set off to face the enemy, or is he?  Surely this fighting business is about numbers and being part of an army? Few are called to fight alone. God recruits, then He trains and He expects most of us to fight alongside our fellow warriors. What is also important is that we hear and obey instructions; it is essential that we have lines of communication and that we are in touch with the Commander even if we do not fully understand the orders. So, the Apostle Paul ends his Training Manual with these words;  “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on pra

Psalm 18:34f   The sword of the Spirit    Finally, we come to the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. God our Father has spoken and is speaking to our world in three major ways: -        Firstly, through the genius and glory of all that He has made.  “The heavens declare the glory of God.”                  Secondly, by becoming a man in the flesh and living amongst us. Every word of Jesus is pure silver and as sweet as honey pouring from the heart of the Father. Jesus was the Word, He is the Word, He will always be the Word, the out-speaking of the Father’s heart. That is why there is so much spiritual power in just His name, He is the Word.        The third declaration from God, to our world, is in written form – the Scriptures, the Word of truth is a compilation of words and symbols that fit the many human languages around the world. Every man and woman alive should have the freedom to own, read and digest the Scriptures, for here is God’s revelation in a form tha

Psalm 18:34 e   Helmet of salvation    God’s response to abuse, injustice, evil, wickedness and sin is always salvation. Salvation is a gift that liberates prisoners, creates justice, removes fear and gloom and imparts hope and life in place of death. It is a vital part of God’s strategy for a fallen human race and it has to be our goal when dealing with our fellow men. Salvation from God sets people free and allows them to find their potential; it is to be worn as a form of protection, but it is also a proactive weapon against Satan’s control of mankind. Any Spirit-empowered believer wearing the helmet of salvation becomes a potent force for good in a world of darkness and despair. With the helmet in place our minds are guarded and we are able to withstand the deadliest foe. So the helmet-wearing believer may say: - ·        “Shipwrecks, huh I’m not scared, the Lord God is my salvation. ·        Imprisonment, I’m not afraid, God will deliver me. ·        Famine and hardsh

Psalm 18:34d   The shield of faith     Remember that we are visiting the armour described by Paul in Ephesians 6. And now we come to that mighty shield, sturdy and strong, ready to repel the sharpest of enemy arrows.  “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith,”  writes John in his first Epistle chapter 5:4. If the shoes of God’s gospel of peace fill us with confidence for the terrain ahead, the shield of faith allows us to press on knowing that with God on our side we are invincible. Nothing can get through, no enemy weapon can harm us, we can attempt anything in God’s name knowing that we will be safe. Remember, the battle is spiritual, it is against the powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil. The deeper into the affray we venture, the darker and more dangerous will be the foe, but our shield will keep us safe. There is no point in even joining the troops unless we have faith, unless our trust in our Commander is absolute. Notice that He tra

Psalm 18:34c   Good shoes!     Our wardrobe is starting to come together. We have the belt of absolute truth. Our breastplate of righteous character is firmly affixed. Now, what to wear on our feet? In Israel the ancients ran bare-footed but under Roman rule they had begun to discover the benefits of good shoes! Feet need to be ready for action, you don’t go mountain climbing in carpet slippers or high heels. The footwear needs to be appropriate and, in this war, the most appropriate boots are described as the gospel of peace. Many commentators interpret the gospel of peace to be the Good News of salvation but I am not so sure that this is the context of Paul’s writing. He is not talking about my relationship with others, the needs of my fellow men or the powerful message that we are to proclaim.  Rather, he envisages a soldier privately preparing himself for battle and pulling from his wardrobe the clothing that will be needed to fight during that day. That soldier needs to be at

Psalm 18:34b   Breastplate of righteousness      As He trains my hands for battle, my heavenly Father exhorts me to protect my heart and my lungs with His breastplate of righteousness. The most vulnerable and essential organs of my being need to be especially protected from enemy arrows. In Isaiah 59:17 we discover that this is indeed God’s armour for He also wears the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. We should not be surprised; our God is holy, His deeds and words and thoughts are holy; His character is in stark contrast to His enemy who speaks lies and who is hell-bent on destruction. God is pure. Light shines from His very being, He cleanses and makes whole, He restores and washes and renews. Everything He is, speaks of righteousness, virtue and blamelessness. He is the source of all that is good. As soldiers wearing His armour we are untouchable, for though men may attack us with earthly weapons we cannot be destroyed by our spiritual foes, for their w

