the Third Week after Easter
Click to donate today!
Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 2 of 5
2 Samuel 22:1-19
The king’s last enemies have been wiped out. Like Israel after the Red Sea (v. 16 refers to it), like Deborah with Barak after their victory, and like Hannah after her prayer was granted, David can now celebrate the deliverance that the LORD has given him. He gives thanks to his Saviour in a song (v. 3). Do we also express our thankfulness in song? In meetings, or in the family circle it may well be so; but why should we not also do it when we are alone?
This song repeats a large part of Psalms 18. Like all the Psalms, it goes far beyond the experiences of the one who composed it. What are David’s sufferings indeed compared to those of the Lord? What are the violence and wickedness of Saul in comparison with the hatred of Satan, "the strong man"? Satan tried to frighten Jesus by the prospect of God’s wrath, then to entrap him in the "snares of death" (v. 6). But in Gethsemane Christ has been "heard for his piety" (Hebrews 5:7 — JND trans.). Truly, God could not spare His Son the ordeal of the cross, nor "make this cup pass from Him". But He did nevertheless answer by delivering Him from His "strong enemy", the devil (v. 18) and by drawing Him (by resurrection) "out of many waters" (v. 17), out of those terrible "waves of death" (v. 5).
