David’s Victories Are Due to The Power of God

Psalms 18:25–36
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It has been said that righteous living begins with knowledge of what is righteous, and backsliding begins with a dusty Bible. David gives a principle, an example of that principle and a promise to those who live by it (vv. 25-28). The principle is “with the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful.” This means that God exalts the humble but humiliates the proud (I Peter 5:5). As an example of those He will bring down are those with “High looks” (v. 27). The promise for those who are merciful is “For thou wilt light my candle” (v. 28). The dealings of the Lord are always just. He metes out to men every man according to his measure. God measures the area of a man’s land by the same rod with which that man measures the area of others’ land. David has full assurance that since he has lived uprightly, God will be his light in his darkest hour. All of us who have been clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ have the same promise.

The theme of refuge was introduced in the beginning of this Psalm (vv. 1-2), and David reintroduces it here (vv. 30-31). David was a mighty warrior, who with all his armies and weapons, knew that only God could ultimately protect and save him. He uses the language of war to describe his victories. He consistently acknowledges that his victorious efforts are solely due to the power of God. David describes how God prepared him for battle, giving him strength and efficiency (vv. 32-36).  God promises to give us strength to meet challenges, but he doesn’t promise to eliminate them. If He gave us no rough roads to walk on and no battles to fight, we would not grow. 

Application

Some people think that belief in God is a crutch for weak people who cannot make it on their own. However, God is truly a shield to protect me when I am too weak to face certain trials by myself. If we did not have trials, we would never learn how great God is. He never said that we, as Christians, would not have any trials in our life but that when we do have problems in our life, He will be there with us in our problems.