I Will…Who Is…So Shall

Psalm 18:3 “I will call upon the LORD, [who is worthy] to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.”

I came upon this verse during my studies last night and found three points that I thought to be very important not only to our mental health but also to our faith in God.

1. I WILL
2. WHO IS
3. SO SHALL

To better understand these three statements we have to look at who the writer is and when it was written. Psalm 18 is a Psalm of David, he spoke or sang these words to the Lord in the day that God delivered him from the hand of all his enemies as well as from Saul.  He Said:

1. I WILL call upon the Lord
2. WHO IS worthy to be praised
3. SO SHALL I be saved

It is vital to us all throughout our walk in faith toward God to remember these words of David in his time of trouble because they show us that no matter what is going on around us, whatever circumstances be that trouble us and despite the shadow our troubles may cast down upon us we can always call upon God and rest in assurance that He not only will hear us but that He will also without a doubt save us from our troubles.

Psalm 27:1 tells us “The LORD [is] my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD [is] the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?“

It would appear by this verse that we as believers will find ourselves surrounded by elements that would dictate to us that we are in darkness. Now this is not a spiritual darkness but rather it is a darkness that cast itself upon our thoughts as if a dark cloud is resting upon us. It does the same as any cloud in the sky does when overcast; it hides the sun and blocks the light. However, this does not mean that the sun has gone away. It only means that there is something in the way of it getting to us and sometimes our thoughts can prevent ourselves from getting to God rather than God getting to us.

So David writes “the Lord is my Light” there may be darkness all around me but the Lord is my light. Psalm 119:105 reads ” Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Micah 7:8 tells us “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD [shall be] a light unto me.“

The word of God is illuminating, it cast out all darkness and has the ability to set the wayward soul on the right path of redemption. Redemption comes in many ways; some need redemption for salvation and eternity; some need it to bring back the right standing with God they have lost and others to be reminded that God is with us. Still all redemption is for the soul of men and women.

Now Micah is saying, don’t count me out just yet my enemy while David is saying Amen, because God is with me, His word I believe and if I hold on to my faith, in time He will cause me to stand upright before Him. My salvation as David puts it.

Salvation means to be salvaged and to salvaged is to be purchased for restoration. It is the same as laying out an old torn beat up couch that nobody wants or has a need of out on the street so the trash company can come and pick it up to discard it to the junk yard. But before the trash man comes; a man comes along and sees this old tired couch and says to himself “I can use this“. So he approaches the home, knocks on the door and asked the couch owner if he could buy it off of him. The owner agrees and the man picks up the old worn out couch and brings it to his shop where he removes the stained fabric and cushions inside; refashions the wood to strengthen the body then replaces the old flat cushions with new ones and covers it with new clean fabric so that it is now a brand new couch that he can put in the center of his sitting room. We are the same as this couch. God restores us, He salvaged us after He purchased us with His blood on Calvary.

The last thing David says here in verse 1 of Psalm 27 is that “the Lord is the strength of my life” Verse 3 says that “I will be confident” this is faith. Faith to believe that no matter the circumstances I will be confident that God is still with me and He will deliver me. Where does this confidence come from?

I Samuel 12:24 “Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great [things] he hath done for you“

Our confidence in God comes from bringing back to our remembrance the great things God has done for us in the past. It is exactly what the writer of Hebrews did in chapter 11. We call it “the hall of faith“. It list things that God has done for those who have chosen to believe in Him. you will be surprised to see that not all listed were men or women of great faith or of spotless character. Without faith it is impossible to please God the scriptures tell us and when you read the word you can see that it is very true that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. God is not a respecter of persons when it comes to belief in Him; but you must call upon Him and Him alone because He alone is God.

So we build ourselves up by bringing to remembrance the things God has done not only in our lives but in the lives of everyone who believes in Him; and doing so brings us to the place of Psalm 118:6 where we too can say in confidence “The LORD [is] on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?“

Our confidence in God will cause us to face our troubles with the full assurance that God is on our side.  We recognize Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” When we understand that God is on our side; we will not fear our troubles and we will proclaim with confidence what can man do to me? If God be for us then who can be against us. Man may be able to take away everything I worked so hard for. Man may be able to hurt me in every evil way he can imagine but God is my light; He is my salvation and no one, no man, no woman, nothing can take that away. We say in confidence what can man do to my soul, the answer nothing because it belongs to God and He’s on my side.

This is our Hope

Psalm 18:6 “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.”

In my distress. We are going to have days when we face trouble even great trouble in our lives. It is only through our faith in God that we will survive these things. Sure there are other avenues but only through God does it carry throughout all eternity.

Some of us were taught that because we are Christians that we will not face any trouble however, I think life shows us the truth that God causes the rain to fall on the just as well as the unjust just like He causes the sun to shine on each the same. Christians face trouble just like anyone else but we do have an adversary that because we carry the word of truth hates us even more so we carry or walk with what seems to be a target on our backs. So in my distress I called upon the Lord.

What was bugging David? verse 4 and 5 tell us that:

1. Sorrow of death surrounded him
2. Floods of ungodly men caused him to fear
3. Sorrow of hell surrounded him
4. Snare of death prevented him

What does all this mean?

David was perused by his enemy. Saul wanted to kill David. David was hunted like an animal and prepared by Saul to die. So the shadow of death enveloped his mind. The thought that any day now Saul will kill him overshadowed every thought in Davids mind. Although he had faith, at this moment in his life his fear became stronger. Floods of ungodly men made him fear. Saul had an army of men seeking out David and this made him afraid. Sorrow of hell surrounded him. David was so afraid that his thoughts became his reality. He was over taken into thinking that surely hell awaits me. It is this mind control of fear that caused David to stall. It stopped him dead in his tracks; the snare of death prevented me. I’m stuck, there’s no way out for me, my enemies are great in number, it must be my time to die and I can’t win. All of these sayings are our enemy and contradict Philippians 4:8 “Whatsoever things are pure, holy, honest, just, good report to have virtue or grace think on these things”

What did David do?

He came back to himself and his faith in God and said

1. I WILL call upon the Lord
2. WHO IS worthy to be praised
3. SO SHALL I be saved

verse 6 of Psalm 18 says that in his distress David called upon God; he regained his confidence and called upon God but not only did he say hey God over here but the scripture says that he cried out to God.  Sometimes a shout out is not enough for us. Sometimes the fear and pain hurts so much that we have to cry out to God. Just like we cry out to our friends only our friends can’t heal a spiritual situation. Only God can.

We see the importance of what David did but what is hat is just as important is what God did.

verse 6 says that God heard the cry of David from outside the temple then it was carried via sound wave before God’s throne into His ear. “he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, [even] into his ears.” What that says is that God heard afar off the cry of David his servant and it caught His attention. Not only did it grab His attention but look at the rest of the verse and we see that it angered the God who is slow to wrath that unjustified trouble was being brought to His servant and caused his servant to fear. verse 7-9 paints great picture of our savior and deliverer. It says that God in His anger shook the earth and made it tremble. He moved the foundation with an earthquake. Smoke came from His nostrils and fire from His mouth aka He was angry. But look at verse 9 it says “He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness [was] under his feet.” God left His throne to save one man; his servant.

Don’t ever think that God does not care about you or what you are going through or how others are treating you because He does care. He will leave His throne, bow heaven just to come to your rescue. He loves you that much.

Don’t be afraid to call upon Him. Have confidence in Him

1. I WILL
2. WHO IS
3. SO SHALL

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