Read Psalm 18:1-6. 1I love you, O Lord, my strength.2The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. 4The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; 5the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. 6In 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.
The occasion for this powerful psalm is the deliverance of David from the hands of Saul. David piles up the metaphors for God’s protection (rock, fortress, deliverer, rock, refuge, shield, horn, stronghold) and for his trouble (cords, torrents, snares). No doubt David’s love for God was big because his trouble was big.
Do you struggle to find a big love for God in your heart? It’s possible you’ve never seen how desperate your situation was apart from Christ. The cords of spiritual death encompassed you. The torrents of spiritual destruction assailed you. You were in Sheol’s (death’s) snare.
The size of your love for God will match the size of your distress without him. Your declaration of love for Christ will match the cry of your heart for deliverance. But if you are constantly serving as your own rock, your own fortress, your own deliverer, shield, horn and stronghold, well then why would you ever gush with love for Jesus?
To live is Christ means that Jesus and his cross rescued you from everlasting death and destruction, and if you can meditate on that most glorious of rescues, then your heart may just begin to overflow with love for God.
You: Have you lost sight of just how desperate you are without Christ?
You in Christ: Spend some time meditating on Christ’s full and complete rescue of you from sin and Sheol.
Christ in you: How can you express your love and gratitude for God today?
Pray: Father, I love you. Your rescue of me by the cross of Jesus and my union with Christ was undeserved and yet my only hope. I know now that nothing can touch me when I take refuge in Jesus. Amen.
To Live is Christ 