#DailyDevotion The LORD Lives! Praise Be To Our Rock!
Psalm 18 46The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Let high honor come to God Who saves me, 47the God Who takes vengeance for me and subdues people under me. 48He rescues me from my enemies; You lift me above those who attack me; You rescue me from the men of violence. 49For that I will thank You, O LORD, among the nations, and sing to praise Your name. 50He gives His king great victories; He loves His anointed, David and his descendants, forever.
A conclusion of praise for the LORD from David who has seen what the LORD has done for him against Saul, who was trying to kill him and the Philistines, the enemies of Israel. The LORD lives! That is quite a proclamation. He isn’t some dead rock, wood carving or picture that man has made according to his own imagination. He is the Living God. He exists whether we worship Him or not. His very name comes from chaya HYH which means alive, being, existence. It’s like the 70’s hymn by Bill Gaither, “Because he lives…” If the LORD is living and He is on our side, we can face anything and know it will work out for our best according to Romans 8.
Praise be to my Rock! God is our high place in times of trouble. He is our foundation from whom we cannot be moved. Paul reminds us in his letters Jesus is the Rock who provides for us in every need. The word for Rock here in the Hebrew is like a tall cliff with a flat top. It protects us but is also livable on the top.
David says that the God who saves him should get high honors because He takes vengeance for him and subdues people under him. Such was the case for Saul and then the Philistines. Yet this also speaks for Jesus as it is written in Psalm 110, “Sit at My right until I make Your enemies Your footstool.” So Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father until such time as all his enemies are subdued and made his footstool. As we are joined with Christ in baptism, so this too applies to us.
David was rescued from those who attacked him, who wanted to do violence to him. Jesus was resurrected from the dead and was saved from those who wanted him dead. The devil and all his hosts want us dead as well. They may seem to have the upper hand on us as we enter the grave but our spirits are secure in Christ. We will have our victory over them as we too are risen from the dead to eternal life to reign and rule with Christ Jesus. We, with the LORD, get the last laugh.
Every one of us who comes to faith in Jesus is a victory the Father gives to Jesus. He overcomes men’s hearts of stone and gives them a heart of flesh. We were dead, spiritually belonged to the domain of darkness but Jesus has transferred us to the kingdom of his light.
Our translation says the LORD loves David and his descendants forever. But descendants is seed here, which theologically speaking is better speaking of seed in the singular which it is in the Hebrew. Obviously, most of David’s descendants who took the throne the LORD was not pleased with. Rather it is the seed (sing.) of David whom the LORD loves and that seed is Jesus who is the promised seed who would rule forever. Now through faith in Christ, as Hebrews 2:13 tells us we are Jesus’ children, which makes us his descendants. So the LORD’ s love for us is eternal in Christ Jesus.
Heavenly Father, may we through faith in Christ Jesus be victorious over all our enemies and may your love for Christ rest upon us also. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.