Psalm 18

³¹        For:      Who is God, besides the Lord?

Who is the Rock, except our God?

³²        [It is] God who arms me with strength

 and who perfects my way.

³³        In making my feet like those of a deer,

 He has set me secure on the heights.

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As the Deer

For the Lord’s Day:  the 16^th of May 2004

Introduction:  For the fourth time in this psalm we take an opening word and use it to set off a short list of similar declarations.  “For” is the usual word of choice in this translation and its purpose here is to dramatically heighten the twofold proposition being set forth in verse thirty-one.

 

The Psalmist here proposes the obvious point to every believer by asking:  “Who is God, besides the Lord?”  Calvin relishes the positive attitude of every believer who doubts not the established revelation that the God of Abraham is the only Supreme Being in the whole universe.  “David here, deriding the foolish inventions of men, who, according to their own fancy, make for themselves utterly gods, confirms … that he never undertook any thing but by the authority and command of God.”  Further Calvin challenges us in these words:  David’s “purpose, at the same time is to overthrow all the vain hopes in which the world is wrapped up, and by which it is carried about, and prevented from resting in God.”

 

In this regard, Spurgeon notes:  “Having mentioned his God, the Psalmist’s heart burns, and his words sparkle; he challenges heaven and earth to find another being worthy of adoration or trust in comparison with Jehovah.”  “None such” is the response of Matthew Henry to the Psalmist’s question.  And Spurgeon continues in the same theme: “The idols of the heathen [David] scorns to mention, snuffing them all out as mere nothings when Deity is spoken of.”

 

The second proposition is just as astute and meaningful to a bewildered race of humans.   “Who is the Rock, except our God?”  In regard to this question – a whole treatise could be written carrying forward “the rock that was Christ” in the desert  with Israel all the way through to the final formulation and declaration in the New Covenant naming our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as that foundational geology of the faith once given to the saints.

 

To carry forward the dual symbolism of a solid foundation and final security in this proposition we have only to consider David’s ongoing trust in and dedication to the Name and Person of the only God in heaven and earth.  In the current and ongoing symbolic worldly swamp – solid ground is hard to find, difficult to maintain and impossible to gain without the final authority and purpose of our God in heaven.  The Rock of heaven is indeed Christ Jesus alone and without standing upon Him, his death, resurrection and ascension – there is no other hope for a sinful human race!  Further, there is really little difference between a final security and the firm foundation upon which we and David have counted.  “That rock” whence we begin is also the precious hope for eternity as well.

 

Development:  Now that David has carefully established the solid place of his standing in faith, he goes on to add another proposition.  “[It is] God who arms me with strength and who perfects my way.”  Notice to whom, David alone counts his marital and personal strength as well as the source of his own perfection in this life and the next.  In God alone is the primary and ongoing theme for this life and eternity as well. 

 

Calvin, uses the older language here: “It is God who hath girded me with strength.”  He explains the text as he knew it this way:  “This is a metaphor taken either from the belt or girdle of a warrior, or from the reins, in which the Scripture sometimes places a man’s vigor or strength.  It is, therefore, as if he had said, I, who would otherwise have been feeble and effeminate, have been made strong and courageous by the power of God.”

 

Certainly I am not demeaning that image implicit in the ancient text.  I am only trying to express it in an idom which the modern mind can compress it.  Let me explain the ancient accounting before speaking directly to our age.  First, I am reminded of my work in the retail trade twenty years or more ago.  Back then those of us who stocked groceries not only unloaded the Semi-trailers by hand but also manhandled them once or twice more before the commodities were shelved for the convenience of the customers.  We did so without much concern for any permanent damage to our muscles.  And when they ached, we simply returned to work to build them up better.  Today, very many retail companies require their employees to wear a truss-type belt around their waist to protect the company from any possible law suits.  After all, they can no longer discriminate between those who are able and those less so!  Thus, everyone is required to rein in their “love handles” to better employ themselves in physical labor!

 

Another aspect in the traditional understanding of this text, is the putting on of specialized military garments designed to protect the most vital organs of the body.  But of course the text goes beyond the obvious comparison with the Pauline dressing of the Christian warrior for battle.  “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.  Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.  In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”  (Ephesians 6: 13-18)

 

Here the Psalmist affirms simply that it is God who prepares the believing warrior and protects him through thick and thin.  One of the great tragedies of the Middle East today: is the obvious fact that were it not for foreign suppliers – the fourth or fifth world economies of the region could not have even produced mere rifles and bullets, let alone anything more sophisticated.

 

And so it is too in every spiritual battle ever fought for God and Church.  Our enemies are blatantly unarmed, and helpless if God will give us the strength to contend.  Calvin writes carefully in this regard:  “It is therefore, as if [David] had said, I, who would otherwise have been feeble and effeminate, have been made strong and courageous by the power of God.”

 

Isn’t that comment a shocker for everyone who holds his manhood dear in our day and age.  What David is telling us here is that a bottom, the very organs, tissues and impulses, as well as our character and emotions that set us apart from the fair sex: these are all under the quiet control and manipulation of the Sovereign God and may be used to achieve His providential will in and through our lives and history in general.  It is this line of reasoning that leads me to my modern translation:  “[It is] God who arms me with strength and who perfects my way.”

 

Calvin writes on the last phrase:  “The word ‘way’ is here to be understood of the course of our actions, and the language implies, that whatever David undertook, God, by his blessing, directed it to a successful issue.”  Are we willing to count every good thing that serves the Lord of Hosts so directly to His perfect will and purpose?  David is and isn’t this why he was always known as a man after God’s own heart?

 

Application:  This thinking brings us to our last couplet of this section: “In making my feet like those of a deer, He has set me secure on the heights.”  Ordinarily, the followers of the Lord God are compared to the domestic sheep, and like those sheep, we are all going habitually astray.  But here the image being cast is a warrior image reminiscent of the specialized Mountain troops in the nineteenth and twentieth century European model.

 

We too here in America have our own 10^th Mountain Division: a specialized unit of light infantry trained to fight in high altitudes.  During the last political campaign for the White House, candidate Bush asserted publicly that the 10^th was not ready and prepared for its primary mission.  How dare he cast such charges in public, the media challenged?  And yet within two short years of that election some units of that very Division had to be pulled out of Afghanistan for retraining because they were totally unprepared for the high Alpine stress and environment.

 

But once again, David’s theme sours above the common experience of mere military jargon, tactics and ongoing operations.  It is the gracious gift of God alone, David affirms – that made his troops able and willing to contend for the high ground of Palestine.  The high ground here in my mind is the traditional goal for military occupation, because it has always been a matter of strategy and tactics that those who control the high places not only win the battle or war, but also control the extended geography of any land and place.

 

Commentator Delitszch observes:  “David does not call the high places of the enemy, which he has made his own by conquest ‘my high places’, but those heights of the Holy Land which belong to him as king of Israel: upon these Jahve preserves him a firm position, so that from them he may rule the land far and wide, and hold them victoriously.”

 

In other words, it is by God’s gracious providence and purpose that David rules in Zion, in Israel and it is only thereby that his influence spreads farther and farther afield as the Lord God alone allows and enables.  Here indeed is a man after God’s own heart, one who understands the Creator who has not only made him, but has molded him and placed Him on the throne.  All glory alone be to God.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

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