(2 Samuel) the Grateful Retrospect — David Guzik

David’s Frailty and the Strength of Others

Tonight, we meet on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and it's fitting for the passage of Scripture that we're going to take a look at tonight once we get into chapter 22. Let's take a look at where we left off last time, 2 Samuel, chapter 21, verse 15.

These last four chapters of the book of 2 Samuel are sort of a catch-all basket, just assorted events from the later reign of King David over Israel. There's not necessarily a chronological arrangement of the events in these last four chapters, but it's just sort of some things that the Holy Spirit wanted us to know from these last years of David's reign.

2 Samuel 21, beginning at verse 15. When the Philistines were at war with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines, and David grew faint. Then Ishbi Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was 300 shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David.

But Abishai, the son of Zariah, came to his aid and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.

Well, we see there in verse 15 that it says that David grew faint. And it's true that even a great man of God grows old. I mean, David had his years as this young warrior slaying Goliath as a teenager, winning great battles against the Philistines and other nations set against the Lord and the Lord's people in the early years and even up much into his adulthood.

But now David's pushing, oh, I don't know, 60, 70. And he's just not as young as he used to be. You know, as I think about this and picture in my mind, I picture 65 year old David being able to whoop my tail in a minute.

But, you know, Philistine giants of Philistine giants and David just can't compete with them anymore. And so his his life was endangered as he grew faint in a battle against one of the descendants or relatives of Goliath.

And it sort of makes us ask the question, what's the people around him going to do? You know, when they see this weakness in their king, how do they react? Do they say, well, you know, David's getting old now out with the king, let's get a new one.

Or are they going to say, well, I guess we don't have to obey David much anymore. No, when they saw this weakness in their leader, they understood that it could be explained. I mean, there was a good reason for this weakness.

David's getting older. This wasn't sin on his part. This wasn't any kind of moral failing. This was just frailty and old age. And so what they did was outstanding. They rallied around their leader and supplied what he couldn't.

David, you don't have the same strength anymore. Let us be your strength. And that's exactly what Abishai, the son of Zariah, did. Did you notice it there when it describes in verse 17, it says Abishai, the son of Zariah, came to his aid and struck the Philistine and killed him.

David was growing faint. He couldn't do that work for himself anymore. But it's OK. He has people around him who can do it for him. And so when David's strength failed, God protected him through the strength of other people.

We need to understand this, that God will allow us to be put into positions where we need the strength of other people. You may not like those positions. You may be that sort of Lone Ranger kind of person that the solitary person who just wants to fight every battle on your own.

God will deliberately put you in situations where you need to rely on the strength of someone else in the family of God. Remember what it said in Ecclesiastes chapter four, where it says two are better than one.

They will have a good reward for their labor, for if they fall, one will lift up his companion, but woe to him who's alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him. The one may be overpowered by another.

Two can withstand him. Well, that's the whole idea here. David was too weak, too frail in his old age to fight these battles on his own. But if he had people around him to help him, well, then he could rely on their strength as well.

But at the end of it all, in verse 17, we sort of have a logical reaction here. The men of David swore to him, saying, you shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel. David, you're retired from the field of battle.

That's it. You know, you're sixty five, seventy years old, no more taken on Philistine giants in their young 20s. You know, when you were 60, you could do it, but not when you're 20. And so we don't see the lamp of Israel go out now.

Now, David, you're retired from the field of battle. And David understood this. David submitted to this. He wasn't stubborn in his older age. Verse 18. Well, by the way, let me say that I guess we just have to point out.

That old age does not bestow an automatic blessing upon people, you know, in ancient cultures, they venerated the elderly person in a way that I think is very healthy and very good. But the idea was that if you're older, you were wiser.

You had character shaped by the years. And oftentimes, thank God, that is the case, but not necessarily. You can find people to whom the years have made them bitter instead of better, that the years have made them more stubborn instead of more submitted to the will of God.

And David wasn't like that. He allowed these ongoing years to draw him closer to the Lord. Verse 18. Now, it happened afterward that there was a battle again with the Philistines at Gob and Sheba, the Hosea fight, killed Saf, who was one of the sons of the giant.

Again, there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan, the son of Jera, Oregon, the Bethlehemite, killed the brother of Goliath, the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

Yet again, there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Twenty four in number. He was also born to the giant. So when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David's brother, killed him.

These four were born to the giant and Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. We see the lesson here to the end of the chapter is that David's men could still slay giants, even if David couldn't.

The giants were still going to get beaten. It was just a matter of David wasn't going to do it directly, that the people around him These men accomplished heroic deeds when David was finished fighting giants and God will continue to raise up leaders when the leaders of a previous generation passed the scene.

