Psa 18:31 | KingComments | STEP | can be seen as the final conclusion of . The verse is also the transition to the next section. Beginning in , the glorious consequences of the work of the Lord Jesus are told. In the previous section He was delivered, in the coming section He is the Deliverer. We also hear in these verses a wonderful testimony of the Spirit of Christ in the believing remnant of Israel in the end time. This remnant receives from Christ, Who unites Himself to them in the Spirit, strength in the great tribulation to endure and overcome against all enmity. After David has told us Who God is and how He has acted in the rescues, he sings in about Who God is to him. In we hear how David attributes salvation to God and not to his own military skills. The emphasis is on “You”, which is God. He speaks of himself and those who are with him as “an afflicted people”. There is no boast, but the sense of great helplessness. He was a weak man who was totally dependent on God’s help to be saved from his enemies. Opposite to his misery is the pride of his enemies. He knows that God humiliates them for this reason. That his lamp lights, he owes to God ( ). Here too the emphasis is on “You”. God did it, not he. With his “lamp” he can mean his light of life. God has ensured that there is still, or again, light in his life. Through Him, Whom he calls “my God”, the darkness has disappeared and the sky has been cleared. God has come in darkness in judgment for His enemies, with the result that the darkness that His enemies caused has been cleared up. It is no longer about saving David, but about a counterattack. The circumstances have changed. Now David is going to pursue and destroy his enemy. Prophetically, we are dealing with a situation just before the realm of peace when the faithful remnant will first be saved and then used to destroy the last enemies ( ). Because God came to him and was with him, he was able to break through the hostile troop of armies that had surrounded him ( ). He has been able to fight and overcome because God was with him. He also says “by You”. By Him, Whom he again calls “my God”, he also can leap over a wall. When God is with you, no obstacle is too high. We can think here of an entrenchment that his enemies had built to protect themselves and prevent a further breakthrough if he had broken through the first lines. Thus every victory leads back to God. He gets all the glory and it also belongs only to Him. The way of persecution and battle is not the way he chose for himself. God determined that way for him, because it served to educate him. Now that he stands behind that way and looks back, he cannot help but say: “As for God, His way is blameless” ( ). To declare God’s way blameless or perfect is the secret of resting in Him. If we can say this with our hearts, we are sure that God is not out of control. Added to that, we may remember that God’s way is always parallel to His Word. That is what the second line of says. His word “is tried”, perfectly pure. With silver and gold, purification takes place by heating these metals in fire multiple times, to purify them. Each time, impurities are removed. With God’s Word, the fire is only there to prove and demonstrate that it is completely pure. The purity of God’s Word has been tried in many ways throughout the ages, but always found to be perfectly pure. It is reliable through and through. It has never been otherwise, but every test of purity, every attack on it, provides additional proof of its reliability time and again. We can trust it. God never deviates from His Word. He always acts, whether with the single person or with His people as a whole, in accordance with what He has said. It may happen that we encounter surprises in the way we go. Often the cause is that we do not know God’s Word, in which He tells us how He sees things, or we have forgotten what He tells us in it. When we surrender to God in the way He goes with us as the best way and we trust in His Word, we take refuge with Him and He proves Himself to be “a shield”. We see in this that God gives us some special tools by which He encourages us. His way is a way in which you never err; His Word is full of His promises that never fail; He Himself is like a shield through which we need not fear any enemy (cf. ). Let us make use of these tools again and again. The descriptions of the goodness of God lead the psalmist to exclaim: “Who is God, but the LORD?” ( ). This is more than a rhetorical question. It is a Hebrew form of solemn assurance, meaning that there is absolutely no god besides the LORD. The answer to the question, “who is a rock, except our God?” is of similar tenor: ‘There is absolutely no other rock, but only our God’ ( ; ; ; ). In , the psalmist explains why God is incomparable, comparable to no one. It is God Who “girds” him “with strength” ( ; cf. ). He does not have to make his way out of need in his own strength. God “makes” his “way blameless”. He does not have to figure out for himself which way to choose. God helps to carry out his plans so that they will succeed. God makes it so that his “feet” are like those of hinds ( ). Hinds have the ability to navigate impassable rock formations with playful ease. In doing so, they are quick and agile with a special intuition for danger. In line with this, David says that God sets him upon his “high places”. There he is safe, for there he is unreachable for persecutors. This does not mean that he does not have to fight. God “trains” his hands “for battle” (cf. ) so that his “arms can bend a bow of bronze” ( ). God fights for His own. Sometimes He does it for them, instead of them ( ), but often He does it through them, that is, by helping them in their fighting His wars. He trains their hands for that purpose. Not only the strength to fight comes from God, but also all the ability. This also applies to spiritual warfare ( ). To bend a bronze bow requires additional strength. A bow is the symbol for a fight with an opponent who is far away from you. To eliminate him you need special strength. Then God comes to David’s aid and ensures with His strength that he can keep the bow bend (cf. ). In battle he has been able to count on God’s salvation ( ). God gave him His salvation as a shield. His salvation was solid as a rock and was the guarantee of victory. He experienced the support of God’s right hand. As a result, he has remained standing. David realized that God had dealt with him with “gentleness”. Only because of this did he have all his prosperity in life. He had no claim on it with God. There was no merit with him, no own strength or prowess that made him so exalted. It was all just because God had dealt gently with him. What this means for us is that we must trace all the success in our lives back to its origin: the gentle favor of God. In his exalted position, God gave him space to walk, without anything lying over which he could stumble ( ). All previous distress had vanished, all obstacles that made it difficult for him to go his way had been removed. He could now walk freely. His ankles did not wobble, while he could walk vigorously. It was as if he were a paralytic who had been given strength by God to walk.

