The Lord is my Shield. Psalm 18, Day 53, Feb 22, Blog Through the Bible Project | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Psalm 18

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD. He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

¹ I love you, LORD, my strength.

The opening verses sum up the theme of the Psalms, that David has found the Lord a reliable defender against his enemies.

² The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
David describes the protection to be found in God in many images–God is his rock, on which he is firmly grounded, a fortress or stronghold of protection, a shield, a deliverer.
NIV.
Rock, a common poetic metaphor for God was particularly appropriate to David’s experience for the Lord was his true security.

³ I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,

and I have been saved from my enemies.

⁴ The cords of death entangled me;

the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

⁵ The cords of the grave coiled around me;

the snares of death confronted me.

⁶ In my distress I called to the LORD;

I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice;

my cry came before him, into his ears.

⁷ The earth trembled and quaked,

and the foundations of the mountains shook;

they trembled because he was angry.

⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils;

consuming fire came from his mouth,

burning coals blazed out of it.

⁹ He parted the heavens and came down;

dark clouds were under his feet.

¹⁰ He mounted the cherubim and flew;

he soared on the wings of the wind.

¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—

the dark rain clouds of the sky.

¹² Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,

with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

¹³ The LORD thundered from heaven;

the voice of the Most High resounded.^[d]

¹⁴ He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,

with great bolts of lightning he routed them.

¹⁵ The valleys of the sea were exposed

and the foundations of the earth laid bare

at your rebuke, LORD,

at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
The turning point for David, as for many of God’s people through the ages was this: In this distress, he called to the Lord. And the Lord comes to his assistance, in a fearsome theophany

¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me;

he drew me out of deep waters.

¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

from my foes, who were too strong for me.

¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

but the LORD was my support.

¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me.
God’s unexpected protection that astounds you when you experience it.
The opposite of being hemmed in by threats and dangers.

²⁰ The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;

according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

²¹ For I have kept the ways of the LORD;

I am not guilty of turning from my God.

²² All his laws are before me;

I have not turned away from his decrees.

²³ I have been blameless before him

and have kept myself from sin.

²⁴ The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
This is generally the way God deals with his people.

²⁵ To the faithful you show yourself faithful,

to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

²⁶ to the pure you show yourself pure,

but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.

²⁷ You save the humble

but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
This eventually proves true.

²⁸ You, LORD, keep my lamp burning;
God helps David’s life and undertakings to flourish.

my God turns my darkness into light.

²⁹ With your help I can advance against a troop;

with my God I can scale a wall.
How can we know this is true? We act with the confidence that God is with us. And if what we are doing is the right thing, in accordance with his will, then, of course, he is.

³⁰ As for God, his way is perfect:

The LORD’s word is flawless;

he shields all who take refuge in him.

³¹ For who is God besides the LORD?

And who is the Rock except our God?

³² It is God who arms me with strength

and keeps my way secure.

³³ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;

he causes me to stand on the heights.

³⁴ He trains my hands for battle;

my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵ You make your saving help my shield,

and your right hand sustains me;

your help has made me great.

³⁶ You provide a broad path for my feet,

so that my ankles do not give way.
Having had a life-changing (in terms of loss of fitness) serious ankle sprain, this is something I often pray.

³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them;

I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

³⁸ I crushed them so that they could not rise;

they fell beneath my feet.

³⁹ You armed me with strength for battle;

you humbled my adversaries before me.

⁴⁰ You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,

and I destroyed my foes.

⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—

to the LORD, but he did not answer.

⁴² I beat them as fine as windblown dust;

I trampled them like mud in the streets.

⁴³ You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;

you have made me the head of nations.

People I did not know now serve me,

⁴⁴ foreigners cower before me;

as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.

⁴⁵ They all lose heart;

they come trembling from their strongholds.

⁴⁶ The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!

Exalted be God my Savior!

⁴⁷ He is the God who avenges me,

who subdues nations under me,

⁴⁸ who saves me from my enemies.

You exalted me above my foes;

from a violent man you rescued me.

⁴⁹ Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations;

I will sing the praises of your name.

⁵⁰ He gives his king great victories;

he shows unfailing love to his anointed,

to David and to his descendants forever.
NIV note–What David claims in this grand conclusion, and indeed in the whole psalm has been and is being fulfilled in Jesus Christ, David’s great descendant.