Psalm 18:34a    Belt of truth    The first influential item from God’s armoury is the belt of truth. The world is in spiritual darkness; lies bind every individual, marriage, family, community, nation and continent. Lies are told in every book we read, lies are believed in every area of human knowledge and learning. Lies drive politics, economies and the media. Why? Because the world is under the influence of the master of untruth who parades as an angel of light! There is only one Book that speaks absolute truth from cover to cover and it can only be properly understood with the aid of the Holy Spirit, it is of course the Bible. Christians must seek truth, believe truth, speak and live truth and become truth addicts. The only way to do this is to constantly read, study, digest and then live out God’s truth – His Word. Every church service, every act of kindness, every word of witness should be rooted in truth. Truth is like a gleaming knife that cuts through the layers of duplici

Psalm 18:34    Training for battle      “ He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” It is notable that the word bronze is translated “steel”, “brass” and “copper” in different Bible versions. It is possible to read too much into the type of metal or alloy used here, although no one has yet found the remains of a bow of bronze! What is extraordinary is that David cites the Lord God as the One who trained his hands, that the training is in the expectation of war and that great strength and accuracy will be needed to fight successfully against the enemy.  If David required these skills to fight his physical battles, we need to be even better equipped to fight against our spiritual foes. Reference has previously been made to the armour of God described by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-18. We are exhorted to put on the full armour of God, so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes. Much of this armour is worn by God Himself and we can s

Psalm 18:33   “He makes my feet like hind’s feet.”       There are a number of words translated deer in the Bible, it is likely that the most used refers to a Gazelle or perhaps a Roe Deer both of which were common in Palestine – and still are. In which case, this verse is talking about feet that are suitable for climbing, that can conquer summits and rocky places and a Mighty God who makes us sure-footed, agile and dexterous not only in scaling the heights but in moving quickly in difficult terrain. David had suffered from the pursuit of his enemies in rocky places but he had also known the exhilaration of being in the mountains with the Lord.  The Christian life is more than a journey, it is an adventure with God who lifts us up to the hills and allows us to scramble like sure-footed deer in places where danger lurks, but with Him we are always safe.  David adds a further comment in this verse;  “He causes me to stand on the heights.”  “Oh, that’s nice,” we might think, “You g

Psalm 18:32  I did it His way       “It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure .”  The man or woman who trusts in God will realise very quickly that they are on a journey. A journey that has twists and turns and pitfalls. A journey that is a bit like a roller coaster, there are ups and downs and times of flat-out speed and then the inevitable scary turns. The journey with God will lead through deserts and up high mountains, through stormy seas and green pastures, over parched ground and to cultivated gardens. We will never know what the next day will bring and so we trust Him for today and no more. Such has been my life but one thing I can say is, the only time when I have been insecure is when I’ve left the Way.  We cannot fight the enemy in our own strength, human muscle power and grit are not suitable weapons against the Satan and his army. We cannot expect to travel the road of faith using human intuition, reason and knowledge. The only way is His Way, the

Psalm 18:31   Our God is an awesome God      In the previous verse, David seems to pick up a thought based on Deut 32:4  “Our God is the rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.”  I think   he definitely has the same verse in mind here, “ Who is the Rock except our God?”  Earlier in the Psalm, in verse 2, we discovered that there is more than one word for rock and in this instance, David uses the “cliff” word.  Back to Deut 4:32-35 where Moses addresses the timelessness and power of God: -  “Ask about the former days, from the day God created human beings. Ask from one end of the heavens to the other, has anything so great as this ever happened or has anything like it ever been heard of? Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty h

Psalm 18:30   The way of the Lord     This verse has echoes of the beginning of the Psalm. Firstly, it speaks of the perfect Way of the Lord. Are we talking here about “the way” in terms of a road or path or journey? Deuteronomy 32:4 tells us that,  “He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just.”  I think David is picking up this idea that what God does, His actions, His reactions, His thoughts, His commands, His purposes and His intentions – all of His ways are perfect. In other words, He is completely trustworthy and to seek Him and to obey His will is the only route to purity and perfection for ourselves.  Just as God’s action are perfect, so is His Word. Psalm 12:6 reminds us that it is as though the words of God have been refined again and again until there are no flaws, no indiscernible flecks of contamination, everything that comes from the mouth of our Almighty God is pure. It is this holy, utterly trustworthy One that we acclaim as God, who we humbly

Psalm 18:29   Run and climb      Well, now we come to, arguably, the quirkiest verse of the Psalm! Sandwiched between a God who turns darkness to light and One whose way is perfect and whose Law is flawless, is a God who helps David to run through troops and jump over walls! I can only surmise that David the soldier is writing here and reflecting on the occasions when he has experienced the Lord’s assistance in battle. He is giving God the credit for the conflicts that he has won and celebrating victories over his enemies, fully aware that he was protected and aided by his Lord at all times. This commentary on the Psalms began with the express purpose of discovering the nature of spiritual warfare and this verse helps our understanding. The imagery here is of open combat against an enemy army; you will remember that Jesus met a man controlled by demons who called themselves Legion. He ran through them and they ran shrieking - into a herd of pigs! The Christian soldier may expect m