THEN........

As many of you may recall from past posts, I love ‘running across’ the word BUT in the Bible. It usually shows up in sections that portray the sinfulness of man followed by the  glorious words, “but, God…” What joy and relief that thought brings to mind! Then, sadly, it also shows up in sections that portray the faithfulness, grace, and mercy of our loving God~~followed by the dreadful words, “but, man…”

Well, in my continued readings from Psalms (by the way, I am now on page110 out of 1528 in Spurgeon’s Treasury of David—see July post.), I came across another revealing word~~the word, THEN.

In Psalm 18:1-3 David begins with a song of praise to the One who is his strength, his rock, his fortress, his deliverer, his salvation, and his stronghold. David knew where his help came from! (See also Psalm 121:1-2). You see, David once again found himself in quite a predicament as he continued to hide from the wrath of his enemies. David expressed the depth of his situation in verses 4-5, and in verse 6 he called out to his help.

~In my distress I called upon the Lord….and He heard my voice~

Now comes my word! THEN.....

Just as discussed in my previous two posts, David arises with confidence and his stance of victory-He ‘raises his shield’ and proclaims:  THEN… 

I considered just posting the passage and having you read it yourself—but this is too good to have someone miss out if they don’t have a Bible by them. So, albeit long, enjoy these THEN events as seen in verses 7-15!

                THEN the earth shook and trembled: the foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because He was angry. Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; coals were kindled by it.

                He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under His feet. He rode upon a cherub and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. 

NOTE HERE: Spurgeon explains this shaded darkness as “the secret chamber of the invisible, but wonder-working God” Although we may not be able to see His workings, He is still there fighting for us!

Let’s pick this magnificent scene up again. 

                The Lord thundered from Heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.

David concluded this section with his rescue in verses 16-19.

                He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me…But the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.

You can continue this particular Psalm on our own—I think you get the message! If you couldn’t say, “WOW” after all that…...

Didn’t that make you want to just jump up and shout! These are words to dwell upon next time you find yourself completely overwhelmed with the pressures, struggles, and enemies of  this life.

In closing, although this has been long, I couldn’t help but consider the following stanza from the old hymn, ‘O Worship the King’ as I read verses 9-12 as noted above:

O tell of his might,
O sing of his grace,
Whose robe is the light,
Whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath
The deep thunder-clouds form,
And dark is his path
On the wings of the storm.

Debbie

Next time we will consider phrases from verses  4 and 16 and refer to a post I wrote 18 months ago!