Psalm 18 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Psalm 18 Short Summary:

Psalm 18 was written after God delivered David from the hand of King Saul, who was trying to kill him. David writes in figurative language about God’s salvation and about how God empowered him in his victories. The most famous verse in Psalm 18 is probably verse 3. It reads, “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

Psalm 18 Summary

AUTHOR:

• According to Psalm 18:1, Psalm 18 was authored by King David of Israel.

NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES:

• Romans 15:9

THEMES:

• Psalm 18 is a psalm of worship after God delivered David from King Saul, the first king of Israel who wanted to kill David.

• God empowers His servants against evil and trains them for battle.

• God’s hand is with the righteous to give them victory.

DEFINTIONS:

• Mire (18:42) – Dirt or filth.

• Cherub (18:10) – Cherubim are winged heavenly beings that dwell with God. In 1 Kings 6, Solomon constructed two images of cherubim, each 10 cubits tall, whose wings spread out over the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple’s Most Holy Place.

OUTLINE:

• INTRODUCTION (18:1-5):

  • David worships God for saving him from King Saul.

  • “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies” (18:3).

  • He was wrapped in the cords of death, but God saved him.

• GOD’S SALVATION FIGURATIVELY DESCRIBED (18:6-15):

  • This section contains a figurative description of God’s power and God’s salvation as He came to David’s aid.

  • I have included a few selections from the text:

  • “In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because He was angry.” (18:6-7).

  • “He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind” (18:10).

  • “The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them” (18:13-14). 

• DAVID’S RIGHTEOUSNESS (18:16-27):

  • David attributed the Lord’s willingness to help him, in part, to his own righteousness.

  • He wrote that he kept all God’s commands and was blameless before Him.

  • “The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness” (18:24).  

• GOD EQUIPS DAVID WITH STRENGTH (18:28-50):

  • David credited God’s strength for his victories.

  • He described how God empowered him by being his shield, his strength, empowering his feet to run like a deer, and training his hands for combat.

  • This strength allowed him to overcome all his enemies, he wrote, “I beat them fine as dust before the wind; I cast them out like the mire of the streets” (18:42).

  • David concludes the psalm with a few expressions of worship.

  • “The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation” (18:46).

  • “Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever” (18:50).
    

APPLICATION:

• Why do we need Jesus if we can declare ourselves righteous like David did?

• David said God gave him victory because he lived according to God’s laws and statues.

• David was not trying to declare himself a sinless man, but he did recognize that God blessed those who followed His commands. This was promised as part of the law God gave to Israel on Mount Sinai.

• So, David had victory over some of his earthly enemies, but there was a greater enemy he could not defeat.

• This greater enemy was the one who defeated David when he convinced him it was a good idea to commit adultery with a married woman and murder her husband.

• Satan could rightly accuse David of sin, guilt before God, a charge punishable by death.

• No matter how many righteous deeds David did, he would never be able to escape his guilt, and his accuser, Satan, would never let it go.

• Like David, all of us have sinned, and no matter how many good deeds we do, the accuser always has something against us.

• Satan was winning… until God came and brought salvation to the earth.

• Jesus, who was sinless, died for our guilt, so we could be forgiven. He took away the accuser’s power by taking the punishment we deserved.

• This is why Jesus is necessary. We might be able to win some small battles against earthly enemies, but it took the power and the blood of God to win the cosmic war.