‏ Psalms 18:31

God Is and Does Everything for the Righteous

Psa 18:27 can be seen as the final conclusion of Psa 18:20-26. The verse is also the transition to the next section. Beginning in Psa 18:27, the glorious consequences of the work of the Lord Jesus are told. In the previous section He was delivered, in the coming section He is the Deliverer. We also hear in these verses a wonderful testimony of the Spirit of Christ in the believing remnant of Israel in the end time. This remnant receives from Christ, Who unites Himself to them in the Spirit, strength in the great tribulation to endure and overcome against all enmity.

After David has told us Who God is and how He has acted in the rescues, he sings in Psa 18:27-36 about Who God is to him. In Psa 18:27 we hear how David attributes salvation to God and not to his own military skills. The emphasis is on “You”, which is God. He speaks of himself and those who are with him as “an afflicted people”. There is no boast, but the sense of great helplessness. He was a weak man who was totally dependent on God’s help to be saved from his enemies. Opposite to his misery is the pride of his enemies. He knows that God humiliates them for this reason.

That his lamp lights, he owes to God (Psa 18:28). Here too the emphasis is on “You”. God did it, not he. With his “lamp” he can mean his light of life. God has ensured that there is still, or again, light in his life. Through Him, Whom he calls “my God”, the darkness has disappeared and the sky has been cleared. God has come in darkness in judgment for His enemies, with the result that the darkness that His enemies caused has been cleared up.

It is no longer about saving David, but about a counterattack. The circumstances have changed. Now David is going to pursue and destroy his enemy. Prophetically, we are dealing with a situation just before the realm of peace when the faithful remnant will first be saved and then used to destroy the last enemies (Mic 5:4-8).

Because God came to him and was with him, he was able to break through the hostile troop of armies that had surrounded him (Psa 18:29). He has been able to fight and overcome because God was with him. He also says “by You”. By Him, Whom he again calls “my God”, he also can leap over a wall. When God is with you, no obstacle is too high. We can think here of an entrenchment that his enemies had built to protect themselves and prevent a further breakthrough if he had broken through the first lines. Thus every victory leads back to God. He gets all the glory and it also belongs only to Him.

