The Basis for David's Deliverance
(22:21-28)
21 “The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. 22 “For I have kept the ways of the LORD, And have not acted wickedly against my God. 23 “For all His ordinances were before me, And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. 24 “I was also blameless toward Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. 25 “Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness before His eyes. 26 “With the kind You show Yourself kind, With the blameless You show Yourself blameless; 27 With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the perverted You show Yourself astute. 28 “And You save an afflicted people; But Your eyes are on the haughty whom You abase.
When God gave Israel the Law of Moses, He made it clear that obedience to His law would bring blessing (Deuteronomy 28:1-14), while disobedience would bring cursing and disaster (28:15-68).10 David was a man after God's heart. With few exceptions (see 1 Kings 15:5), David loved and lived by the law. He understood that those who would draw near to God are those who keep His law:
1 {A Psalm of David.} O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? 2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart. 3 He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the LORD; He swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken (Psalm 15).
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD And righteousness from the God of his salvation (Psalm 24:3-5).
David believed, as did all faithful Israelites, that God would punish the wicked and save the righteous who take refuge in Him:
35 I have seen a wicked, violent man Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. 36 Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I sought for him, but he could not be found. 37 Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright; For the man of peace will have a posterity. 38 But transgressors will be altogether destroyed; The posterity of the wicked will be cut off. 39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in time of trouble. 40 The LORD helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him (Psalm 37:35-40).
In the Law of Moses, God made it clear to His people that He would bless them as they trusted in Him and kept His law (see Deuteronomy 7:12-16). On the other hand, it was also clear that their righteousness attained by their works was not the basis for God's grace:
4 “Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. 5 “It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 “Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people” (Deuteronomy 9:4-6).
David did not forget that he was a sinner, who needed forgiveness and grace:
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; There is no health in my bones because of my sin. 4 For my iniquities are gone over my head; As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. 5 My wounds grow foul and fester Because of my folly (Psalm 38:3-5).
David understood that God saves the righteous and condemns the wicked. It is for this reason that God hears David's cry for help and comes to his rescue from his wicked enemies. Not only does God save the righteous, He saves the afflicted, while He condemns the proud.
We will come back to the matter of David's righteousness later in the message, but I am reminded that the sin of Saul and his bloody house resulted in a three-year-long famine in the land of Israel. Not until this sin had been atoned for did God once again hear the prayers of His people and remove the famine (see 2 Samuel 21). So it is that David believes that if he trusts and obeys God, God will hear his prayers.
Divine Strengthening to Defeat Enemies
(22:29-46)
29 “For You are my lamp, O LORD; And the LORD illumines my darkness. 30 “For by You I can run upon a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall. 31 “As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is tested; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. 32 “For who is God, besides the LORD? And who is a rock, besides our God? 33 “God is my strong fortress; And He sets the blameless in His way. 34 “He makes my feet like hinds' feet, And sets me on my high places. 35 “He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 36 “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, And Your help makes me great. 37 “You enlarge my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped. 38 “I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, And I did not turn back until they were consumed. 39 “And I have devoured them and shattered them, so that they did not rise; And they fell under my feet. 40 “For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. 41 “You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, And I destroyed those who hated me. 42 “They looked, but there was none to save; Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them. 43 “Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth; I crushed and stamped them as the mire of the streets. 44 “You have also delivered me from the contentions of my people; You have kept me as head of the nations; A people whom I have not known serve me. 45 “Foreigners pretend obedience to me; As soon as they hear, they obey me. 46 “Foreigners lose heart, And come trembling out of their fortresses.
David has praised God for being his deliverer, his refuge (verses 2-3). Whenever he calls upon God for help, He hears and answers (verse 4) in ways which reveal His holiness and anger toward the wicked who oppose His servant and His sovereign power (verses 5-20). God comes to David's rescue from his enemies because of his righteousness and their wickedness (verses 21-28). It is possible that we might conclude from what has been said thus far that since “salvation is from the Lord” we are not a part of the process. Are we to sit idly by, watching God do everything? Sometimes that is exactly what God has us do, just to remind us that it is He who gives the victory. That is what happened at the exodus, when God drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea. But very often God will have us play a role in His deliverance. In such cases, it is God who gives us the strength and ability to prevail over our enemies. David stood up to Goliath and prevailed, but it was God who gave the victory. In verses 30-46, David speaks of divine enablement, which strengthened him to stand against his enemies and prevail.
God's strength is not added to our strength; God's strength is given in place of our weakness. This is why David begins with the statement,
“For Thou art my lamp, O Lord;And the Lord illumines my darkness” (verse 29).
God enlightens David's darkness. God strengthens David in his weakness. This is just what Paul taught in the New Testament:
7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me -- to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
David describes the strength God supplies in terms of waging warfare. God's strength enables him to leap over a wall and to crush or overrun a troop of men (verse 30). Military strength begins in the mind. David had the moral courage to stand up to Goliath, as well as the God-given skill to strike him down with his sling. The basis for this strength of courage (let’s call it what it is -- faith) is God's Word. The Word of God is the source of David's faith, which enables him to fight. His Word is us about God, that He is our rock, our refuge (verses 31-33). He not only sets David on the high places (the place of military advantage), He gives David the sure-footedness which enables him to fight from this position (verse 34). God is the one who trains David's hands for battle, who gives him the strength to bend the difficult bronze bow (verse 35). He gives him the shield of His salvation, and then gives him firm footing with which to stand and fight (verses 36-37).
All of this is to enable David to pursue his enemies successfully so that they turn and run (verse 38). They do not escape, however, for God enables David to destroy (to pulverize, verse 43) those who oppose him (verses 39-43). Some of David's enemies -- perhaps even many of them -- appear to be fellow Israelites, but his enemies and his allies also include the Gentiles. In the closing verses of the psalm, the Gentiles become more prominent. Delivering David from the contentions of his own people (verse 44), God also strikes fear in the hearts of the nations (the Gentiles). As a result, God not only established David as king over Israel, He kept him as head over the nations. These Gentiles fear David, and if their submission to him is not genuine, they at least feign allegiance to him (verses 44-45). They lose heart and come trembling to him from their fortresses (verse 46).
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