In My Distress

1. In most situations

In most situations, distress is caused by external circumstances that produce within us extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain. Anxiety, sorrow, and pain can lead to overwhelming fear. There is the distress caused by losing a job that you’ve held for some time. Anxiousness caused by watching a parent or spouse pass away and wondering what you will do without them. The sorrow produced from such events, and the ensuing pain. It’s real. It stings sharply. It’s unavoidable because it’s part of the cycle of life. 

When David penned his thoughts, he was an older and wiser man and was probably written in the latter part of his life. Gone were the days of his youthfulness and vigor of leading his father’s flocks to pasture, killing bears, and lions, and giants. He is writing now from the security and serenity of the palace rather than the shadows of a cave. He is a mature man, a king with a settled kingdom. He is now a composer of psalms rather than a conqueror of peoples. He is a mature believer as the psalm reveals reflecting on the person of the Lord. He begins the psalm stating his love for Lord: “I will love thee,” he said. It was a delicate love, tender, sincere, passionate. It was a developed love. One developed over the years that shows great maturity in the king. It was a deep love whose roots went deep into the soil of God’s word, and which had withstood the tempests of life. 

2. David was ultimately a worshiper

David was ultimately a worshiper who enjoyed going to the sanctuary and hearing the word of God read and explained and lifting his voice in praise and thanksgiving with his people. Being the hymnist and lyricist that he was, David prepared this song and made it ready “to the chief musician” that others could be encouraged by the Lord and exalt and extol Him even as David had in the midst of his distresses. Their anxiety, sorrow, and pain would be different than his was, but it was real to them, nonetheless.

To appreciate and understand this psalm, we must look to the past days of the king and bring it to his present days. Let us focus on three simple and salient, significant truths discovered in the psalm: David’s running, David’s reflecting, and David’s rejoicing.

Psalm 18 remembers the days of his running. His story is so well known that it hardly needs to be told. Following his unexpected victory over Goliath of Gath in the valley of Elah, he immediately fell into popularity with the men and women of Israel and immediately fell out of popularity with King Saul. David had never run from anything in his life. However, for the first time in his life, David had to run, and it was not from lions and tigers and bears, or giants; it was from the king of Israel, King Saul. David does not call him or his friends and associates by name in this psalm, but spoke of them in terms of enemies (3), floods of ungodly men (4), the people (43), strangers (44), the violent man (48), and the heathen (43,49). Contrary to popular thought, everyone did not love David.

3. David was ultimately a worshiper

He was hated by many and hunted like a fox in the wilderness. In this moment of reflection, David recalls these days of his running when he did not know whether he live or die, whether he would see God’s promises come to pass or not. He said in 2 Samuel 22:1, which is the original version of this psalm, that he “spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul” (2 Sa. 22:1). Were those days of distress, anxiety, sorrow, and pain for him? Very much so.

At another time in his life, David said, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Ps. 19:14). It is obvious from this Scripture and our current text, that the king often mused in his heart, and his musings were mostly on the perfections and divine properties, or characteristics of the Lord. Therefore, in our text, he is seen consciously reflecting in a tender and intimate moment on his God.

4. We can do is briefly touch on these                                                                             

We can do is briefly touch on these. He “is my strength.” Twice in the first two verses he references the Lord as ‘my strength,’ but with different ideas. In verse 1, the Lord was to David his ‘help.” How many times the Lord had helped him out of distressful situations! The second usage of strength means properly a ‘cliff, or a giant rock or boulder.’ The psalmist did say “lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Ps. 61:2).? He “is my rock,” that is the foundation of his life. He “is my fortress. A fortress was a mountain stronghold.

He “is my deliverer.” That is, He who would rescue him and help him escape from the sorrows and snares of his enemies. He “is my God.” The Almighty One, the Strong One. He “is my buckler,” or shield and defender. The Lord is to me, “the horn of my salvation.” Often in Scripture, horns speak of power. David was vividly recalling the numerous times that God had demonstrated His power to save His servant. We do have a Great Savior Who is able to save to the uttermost. He “is my high tower.” The idea is a place so high as to be out of danger. The Lord is to all believers our “most High God.”

Psalm 18 is as much a psalm of triumph as it is a psalm of Thanksgiving because in these verses, we find the sweet singer of Israel rejoicing in the Lord and even though his distressing circumstances had not changed yet. But they were going to change! David was so confident of it that he said, “so shall I be saved from mine enemies” (3). 

5.  We live in a world full of troubles

 We live in a world full of troubles and trials, and they seem to be increasing with each passing moment. What are we going to do? How are we going to respond? Will we be able to stand and withstand (Eph. 6:13)? It is impossible to prepare ourselves to be mentally, psychologically, emotionally, and physically prepared for everything the world, the flesh, and the devil will throw against us. However, David left us a wonderful example to emulate. We can say with him “I will love thee, O LORD,” and “I will trust” in Him, and finally, “I will call upon the LORD” (1-3).

We also have the example of the Apostle Paul who suffered so much for the Lord and, yet, he said, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Php. 4:4). If David and Paul are insufficient examples, we have Christ Jesus and His word. He told the grieving hearts of the disciples, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:32).