David Did Not Take Credit For His Victories

Psalms 18:46–50
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I believe it would be amazing what would be accomplished for the cause of Christ if we didn’t care who gets the credit. This always comes to my mind when people say they don’t want you to use anything they write or say and if you do they want you to be sure to give them the credit. Probably, if the truth is known, much of what they say is something they have received from someone else.

This psalm brings into focus both David and Christ. “The Lord liveth” is a cry of victory (v. 46). David did not have to avenge himself when he was wrongfully accused and maligned. In this passage it could appear that David is bragging about his accomplishments, but actually he is bragging on God and all He has done through him. He says, “It is God who avenges me. He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise up against me. You have delivered me from the violent man” (vv. 47-48). This is not bragging when we give the credit to God. Miraculously delivered from his enemies and from Saul (II Sam. 8:22), David composes this moving song with intense feeling. It shows God’s delivering power from the hands of his enemies.

David acknowledged the living God (v. 46) and promised to praise Him (v. 49). Seven times the word deliver or some derivative thereof is found in this chapter (v. 2, 17, 19, 43, 48 twice, and 50). God is a God of Great Deliverance. David did not take credit for his victories; he gave all the glory to the Lord. Whatever David had, God gave it to him; whatever he was, God made him whatever he did, God enabled him.

Application

This Psalm comforts and encourages me. Like David, I can be set free, physically and emotionally from things that happen in my life. The liberation of my thinking will occur as I give more and more credit to God for what happens in my life, rather than trying to take credit myself.