You know, sometimes we look at great lights in the Christian world, great men and women of God who seem to be advancing in age and you wonder, well, what's going to happen when they pass from the scene?

I'll tell you what's going to happen. God will raise up other leaders. There's no problem with this with God. And when David, the great killer of giants, was no longer able to do it. No problem. God raised up four in his place.

Now, you might say it took four men to take the place of David, but, you know, God had those. God will raise up new leaders. I think we also see in this something remarkable in that David's legacy lay not only in what he accomplished, which was great, but his legacy also lay in what he left behind.

He left behind a people prepared for victory. All those triumphs that David had, they were meaningful not only for himself, but for other people who learned victory by David's own teaching and example.

I mean, honestly, what's better? One David who goes out and kills giants or four men beyond him who can do it? You see, David had both. He accomplished it himself, but he was also able to pass it on to others and raise up four giant killers in his place.

You know, the Apostle Paul emphasized this. He said in one of his letters to pastors, he said, find faithful men and pour your life into them is essentially what he told Timothy. You show them the things that I've taught you.

And that's what David did with these four giant killers. Did you see that interesting reference there in verse 20 about the guy with six fingers and six toes? You know, it's interesting. You read commentators and after you read commentators after a while, you feel like you kind of get to know these guys and you can almost anticipate what they're going to say.

There was this one fellow who wrote towards the end of the of the 18th century, Adam Clark, the beginning of the 19th century and of the 18th century, Adam Clark. And he he just has a particular personality and characteristic about him.

And I just knew that Adam Clark was going to mention two or three cases of people he knew that had six hands, six hands, six fingers or six toes. And wouldn't you know, Adam Clark does exactly that. He mentioned a couple of people in his own day just to let you know that this really happens.

And that's just sort of characteristic of Adam Clark. I've never met a person with six fingers or six toes, but I'm sure they're out there. But you see as well here at the very last verse of the chapter, it says that these four were born to the giant and gap and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Now, with these four particular giants, I don't know that David lifted up his hand against any one of them. But do you see what it says? It says by the hand of David and the hand of his servants. You see, the whole idea there is that the defeat of the four giants could rightly be credited to both David and the servants, because David raised up the giant killers who went out and did the job.

Psalm 18 as David’s Grateful Retrospect

Now, chapter 22. Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. Second Samuel, chapter 22, is a remarkable psalm of praise.

It's one of the longer psalms in the Bible, by the way, if you'd like to take notes in your Bible, right next to the number 22 there where it says Second Samuel 22, right. Psalm 18, because this is virtually the same psalm as Psalm 18.

There's a few minor variations. Some people believe that David composed this psalm as a young man in gratitude for the Lord, and perhaps in his older age, he repeated it here with just a few changes at the end of his reign.

You know, for many reasons, most commentators assume that this was a psalm that David sung and wrote many years before this time. You'll see why in a few minutes when we get to it. But the assumption is that David must have sung this psalm before his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, and they just kind of assume that, well, David must have sung this psalm before and now it's inserted just sort of out of chronological order.

I agree that's possible, but I'd like to suggest to you that it's not necessary. This psalm is, well, it's almost David's final words, and I think it's his grateful retrospect over his whole ministry.

I mean, here we are the evening before Thanksgiving Day, and it's a great time for us to look at a psalm like this, when David is going to give great thanks to the Lord for all the ways that God has blessed him and touched him during his great reign as king.

And David sung the song after he saw the Lord's deliverance in great, great power. In his life, let's take a look. Beginning out verse two, and he said. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, the God of my strength in him, I will trust my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior.

You save me from violence. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. Did you see here in the first couple of verses of this great psalm of praise, how David piles title upon title in praising God, my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.

You know, this is one of the great glories of the Psalms and one of the reasons why we need to become familiar with them. Do you feel limited in your vocabulary before God? You know, God, I love you. I love you.

God, you're good. You're good, good. You're extra, super good. Well, it's helpful to read the Psalms in those situations and to let the Psalms become deeply impressed upon your heart. It will give you a genuinely spiritual eloquence.

Now, we don't care about rhetorical eloquence. You know, for a person to be able to spin out beautiful words in prayer where people who listen to him pray, you know, oh, my, what a spiritual man this is.

This is the most wonderful prayer that's ever been delivered before an audience. You know, it's ignoring that the prayers made to God. I'm not talking about rhetorical eloquence in the sense of speech making.

