3/10/2024:
Psalm 18 Devotional:
Psalm 18:6-19

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

7 Then the earth trembled, and quaked; the foundations also of the mountains moved and shook, because he was wroth.

8 Smoke went out at his nostrils, and a consuming fire out of his mouth: coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, and he came flying upon the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness that was before him his clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

14 Then he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.

19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

“As we previously noted the length and weight of this Psalm, that there is much to be gleaned from it by reason of its size and substance, so we reach another essential lesson for the Christian to take note of. We saw before that this is a Psalm of praise in Thanksgiving for God’s providence towards His people, and is there a more common cause for praise and delight than the Lord’s kindness towards us? so that just as David breaks forth in unrestrained praise because of God’s salvation, and the stability of His kingdom, so might the people of God even in our days, seeing that every day we are compassed by innumerable enemies, and sore trials that the Lord patiently and powerfully delivers us from, whether by change of condition or inward comfort, enabling us to bear it contentedly? Yea, and all the enemies of the church are subservient to us, for that they cannot turn us from following the Lord, nor do us any harm, because the Lord protects us as a shield. Therefore may the saint cry out with David, I will love thee dearly, O Lord my strength. Moreover we see here in these verses the power of the Lord put on full display before the eyes of His people, that they might behold Him by faith. For we are so dull and senseless by nature that we cannot see God plainly unless He reveals Himself in spectacular fashion, causing the earth to quake, the mountains to be moved, the sky to become black as night, and such manifold miracles of power as to dazzle our eyes and amaze the senses. And so David sets forth to show the condescending love of God towards us that, although the fault be ours, yet God is full of mercy and compassion and causes Himself to be known to us even by great and awesome works, so that our faith is indefatigably established and faileth not. Just as Gideon asked of God a miracle to engender and strengthen his faith, Samson also calling upon God to avenge him of his enemies. Yet, though the Lord is kind to us, He would have us not to rely on profound performances of providence to sway our affections, but to rely solely and wholly on His word, which is the surer and better way. For although they are truly blessed who see and believe, Christ saith to Thomas, Blessed are those who see not and believe. If they are blessed to see God’s power from heaven, the sky open, the earth quake, the sea swell up and dry, and such miracles as were performed before the eyes of Israel, how much more blessed are those who rest content to believe the simple and pure word of God, which is here implied by David? For David does not mean to stir up our affections so that we desire to see these miracles for ourselves that our curiosity and fancy might be satiated, but to declare the faithfulness of God whose power and majesty is ever set for the benefit and deliverance of His people, as here it was for Him. So that our faith is encouraged and bolstered by this word, and we trusting the word of God by the mouth of His servant David, might have hope that he will do the same for us, though not with the same miraculous wonders presented to our sense. Truly God indulged the senses of his servants to demonstrate His compassion, and wean them from the world, yet it should not be so for us, but let us as many as are spiritually minded, who have been translated into the everlasting kingdom by the gospel, take our delight in the simple word of God. Yea, let it be enough for us that David hath set forth this evidence of power as an example of the covenant faithfulness of God who will never leave us nor forsake us, and will rather turn the earth upside down, and undo the elements of wind, fire, water, light, darkness, and all created order rather than to see one promise fall to the ground, the promise of hope and salvation for His people whom He loveth dearly and sent His Son for. Did He not cause the aged to give birth? Did He not increase Jacob’s flock who was small and penniless? Did He not plague Pharaoh’s house and his whole country until he was forced to let Israel go? Did He not open the rivers and seas so that the people passed through on dry ground? Did He not overshadow the people with a cloud so that the heat of the day destroyed them not, and warm them with fire from heaven by night to guide them in the way? And did He not send His only begotten Son into the world, a man born of a virgin, yet fully retaining His Divinity, that He might suffer in our place and present us before His Father in a righteousness worthy of eternal paradise?
Take courage then, dear Christian, for God is ever like Himself, and if He performed such wonders as is recorded in the histories for the deliverance of such a stiff-necked and rebellious people, for their temporal benefit, because of the promise to the Fathers, how much more sure is His word to us, to santify, guide and lead us all our days, til we see His face in glory? Will He not bow the heavens, rend the sea, make darkness His canopy, shoot out lightnings and strike terror into our enemies, bend the created order, melt the very elements of heaven and earth, if it be for our salvation? Yes, and therefore though we have not seen these things with eyes made of flesh and blood, yet we can pray this Psalm with David confidently, knowing that He will do all things necessary for the benefit and salvation of His people, and therefore we praise and worship Him who is worthy, who saves and will save us from all our enemies.

