PSALM 18:16-31
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
I have not done evil by turning from my God.
All his laws are before me;
All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
I have been blameless before him
I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
to the pure you show yourself pure,
to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
With your help I can advance against a troop;
With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.
As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
For who is God besides the LORD ?
And who is the Rock except our God?
I get who I amIt’s true. Most of us see what we already believe. And who we are at our core shapes all that we believe. Classic caricatures of this reality are the eternal optimist and pessimist. One Christmas the optimist receives a box of manure and rejoices that surely this means he has a horse waiting for him. The pessimist actually receives a horse and immediately laments all the work required to maintain the gift.
Is it possible that this same dynamic affects our relationship with God? David suggests that a faithful person sees a faithful God, a blameless person, a blameless God and so also a pure person experiences God’s purity. But a crooked person is only capable of experiencing a shrewd God.
God is no less faithful to a faithless person than he is to a faithful person. But if faithlessness becomes more than a momentary struggle; if it begins to define who I am, I will not experience the faithfulness of God in all its beauty. In fact, I will unlikely experience faithfulness in any relationship – or blamelessness, or purity.
Who I am doesn’t change the reality around me, but it does change how I experience it. And so, my character determines my own reality. How sad if this reality is a hell of my own making.
Faithful, pure and blameless God, I want to see and know you as you really are. I do not want anything in me to distort my experience of you. Please continue to create in me the very same qualities you possess so I can connect fully with you. - Mike Leamon
You get more than what you areBe mean to someone and they will most likely be mean to you. Be nice to someone and they will probably be nice back. The golden rule normally works out. People give back to you what you give to them. When I am grumpy all day, the people I work with become grumpy. When I am happy they cheer up.
The Old Testament is full of the eye for an eye principle. Here we find an example of the positive side not just the negative side. If we live faithfully with integrity and purity in humility, God will be faithful and pure and demonstrate integrity by rescuing us. This is what David says. Not a bad deal when you think about it, but in Jesus we find God goes further than David realized.
David writes this Psalm while he is fleeing from Saul. He has not yet experienced his colossal failure with Bathsheba and the resulting chaos in his family. Later David will discover how much deeper God’s love is than we read here. God is faithful when we are faithless, He is pure and true and holy even when we are not. God can never violate His character thus He is always these things. In everything that happens to us God is just and faithful (Nehemiah 9:33). I am glad God goes further than what I deserve.
God of justice and faithfulness, thank you for remaining true to yourself even when I am not true to you. Thank you for extending to me not what I deserve, but what I don’t deserve: grace. My goal is to live a life that reflects your character and grace. - Dan Jones
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