is about David. You have, on the one hand, David, who penned this song a thousand years before Christ. And in this song, David is rejoicing over victory. He is rejoicing over security and answered prayer and justice and vindication. Now that the Civil War is over, now that the Holy War is over, now that it's all in his host or dead and their arms are laid down. Now David looks back. He reflects, in essence, asking, how in the world did I survive this experience? How in the world am I alive today? What is it that has brought me through to it? How is it that my faith remains intact? And as David reflects, we learn as we read the song that his law for God has warmed, and he has drawn closer to this God that he prays, praises. What you have to understand, or you'll not really understand the song, you'll not receive from it. What you should, what you need to receive from this song, is this that David's ability to sing this song and our ability to pray this song is solely based upon the fact that Christ could sing this song. Only because Christ as our mediator was able to sing this song a thousand years after David and two thousand years before us, and only because as our intercessor he is able to sing this song today for us on our behalf and sing it in its totality, my say, in its absoluteness on our behalf are we then made able to sing it ourselves and to sing it from our heart, to sing it genuinely. But that's what David is asking, that's David's reflection. What is it that has enabled me to endure to live through the experience that he better put who has enabled me to endure? And we find out that his answer is metaphorical. He answers with the image of a storm. I don't know when the last time you were caught in a real storm about a year ago, I took our children to a high school baseball game against Betty's better wishes because she was threatening right? Let me just take them, I'll take them myself and I'll just take them for a few minutes if it rains, if it do. So we have this game and after about 30 minutes, that's all. Well, it really doesn't look that threatening. The field thing, Broadway, we actually got some hot dogs and hamburgers and I was sitting at the top of the bleachers with Paul Mack and the girls were playing with this high school girl who was one of our babysitters and named Courtney. And Courtney brought the girls out the bleachers to me and said, well, I thought I should maybe bring the girls back to you before it rains. And she was sort of looking over my shoulder. And I turned around and I have never seen, I'm sure we've all seen these lines of storms coming in. But I have never seen one that vividly and that close was basically over the park and look out of the high school. And before I really Courtney, as I remember it was even off the bleachers, you could hear the rain starting to hit the buildings behind the high school buildings. And as I turned back around, the baseball players were running off the field of the dugout and I couldn't get the hamburgers and hot dogs and children quick enough off the bleachers. By the time we got off, we were just sunk. And it was about a 30 yard run. Everybody was running for the building. And I was holding children and the hot dogs and all we were just screaming was really fun. But by the time we got to the gymnasium, again, we were just sunk. And you know, as well as I do, that in a rain storm and lightning and thunder, we see the power of God. And it's no wonder to us why David would choose to use an image like a storm. Even in the storm, we see God as He is and as He is able and willing to help us in the storms of life. What I want to provide for you because David provides it for us is for confidence upon reflection. David's asking, how did I make it? How did I survive this thing? How did my faith stay intact? And he comes up with four reasons. Now, to use the analogy just a little bit further for you in your life, you may be on the bleachers and you may be looking behind you now and you see a storm coming in your life. It may be that you're flying to get from the bleachers of the gymnasium because in your life right now, it's raining. It's storming. It may be that you've made it to security. It may be that you've made it to the gymnasium and you feel secure. You hear the rain, but you know what it is to have been in the rain. Well, let me give you, from David, inspired, four reasons why you're going to make it. Four reasons. Four confidence is you can have in the midst of a trial. Ask of the trial. Ask of the war. When the war has come to an end, you can look back and see how you made it. The first one is, if you look at the outline, number one, God supports. As it's seen in His strength and His salvation, in the first three verses, notice in the first two verses the number of figures He uses in the first verse He calls God, my strength. In the second verse, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my strength in whom I will trust. He says, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. You think I'm fitting that He is with this morning's passage. You want to know how to pray? You want to know how to begin your prayers and in praise and in adoration of God. Memorize from 18 verses 1 and 2. Use those titles when you go to God in prayer. David knows how to pray. He knows how to pray like the early Christians were praying this morning, but understand that for months and months, David had literally run for his life in the mountains and the rocks and the crags of those mountains, but David would be the first to tell you. He'd run the rocks. He'd run the mountain that was able to save him. It was God alone that saved him. And he said, God is my rock. Not the physical mountain itself, God is my rock. God is my fortress. He's my deliverer. Repeatedly, David found that when he called out to God, God rescued him as verse 3 says, rescued him from his enemies. David wants us to know. We want to make it very clear in his thinking that God is worthy of our love and worthy of our praise and our adoration and our devotion and our dependency upon him and our exaltation of him. I think by way of application you have to ask yourself, do I agree? Do you? Or I'm going to ask you, do you agree? With David, do you know that in your own experience? No matter the circumstance in which you find yourself, when wish comes to shop, do you know what David knows? Do you know what Christ himself knew? And that is, there's comfort in God's support. How can you know God's support? That may really be your question. And I how can I experience this support? How can I know God is my rock and my fortress? First Peter 5 or 7 says, casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. Casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. I want to turn that to the first person. And I want you to repeat it after me. Let me say it to you first. In first person, casting all my care upon him for he cares for me. Now say that with me. Casting all my care upon him for he cares for me. But what are you afraid of in your life? I remember using this song with the children and children in family worship and asking them, what are you afraid of? And they were so quick to say, to dark, or bad guys as they would say. And we smile, but that's the children's way of saying, what we say in our adult language, more sophisticated language, I fear that cancer. I fear sickness, so I fear a financial upheaval in my life. And the first person saying, cast it on and cast the fear of cancer. Cast the financial burden. Cast that nervous feeling you have in your stomach about the fact that your children don't walk with the Lord. Cast it on God. Cast that anxiety, sickness, a marriage, a trial. Call upon the Lord and you will find him to be what David found him in these first verses. You'll find him to be your strength and your rock and your fortress and your deliver and your shield and your stronghold. His verse three says, the one who is worthy to be praise and so shall you be saved from your enemies. That's the first of four reasons why David made it. As he looked back, he could see, this is what God had done for him. Secondly, it was God's deliverance which is seen in God's delight in verses four to nineteen. In verse four, David, waste no time describing the danger from which God had delivered. And look at verse four, the pains of death encompassed me and the floods of the of ungodliness made me afraid. Of course, we know David is not exaggerating because twice Saul had hurled his spirit, David's hair in the sense to end his life. Many times Saul had put David on the front lines. Many times Saul had put David in situations they were tremendous odds against David living through it. Saul himself tracking him and hunting him. His men and pursuit to kill him always. And in verse six, it says, in my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. He cried out. He cried sincerely, genuinely, and God heard. Not only did God hear, God actually responded to David and therein lies your description of the storm in verses seven to fifteen. You might say, all heaven and earth broke loose. And what we find out is that God's anger rages when his children are in danger. Do you know that? Do you know that when you're in danger, when your enemy is pursuing you, that it makes God very angry. And he actually unleashes his anger and his majesty. He condescents. That's what he does for you when you're in danger. That's what he does for you when you feel that you're in trouble.
And you notice in verse 16 to 17, actually in verse 10, he's riding upon one of those palpour creatures there is. And in verse 16 to 17, it's God who reaches down. It's God who takes hold of his child and God is the one who rescues his child. Look at verse 10 to see what kind of creature God rides upon. You can call it a chariot or chariot, unless your conception of a chariot is some cute little figurine with baby fat and little wings that fits on your bookshelf. Think again because they are terrible creatures horrifying, awesome creatures. If you're familiar with the S. Lewis at all, you know that in his writings it's the witches that are beautiful. And it's the angels that are terrifying. And that is by design. It's by biblical design because these creatures, these charioms are so frightening. If ever you meet one, you will be scared to death. That's why one of the first two words you always hear the terrible say, the angel say, when they encounter a human they say fear not because they're very frightening creatures. They guard the door, the garden of Eden, they guard the tree of life. They represent God's presence in the Holy of Holy. In his vehicle they provide the chariot throne of God, which he sits when he goes to and fro. But let that sink in that this God who rides the chariot delights in you. That's as hard as that is the father. That is the confidence of the Christian. That is the hope of the Christian that God actually delights in me. That he takes pleasure in me. That I was actually created to have a relationship with him.
That's God's delight. It's his deliverance. And then thirdly, a third reason is God's justice, his vindication in verses 20 to 27. Now we've learned a lot about God's justice even these five months of going through the souls. And we've learned it from a man you knew a lot about the justice of God being David. Had God unleashed his fury on innocent David, he said, a corrupt soul, what would you be thinking now about God? Besides the fact that you would be scared to death on him, you would no doubt feel contempt toward God. Now when we say David is innocent, you know, we've had this many times as well. We're not saying that David was fendless. We know better than man. We know enough about David and know he was not fendless. But we also know enough about David that unlike Saul, he was a man after God's own heart. I mean, run out of time, so I'm just going to read it for you know, unless you want to take the time to, if you want to try to find a voice or read it by Bible drill, what do you call a thore drill? First Samuel 24 verses 9 to 12, just listen to David's integrity. David said, it's all, why do you listen to the words of men who say, indeed David takes your harm? Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave and someone urged me to kill you. But my eyes spared you and I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. Moreover, my father say, yes, say the corner of your robe in my hand. For in that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, know and say that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, yet you hunt my life to take you. Let the Lord judge between you and me and let the Lord avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you. That's the difference between David and Saul. David's an example to us. David had learned what we need desperately to learn. If we know of the reason it gives us confidence in the Christian life and that is that God is a shield to the righteous. He is the vindicator of the innocent. And that can be a real confidence for you when you find yourself day in and day out battling against the flesh and the devil and the world to know that out of that same storm that came your salvation, your deliverance, out of that same storm, God will crush your enemies.