I'm talking about true spiritual eloquence. And spiritual eloquence comes from knowing God and knowing his word. Now, David could have just said, Lord, you're always there for me. Which is true, but how about this?

You're my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, the God of my strength. It's the same idea, but it's expressed in a vivid, poetic way. I think this is one of the great reasons why God gave us the book of Psalms so that we would really grow in our godliness and in our ability to communicate with the Lord.

Now, if you want to know truth and theology, well, then fine. The whole Bible is there for you. But if you want to grow in godliness, spend a lot of time in the Psalms. It'll deepen your own personal relationship with God.

For the past many, many months, the focus of my own devotional time has been in the Psalms. Matter of fact, for the last many months, that's about all I've read in my devotional time before the Lord. And it's been doing a beautiful work in my own life.

And you can see why when you see David's great spiritual eloquence. I mean, after all, take a look at it there again in verse two. He says the Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, the God of my strength.

Now, isn't that significant? That's much more than saying God is a rock. God is a fortress. God is a deliverer. Now, I might know theoretically that God's a rock. I might know theoretically that God is a fortress that I can find refuge in as someone that theoretically can deliver people.

And I'm a people, so he might deliver me. It's an entirely different thing to say he's my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. This speaks to the fact that David is experiencing these things. And that's the great legacy of the Psalms for us.

It's rich in Christian experience. And I think as I look by and large at the body of Christ today, there's such a crying need for genuine, deep Christian experience. To have a deep experience with God and David experienced the Lord's deliverance.

God delivered David from Goliath. God delivered David from Saul. God delivered David from backsliding. God delivered David from Israel's enemies. God delivered David from Absalom. You know, I think the greatest deliverance that God wrought in the life of David.

When God delivered David from David. From the own sinful passions that used to rain over and ruin his life. God has delivered David from those. And so he looks back and says, Lord, you've delivered me.

You're my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. I have experienced these things from you. He goes on and he says, verse three, the God of my strength in whom I will trust. You know, when we seek God for who he is, it's easy to trust him.

When you know by experience that God is a rock and a fortress and a deliverer and a shield and a stronghold and a savior, it's natural to trust him completely. I mean, you just do. Faith does not completely depend on knowledge, but right knowledge of God gives strength to faith.

David knew who God was, and so it gave strength to his faith. Notice what he says there towards the end of verse three, where he says, my savior, you save me from violence. Do you see the connection? My savior, you save me.

He just doesn't know this as a title of God. Well, isn't it wonderful to have this title of God's savior? Yes. Nice title. Isn't that wonderful? No, he says you have saved me. Every title is meaningful to David because God has fulfilled the meaning of each title in David's experience.

This isn't like the list of the names of God that you might find in a systematic theology, which might be felt well and good. But this is the knowledge of God combined with the right experience of God.

So David calls out to the Lord. Did you see it there in verse four? I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. You know, it's good for us to pray to God, to approach him as someone who deserves our praise.

He deserves it. Suddenly, then our worship, our praise doesn't become a matter of how much we feel like praising God at a particular moment. Instead, it gets transformed into something. Listen, God deserves it.

I'm going to give it to him because he deserves my praise. Well, now, in the second section of the psalm, beginning at verse five, David's going to talk about his deliverance and where it comes from. I'm going to read all the way through to verse 20.

The Danger Surrounding David’s Deliverance

So follow carefully here, beginning at verse five. When the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me. The snares of death confronted me in my distress.

I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple and my cried enter his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken because he was angry.

Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under his feet. He rode upon a cherub and flew and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

He made darkness canopies around him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies from the brightness before him. Coals of fire were kindled. The Lord thundered from heaven and the most high uttered his voice.

He sent out arrows and scattered them lightning bolts and he vanquished them. Then the channels of the sea were seen. The foundations of the world run covered at the rebuke of the Lord at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

He sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity.

But the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. Did you catch the sense of danger that David spoke about beginning at verse five? The waves of death, the floods of ungodliness, the sorrows of Sheol, the snares of death.

Now, how do you like that? Do you want to see the great deliverance of God? Oh, I want to see the great deliverance of God. Well, do you want to be put in a situation where you just absolutely have to see the great deliverance of God?

Oh, no, no. I want to see the great deliverance of God, you know, from from the easy chair, from the rocking chair. No way you want to see the great deliverance of God. Get ready for the waves of death.

Get ready for the floods of ungodliness, the sorrows of Sheol, the snares of death. That's what goes along with the great deliverance of God. When danger surrounded David on every side, physically, spiritually, emotionally, socially, David was on the brink of ruin when he cried out to God.

