A Psalm
2 Samuel
22 is apparently a retelling of one of David’s psalms. We know David to be the composer of many of
the psalms, so it shouldn’t really surprise us to hear the story of David
coming to a close with the retelling of one of David’s psalms. Let’s look at the psalm and hear what David
tells us about God. And for the record –
I can’t possibly cover it all. So I’m
going to pick a very few points and expound upon them. But this is a rich psalm filled with great
imagery.
Deliverance
The first
aspect that I noticed as I read through this psalm is the early emphasis on
deliverance. David claims to have called
upon God several times and to have been delivered. God rescues us. I don’t think that there is a Christian alive
that cannot see the brilliance in this confession. Not only does God rescue us from the perils
of this world but He also rescues us from ourselves. Most importantly, He rescues us from the
eternal peril of damnation. God rescues
us, He rescues us, He rescues us. It
really cannot be said enough how grateful we should be about His salvation. Like David, we have done nothing to deserve
it. We are rescued simply because God
chose to hear our pleas for a mercy that we do not deserve.
Righteousness
The second
thing I had to note – and I noted with a bit of a chuckle – is that the middle
of the psalm talks about David’s righteousness and upright living. I need to remind myself – and probably all of
us – that we need to hear these words in the proper context. We all know David had his problems. David didn’t always follow the ways that God
would have him to live. David messed up
quite frequently. Certainly David is not
turning a blind eye to his past actions.
David knows how he has failed and fallen into sin.
When David
speaks of righteousness he speaks of it in the only manner that a human can
speak of it: humble repentance before God.
None of us can be saved through our righteousness in action. We are only saved through the righteousness
of God through His Messiah. What then
can we be righteous in? We can only be
righteous in our confession and repentance before God. Psalm 51:15-17 and Hosea 6:6 tell us this
very same message. Yep, it’s time to
quote these passages again! God desires
a broken and contrite spirit. He desires
love. He desires that we seek knowledge
of Him. We are not perfect and we are
not to present ourselves as longing for perfection. Rather, we are to present ourselves as broken
people longing for God. In that, I think
David can rightly claim his righteousness: not righteousness deserving of
salvation, but righteousness in acknowledging that salvation must come from
God.
Focus
The last
thing that I will talk about here is David’s consistent focus upon God. Yes, he does talk about himself – but only so
that God’s action can be seen more clearly.
David’s emphasis is upon God and upon God’s character. God is the rock. God is the bringer of vengeance. God is the deliverer. God is the strong fortress. God is the bow that brings us victory. God is our refuge. God is the one that equips us. God is the shield that protects us.
I think
this is a sentiment that we can really focus upon in today’s culture. It may have always been this way, but I can
only speak about the culture in which I live.
Our culture lifts up the glory of the individual so high that we
struggle to not place ourselves at the center of the universe. This psalm – and most psalms! – do a great
job at stripping down this self-mongerism and reminding us to place God at the
center. He is the one who deserves to be
there, not any of us!
So let’s
take a little time today and focus on God.
What has God done for me and you?
What has he done in others to prepare them for their ministry to
us? What has God done slowly throughout
history to prepare this world for His grace, love, mercy, and justice? God has been at great work, I think today is
a good day to ask ourselves how we acknowledge the work that He has done.
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