John Calvin,
In the first place, he says, The earth shook, and nothing is more dreadful than an earthquake. Instead of the words, the foundations of the mountains, it is in the song, as recorded in 2nd Samuel, the foundations of the heavens; but the meaning is the same, namely, that there was nothing in the world so settled and steadfast which did not tremble, and which was not removed out of its place. David, however, as I have already observed in the beginning, does not relate this as a piece of history, or as what had actually taken place, but he employs these similitudes for the purpose of removing all doubt, and for the greater confirmation of faith as to the power and providence of God; because men, from their slowness of understanding, cannot apprehend God except by means of external signs. Some think that these miracles were actually wrought, and performed exactly as they are here related; but it is not easy to believe this, since the Holy Spirit, in the narrative given of David’s life, makes no mention whatever of such wonderful displays of divine power in his behalf. We cannot, however, justly censure or find fault with this hyperbolic manner of speaking, when we consider our slowness of apprehension, and also our depravity, to which I have just now called your attention. David, who was much more penetrating and quick of understanding than ordinary men, finding he could not sufficiently succeed in impressing and profiting people of sluggish and weak understandings by a simple manner of speaking, describes under outward figures the power of God, which he had discovered by means of faith, and the revelation of the Holy Spirit. He doubtless hereby apprehended and knew more distinctly the omnipresent majesty of God, than the dull sort of common people perceive the hand of God in earthquakes, tempests, thunders, the gloomy lowerings of the heavens, and the boisterous winds. At the same time, it is proper to consider, that although God had, in a wonderful manner, displayed his grace in defending and maintaining David, many, nevertheless, thought that it was by his own skill, or by chance, or by other natural means, that all his affairs had come to a prosperous issue; and it was such stupidity or depravity as this which he saw in the men of his own time, that constrained him to mention and to summon together all parts of creation as witnesses for God. Some also justly and judiciously consider that, in the whole of this description, David has an allusion to the common deliverance of God’s chosen people from Egypt. As God then designed and established that event to be a perpetual memorial, from which the faithful might learn that he was the guardian and protector of their welfare, so all the benefits which, from that period, he bestowed upon his people, either as a public body or as private individuals, were, so to speak, appendages of that first deliverance. Accordingly David, in other places as well as here, with the view of exalting the succor which God had granted to his people, sets forth that most memorable instance of the goodness of God towards the children of Israel, as if it were the archtype or original copy of the grace of God. And surely, while many, seeing him an exile from his country, held him in derision as a man expelled from the family of God, and many murmured that he had violently and unrighteously usurped the kingdom, he had good ground to include, under the deliverance which had been common to all the people, the protection and safety which God had afforded to himself; as if he had said, I have been wrongfully cast off as an alien or stranger, seeing God has sufficiently shown, in the deliverance which he has wrought for me, that by him I am owned and acknowledged to be a distinguished and valuable member of the Church. We see how the prophets, whenever they would inspire the people with the hope of salvation, call their thoughts back to the contemplation of that first covenant which had been confirmed by those miracles which were wrought in Egypt, in the passage through the Red Sea and in Mount Sinai. When he says, The earth trembled, because he was wroth, it is to be understood as referring to the ungodly. It is a form of speech which God often employs, to say, that, being inflamed with indignation, he arms himself to maintain the safety of his people against their persecutors.

Lesson 10. The substance of our doctrine is everlasting life. Part 3. Zeal for the kingdom of heaven.

7. We exhort to fellowship with the church because separation from the saints is death.
1 John 2:18-21, John 6:47-71

8. We exhort to parents exhorting their children according to sound doctrine because neglect and indolence is death.
Ex. 4:21-26, 1 Sam. 2:12-36

9. We exhort to strive to enter into the kingdom, because many who are seeking to enter will be thrust out into darkness.
Luke 13:23-30, Matthew 25:1-13

Thomas Watson introduction to the Christian Soldier.

Conclusion.

YouTube Audio: https://youtu.be/1aLqyylq8PU