What did he say? He said right there, in my distress, I called upon the Lord. That's in verse seven. I think Satan has a strategy against us to make us think that we can't call upon the Lord in our distress.

You know, as if we have to be right with God and sitting peacefully in a prayer chapel before he can really pray right, pray rightly. No, David was in tremendous distress, but he called out. He knew that God hears distress signals.

And that's what he did. He called out to the Lord in his distress. And what did he know? He knew that the Lord heard his voice. Did you see that in verse seven? He heard my voice. It was that simple. He cried out to God and God heard.

Now, he also knows that God can't hear the distress of his people without taking action. You know, there's people who all they have to do is hear of the problem and they set about to fix it. That's how God is.

He hears of your problem. You know, he's going to work on it. You know, he is. There's no doubt about it. And what does he do? This perhaps one of the most precious passages in this psalm. If you take a look at verse eight, it says, then the earth shook and trembled.

The foundations of heaven moved and shook. You know, God was so concerned about David's problem that it seemed that heaven and earth shook to meet David and his need. You know, it's as if God gets up out of his throne.

But wait a minute. David's in trouble. God comes down off of his throne from heaven. You know, he rides down on the cherubim, the fastest cherub he can find. I'm going to ride right down. I'm going to send the thunder.

I'm going to send the earthquake, anything to help my servant. That's how David felt. That's how loved he felt from the Lord. He pictures the Lord coming to meet his need, coming with glory and speed.

It came so fast that it seemed like God traveled upon the wings of the wind. And then he he uttered his voice. Did you see that in verse 14? The Lord thundered from heaven and the most high uttered his voice.

When God spoke on David's behalf, it's as if he commanded all creation to respond to his passionate desire to deliver his child. Hey, you get busy. My child's in trouble. You you minister to him, creation.

It's as if we see in this David's great confidence in the love of God. I mean, David has such a sense of God's love for him that God won't tolerate the distress of his beloved when things aren't right for his beloved.

All creation has to see his passion and his urgency to meet the need of the one God loves. And so do you see how David describes it there? It's beautiful. In verse 17, 18, he says he sent from above. He took me.

He drew me out of the many waters. He delivered me. He took me. He drew me. He delivered me. David saw that God applied all his majesty and strength to meeting his need. The problems, the challenges, they were too big for David.

They were too strong for him. Did you notice that in verse 18? He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. David knew this is bigger than what I can do.

This was miraculous. If God had not sustained me, I would have fallen. Now, that's where God wants us. God wants us venturing out into places where if he doesn't support us, if he doesn't come through, we're going to fall for sure.

There's not a prayer. If God doesn't come through and David knew this, he said, if I didn't have the Lord for support, I would have surely fallen, felled, fall. He would have been ruined. I notice here how he says it at the end of verse 20.

He brought me out into a broad place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. David had a sense that God delighted in him. His plea for deliverance was rooted in relationship. You know, when you have a problem.

You'll take that problem to people whom you have a real relationship with. Or you may take the problem just to anybody who can help. Now, David took it to the Lord out of relationship. This wasn't just a desire to survive.

It wasn't just like, well, OK, Lord, can you help me? Baal, can you help me? Saul, can you help me? Anybody help. If God will tell me, great. Anybody else? No, David wasn't thinking like that at all. He came to the Lord because the Lord delighted in him and he knew it.

David’s Cleansed Righteousness After Sin

And why? Why would God deliver David? Look at verse 21. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands, he has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God.

For all his judgments were before me. And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also blameless before him and I kept myself from iniquity. Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his eyes.

Now, these few verses here, 21 through 25, these are one of the great reasons why many people believe that David had to have penned this psalm before he sinned with Bathsheba. They say, listen, David would never talk like this after his sin with Bathsheba.

He would never say, Lord, look at my righteousness. Look at the cleanness of my hands. Look at my blamelessness before you. But I would ask you to take a look at the first verse of this chapter again.

The text seems to indicate that David sang this towards the end of his days. Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord had delivered him from all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

Well, some people say, well, it must have been right after Saul was dead. Not necessarily. I would say context suggests for us that this was delivered as a psalm towards the end of David's reign. I say, well, wait a minute.

How could David possibly go before the Lord and say, look at my righteousness? Lord, look at my cleanness. I want you to remember something. First of all, even before God delivered him from the hand of Saul, David had a significant period of backsliding in his life.

You'll find that towards the end of the book of First Samuel. David got so discouraged from the years of Saul chasing him around the Judean countryside that one day David said, there is nothing better for me than to go and live among the Philistines.

