A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said: I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:1-2)
As mentioned in a previous devotion, it is believed that this psalm is a slight revision of a song David had written earlier in his life when the LORD delivered him “from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” Jewish sages also teach that, in his lifetime, David fought eighteen different wars — thirteen against the enemies of Israel; five against his personal enemies, most notably Saul. That is why some believe this Psalm is regarded as the eighteenth psalm — to correspond to the eighteen different conflicts he had to endure. The most critical and most dangerous of them all, so it is believed, was the conflict with Saul in which David could not strike back but could only elude his nemesis.
Where David’s other enemies posed a physical threat, Saul was that and more — he posed a spiritual threat to David. Because Saul had been appointed to be king over Israel by God, and consequently to be obeyed by the people, it was up to God to remove him. David understood that, in spite of the fact that he was being unfairly persecuted, he was in no way authorized to take Saul’s life and remove him from the position that Heaven had assigned to him. Interestingly, the Midrash (Jewish commentary) teaches that just as David prayed that he should not to fall into the hands of Saul, he also prayed that Saul would not fall into his hands lest he be tempted to strike down God’s anointed.
As we know, there were occasions when David was provided with such an opportunity but, wisely, he chose not to give in to the temptation. Rather, he let God take care of the matter in His time and in His way. Furthermore, when Saul did meet his fate, David did not rejoice in the demise of his adversary: instead he said these words to God — “I will love You, O Lord, my strength.” Instead of thanking God for striking down his enemy, he thanked God for being the one he could run to and find shelter. He thanked God that throughout his ordeal, the Almighty preserved him and proved to be David’s fortress, shield and deliverer. In short, David let God be God while he himself saw the wisdom in continuing to be a servant and to retain a heart of gratitude in all things. We would do well to follow David’s example.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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