Sunday Scripture

  So today for Sunday Scripture we're continuing my simple study of Psalms.  

You can see a copy of the journal I'm using here: The Book of Psalms 1-50 or you can find all the resources right here on Women Living Well, Psalms 1-50.  I'm attempting to SOAP each Psalm too, though some of them are longer so I will likely only do a selected passage from many of them. [Quick reminder that S stands for Scripture; O stands for for observation; A stands for application, and P stands for prayer.]  Each psalm's study also includes a reflection question, which I've been attempting to journal an answer to.  Today's study is from Psalm 18.   The featured verse is verse 2, but I chose to SOAP verses 1 through 3.  Here we go!

S= "I will love Thee, 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, and my high tower.
""I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from mine enemies."  (Psalm 18:1-3)

O= C. I. Scofield titles Psalm 18:"Praise to the God who delivers His own".  The biblical heading for this psalm is "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spoke unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said ..."

Interestingly, this very lengthy heading or title has cross-references of its own.  

Cross-references for "servant of the LORD" -- "To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD."  (Heading of Psalm 36)

"I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn unto David, My servant."  (Psalm 89:3)

"I have found David, My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him."  (Psalm 89:20)

"Now, then, do it; for the LORD hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of My servant David I will save my people, Israel, out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies."  (2 Samuel 3:18)

Go and tell My servant, David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build Me an house for Me to dwell in?"  (2 Samuel 7:5)

Cross-reference for "spoke unto the LORD" -- "And David spoke unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul."  (2 Samuel 22:1)

A marginal note for 2 Samuel 22 states, "This chapter is almost identical with Psalm 18."

Cross-references for "song" -- "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spoke, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea."  (Exodus 15:1)

"And Moses spoke in the ears of all the congregation of  Israel the words of this song, until they were ended."  (Deuteronomy 31:30)

Now, on to the cross-references in the actual psalm.

Cross-reference for "strength" (v.1) -- "Blessed be the LORD, my strength, who teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight."  (Psalm 144:1)

Cross-references for "rock" (v. 2) -- "For who is God, save the LORD?  Or who is a rock, save our God?"  (Psalm 18:31)

"The LORD liveth, and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted."  (Ps. 18:46)

"For Thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore, for Thy sake lead me and guide me."  (Psalm 31:3)

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer."  (Psalm 19:14)

Cross-references for "fortress" (v.2) --  "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him will I trust."  (Psalm 91:2)

"My goodness, and my fortress;  my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield; and He in whom I trust, who subdueth my people under me."  (Psalm 144:2)

Cross-reference for "in whom I will trust" (v. 2) --  "And again, I will put my trust in Him."  (Hebrews 2:13a)

Cross-references for "shield" (v. 2) -- "After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceedingly great reward."  (Genesis 15:1)

"As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proved; He is a shield to all those who put their trust in Him."  (Psalm 18:30)

Cross-references for "horn of my salvation" --  "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant, David."  (Luke 1:68-69)

Cross -reference for "high tower" (v .2) -- "The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble."  (Psalm 9:9)

For "worthy to be praised" (v. 3) -- "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. (Psalm 48:1)

"For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods."  (Psalm 96:4)

"From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised."  (Psalm 113:3)

"Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable."  (Psalm 145:3)

A= These are the words of King David, yet every one of them rings true for me.  I too love the Lord.  He is my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, the One in whom I trust, my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.  He is worthy to be praised!  He has saved me from my greatest enemy, Satan! It occurs to me that in a very real sense our salvation testimony serves as our personal "song of deliverance".

We can take these titles for God personally.  He will be all of this and more to us, and He will provide deliverance for us as we look to Him.  I will and do call upon Him daily.  He is able to deliver me from all my enemies.

P= "Lord, I cannot thank and praise You enough for all that You are to me.  I praise You for all the reasons that David listed in Psalm 18.  I am especially thankful that You have delivered me from Satan, my greatest and mortal enemy.

"You are my salvation -- and my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my high tower!  You are my strength -- and Your joy has been my strength through countless hard situations.  I love You, O LORD my strength!  And I pray in Jesus' strengthening name, Amen."

Reflection question: David wrote this psalm of praise, celebrating the victory that God gave him over all his enemies.

What is an example of a victory that God gave you and how was He your rock during that time?

My response:  I can think of many different times like this, but one I will cite was during a season of eldercare looking after both my parents.  They needed a great deal of help and we had an agency staying nights with them, but I spent time several days each week cooking, cleaning, and shoring them up in general.  Many times I drove there beseeching God for His joy to be my strength.  It always was!

And there is our very simple study of Psalm 18.  I hope it was a blessing!