The way of persecution and battle is not the way he chose for himself. God determined that way for him, because it served to educate him. Now that he stands behind that way and looks back, he cannot help but say: “As for God, His way is blameless” (Psa 18:30). To declare God’s way blameless or perfect is the secret of resting in Him. If we can say this with our hearts, we are sure that God is not out of control.

Added to that, we may remember that God’s way is always parallel to His Word. That is what the second line of Psa 18:30 says. His word “is tried”, perfectly pure. With silver and gold, purification takes place by heating these metals in fire multiple times, to purify them. Each time, impurities are removed. With God’s Word, the fire is only there to prove and demonstrate that it is completely pure.

The purity of God’s Word has been tried in many ways throughout the ages, but always found to be perfectly pure. It is reliable through and through. It has never been otherwise, but every test of purity, every attack on it, provides additional proof of its reliability time and again. We can trust it. God never deviates from His Word. He always acts, whether with the single person or with His people as a whole, in accordance with what He has said.

It may happen that we encounter surprises in the way we go. Often the cause is that we do not know God’s Word, in which He tells us how He sees things, or we have forgotten what He tells us in it. When we surrender to God in the way He goes with us as the best way and we trust in His Word, we take refuge with Him and He proves Himself to be “a shield”.

We see in this Psa 18:30 that God gives us some special tools by which He encourages us. His way is a way in which you never err; His Word is full of His promises that never fail; He Himself is like a shield through which we need not fear any enemy (cf. Gen 15:1). Let us make use of these tools again and again.

The descriptions of the goodness of God lead the psalmist to exclaim: “Who is God, but the LORD?” (Psa 18:31). This is more than a rhetorical question. It is a Hebrew form of solemn assurance, meaning that there is absolutely no god besides the LORD. The answer to the question, “who is a rock, except our God?” is of similar tenor: ‘There is absolutely no other rock, but only our God’ (Exo 15:11; Deu 33:26; 1Sam 2:2; Isa 45:5a).

In Psa 18:32-36, the psalmist explains why God is incomparable, comparable to no one. It is God Who “girds” him “with strength” (Psa 18:32; cf. Job 40:7). He does not have to make his way out of need in his own strength. God “makes” his “way blameless”. He does not have to figure out for himself which way to choose. God helps to carry out his plans so that they will succeed.

God makes it so that his “feet” are like those of hinds (Psa 18:33). Hinds have the ability to navigate impassable rock formations with playful ease. In doing so, they are quick and agile with a special intuition for danger. In line with this, David says that God sets him upon his “high places”. There he is safe, for there he is unreachable for persecutors. This does not mean that he does not have to fight. God “trains” his hands “for battle” (cf. Psa 144:1) so that his “arms can bend a bow of bronze” (Psa 18:34).

God fights for His own. Sometimes He does it for them, instead of them (Exo 14:14), but often He does it through them, that is, by helping them in their fighting His wars. He trains their hands for that purpose. Not only the strength to fight comes from God, but also all the ability. This also applies to spiritual warfare (2Cor 10:4-5).

To bend a bronze bow requires additional strength. A bow is the symbol for a fight with an opponent who is far away from you. To eliminate him you need special strength. Then God comes to David’s aid and ensures with His strength that he can keep the bow bend (cf. Gen 49:23-24).

In battle he has been able to count on God’s salvation (Psa 18:35). God gave him His salvation as a shield. His salvation was solid as a rock and was the guarantee of victory. He experienced the support of God’s right hand. As a result, he has remained standing.

David realized that God had dealt with him with “gentleness”. Only because of this did he have all his prosperity in life. He had no claim on it with God. There was no merit with him, no own strength or prowess that made him so exalted. It was all just because God had dealt gently with him. What this means for us is that we must trace all the success in our lives back to its origin: the gentle favor of God.

In his exalted position, God gave him space to walk, without anything lying over which he could stumble (Psa 18:36). All previous distress had vanished, all obstacles that made it difficult for him to go his way had been removed. He could now walk freely. His ankles did not wobble, while he could walk vigorously. It was as if he were a paralytic who had been given strength by God to walk.