by Robert Fudge

Psalms 18:1-6 (introduction as added in NIV, not a part of David’s Psalm)

David the servant of the LORD. He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.

Not only does God give us strength to go on, He is our hiding place, our protection from whatever it is that we are facing. As a kid, I used to hide in my special “fort.” It was safe because no one else knew where it was (actually a lot of people knew where it was, they just didn’t know it was a fort in my mind). God is that safe hiding place. He is safe because like a rock He is stronger than our enemies. He provides the protection of a fortress. But even better than this, He is our deliverer. We can’t just go into hiding forever. We have life to live. God wants us to come to Him for the protection and hiding when we need it but He wants us to leave in victory. Consider the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 8:35-39: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neit her height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What a wonderful feeling to know that God loves me so much He gave His son to die for my sin. Since He did that to forgive me, why would He withhold any protection, any strength, any blessing, any deliverance that I need to serve Him? We can know that God is always there for us. I don’t deserve that kind of love and that kind of protection and that kind of deliverance but He loves me so much that nothing can keep Him from being there for me. We can know that when we cry to Him, He hears us.

Dear God, please forgive the things that I do, say and think that I should not. Please forgive me for not trusting You as I should. Please forgive me for the way I have treated others around me. Thank You for Your love, Your protection in time of trouble, Your strength in time of weakness, for Your compassion when I fail, and Your forgiveness when I certainly don’t deserve it. Help me to be more like Jesus today. In His name we offer this prayer.

May God bless each of us as we live for Him.