Sabbath, June 15 – Psalms 18, 121
1. When did David compose Psalm 18? 2 Samuel 22:1
2. Where does our help come from in times of trial? Psalms 121:1, 2
Commentary and Reflection
Psalm 18 is a song of praise and gratitude to God for delivering David from the hands of his enemies and Saul. We also find it in 2 Samuel 22.
David takes time to celebrate, give thanks, and speak of God’s power and compassion.
“In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.” Psalms 18:6
The trial can be challenging; we may feel alone and hopeless amid difficulty. But when we cry out to God, He hears us from His temple, the Throne of Grace, to deliver us from adversaries who are “stronger than we.”
“For You will light my lamp; The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by You I can [g]run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall.” Psalms 18:28, 29
“The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted.” Psalms 18:46
“Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles, And sing praises to Your name.” Psalms 18:49
Just as we take time to pray when in trial, so should we take time to thank and praise God when deliverance comes. Just as we ask for prayers from the church and our friends, so should we testify to everyone when victory comes.
The Adventist Bible Commentary says about Psalm 121,
“Psalm 121 Ps. 121 is a beautiful song of trust and confidence in God. It is one of the most cherished of Bible poems in the entire heritage of Hebrew poetry. David composed Ps. 121 in the Wilderness of Paran, immediately after learning of the death of Samuel (PP 664). When David realized that his last influential earthly friend was gone, he turned to the Lord for his sole remaining help. The psalm has been a great blessing to countless thousands who at one time or another have found themselves in circumstances more or less similar to those in which the psalmist finds himself.
Ps. 121 was sung by pilgrims on the way to the yearly festivals at Jerusalem (see PP 538; see also the Introduction to Ps. 120).” SDABC, Psalms 121
I’ve heard many beautiful songs with the words of this Psalm. I’ve listened to many in affliction repeat it; I’ve repeated it countless times.
Consider the reflection of Professor S. Conway on the Psalms’ promise that the Lord will keep us, “Our idea of being kept and God’s idea may be very different,
- We think so much of the keeping of the body,and of a man‘s outward circumstances. But in comparison with the soul’s well-being, God counts these things as of no importance. Hence God may preserve a man’s soul when he lets his outward affairs go all to ruin; for the sake of his soul this may be needed. But if his soul has been kept, has not God been true to his word?
- God takes eternity into view;we think only of the present. If, then, a man be eternally saved, does the fact that during a period unspeakably short in comparison with eternity the man’s outward life was full of trouble invalidate the promise of this psalm and prove it false?
- Further, we see only the surface of things;God looks at the reality. If, then, what we call disaster, and think to be so, be really amongst “all things which work together for [not merely precede, but produce the] man’s good” as is so often the case (see 2 Corinthians 4:17), then is God’s permission or sending of that disaster a falsifying of the promise of this psalm.” The Pulpit Commentary, homilies by S. Conway
Lift your eyes; your help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.