Only then can we say with David in verse 25, with the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the blameless man you will show yourself blameless. With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the devious you will show yourself true. For you will save the humble people but will bring down haughty looks. And where do we save the justice of God as cherished form at the cross? Where God did not sweep sin under the rug but he spilled the blood of his own son so that he might be merciful and just at the same time so that he might be loving and completely righteous at the same time. And then the fourth reason is this gentleness which we see in his preparation and provision and perfection. First is preparation of David. He prepared David for everything he faced. Look at verse 28, for you will light my lamp. The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer. This is verse 33 and sets me on high places. 34, he teaches my hands to make wars so that my arms can bend above a bronze. He sees David knew beyond a shadowed doubt where his number one source with a single source of his ability came from and he craves God for every ability that he has. It's true praise. This is unadulterated praise of God because David knew you cannot praise God and praise yourself at the same time. You cannot do it. You cannot praise God and boast in yourself at the same time. God not only prepared in David knew that he provided for in verse 35, you have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand has held me up. Your gentleness has made me great. You enlarged my path under me so that my feet did not slip. That's exactly what we were saying this morning. David understood that everything was under God's control and that for God's people everything serves. Everything serves God's children. Romans 8. 28, every flood, every storm, every rain, everything, every wind, every mountain, every rock serves the children of God. He also knew that everything saw God and all of God's Maxwell perfect. Verse 30, as for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is proven. He's a shield to all who trust in him, for who is God except the Lord and who is a rock except our God? God knew anything halfway. And everything God began to complete. And everything he complete, he completed flawlessly. And that's what David knew and what God had done for David, when he had completely and flawlessly done in his life. He had completely and flawlessly done in your life and my life. That's what verse 35 is saying when it says your gentleness has made me great. That's what your Savior did for you. The ultimate gentleness, gentleness could be translated condescension, ultimate condescension. He made himself of no reputation. He laid aside his prerogative to be king of the universe. He lived and died servant. So your behalf, he was humiliated in this life. So that you might be exalted. He stood to make you great. And if that doesn't elicit or evoke praise and love in you. And I don't know what will. Surely you should praise God for the things in your life as you look back. Take David's example. Look back over your life. Look back carefully over your life, even now in this worship service and think of how you should praise God for what he's done in your life. Fifth God who is the same yesterday, today and forever. The same God who did all that for David has done the same thing for you. Happity. He's been your strength in your salvation. He delivers you from sin and death. Now one time as the promise of Romans 28 that all things work together for you're good. Now one time has that promise failed you in all of your life. It's justified. You need promises one day to vindicate you completely. That's what I'm entitled as well in your battles. He's always given you the weapons you need. He's worthy of praise. Look at verse 49. Therefore I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles, among the nations. It brings in sync raises to your name. That's the response of the Christian. How could we not respond? How could we not praise his name across the nations? How could we not tell our next door neighbor? But God has done for me. You see it, it should just bubble out of my heart. I should want to get on the mountain top and scream and shout and yell at things that God has done for me and say he is worthy of my praise. It also soaks the fire of his love for God and I'll close with this illustration about Samuel Rutherford. Samuel Rutherford had a friendship with a woman named Lady Kenya. He'd actually married her to her two husbands who preceded her in death. He had buried all of her children with the most godly woman in the church and when he was exiled, he wrote her letters in March 1637. This is what he wrote. The love of Christ is like a long curtain with fold after fold after fold and every time I open one fold there are thirty more and I open them and open them and open them and the love of God and Christ just keeps unfolding. And then he said to her in this letter, I am so in love with his love that if his love were not in heaven, I should be unwilling to go there. When was the last time your heart was stoked like that? When was the last time your heart was warmed over by the things that God has done for you? The challenges you go home and you reflect and you think about, meditate upon all the things that God has done for you and may get a listen great praise in your heart as we pray.