David left the land of God. He left the people of God and he lived among the pagans as a pagan. Do you know what David did for a living during that year that he lived among the Philistines? He became a bandit.

Literally, he went around raiding people. Now, he wouldn't raid Judean towns. He would raid Philistines or Amorite towns, things like that. But David basically became a bandit. He became so backslidden in his heart that when the Philistines were gathering an army to go against the people of Israel, David tried to enlist his troops to fight for the Philistines against the Israelites.

And it was only because the Philistines rejected him that he did not fight for the Philistines against the Israelites. Friends, this was backsliding. Now, God shook David out of it. And that's a whole other story in itself.

But I want you to know it's not like David lived this amazing sinless life all up until the time that he sinned with Bathsheba. There was a significant period of backsliding in his life before Saul ever died.

The second thing I want you to understand is I think that it's very possible that David could have sung this psalm at the end of his days after the sin with Bathsheba. Why? Because he believed the word of the Lord.

Well, what do you mean? All right. Keep your finger here in 2 Samuel 22. Turn back to 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 13. We're familiar with this dramatic encounter that David had with Nathan, the prophet, when Nathan, the prophet, called David on this sin that David had been hiding.

But look at what Nathan says to David in 2 Samuel 12, 13. Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. Well, did you see that?

What did God do with David's sin? He put it away. David, you're forgiven. You're clean again. You've been made clean. David knew he was a forgiven man and that the cleanness of his hands. Well, they were clean, but they were clean because they had been cleansed by God.

So when David stands before the Lord and verse 21 says, according to the cleanness of my hands, he has recompensed me. He's standing before the Lord and he's saying, Lord, my hands are clean, but you've washed them.

I'm not standing before you in some kind of feigned sinless perfection. No, my hands have been dirtied, but you have cleansed them. I mean, if you were to read this paragraph, the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness.

I'm at verse 21, 2 Samuel 22. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands. He has recompensed me for I have kept the ways of the Lord and I have not wickedly departed from my God for all his judgments were before me.

And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. If you were to go to David and say, well, come on, David, what about this whole Bathsheba thing? Who are you trying to kid? David would say, oh, absolutely.

And do you see how the Lord dealt with me when I sinned with Bathsheba? Oh, the consequences I suffered. Oh, God's correcting hand against me. Oh, the cleansing I needed. You see, even though David sinned in this area, by and large, he's still the man after God's own heart, the man blessed by God.

And so he says, I have kept the ways of the Lord. He says there, verse 22, I have not wickedly departed from my God. He's not claiming sinless perfection, but a general righteousness that's observable in his life, but more importantly, is given to him by God.

I like what Charles Spurgeon said about this claim of David. He said before God, the man after God's own heart was a humble sinner, but before his slanderers, he could, with unblushing face, speak of the cleanness of his hands and the righteousness of his life.

You see, David's not being arrogant here. He's just saying, look at those who are out, look at my enemies. Lord, I'm walking with you and they're not. There's another line in these verses that sort of interest me.

It's in verse 24, where it says, I was also blameless before him, and I kept myself from iniquity. Some think this is arrogance or pride on David's part. Spurgeon quoted one commentator who said, kept himself who made man his own keeper.

And what he's doing is criticizing David there. David, how dare you say I kept myself from iniquity? You should only say, oh, it was only the Lord that kept me. Well, no, I don't think that's true. We know that there is certainly a sense in which we must keep ourselves from sin, even as Paul spoke of a man cleansing himself for God's glory and greater service.

In Second Timothy, chapter two, verse twenty one. Paul says that if any man cleanses himself from some sins that he has just mentioned, he will be an honorable vessel for God to use. I've always been fascinated by that phrase cleanses himself.

What do you mean cleanse myself? I thought only Jesus cleansed me. What? Yes, there's very true that there's a sense in which only Jesus can cleanse us. But friends, there is another aspect in which Jesus says, cleanse yourself.

There is certainly a sense in which only Jesus can keep us from iniquity. But there's another sense in which Jesus says you keep yourself, not keep yourself apart from me, but I am going to work in you and through you for your keeping from iniquity.

I guess I'm emphasizing this because sometimes I despair when I see this in Christians, or perhaps I despair when I see it myself. This overly passive attitude in the Christian life. Well, Lord, if you want me to be clean, then just cleanse me.

Oh, Lord, well, if you want to keep me from iniquity, then you keep me. God would say, well, yeah, I want you to be kept from iniquity. So you have my heart and you keep yourself from it. Not that you keep yourself from it by saying, oh, Lord, you get away.

I'll handle this. But no, Lord, you fill me. You work in me. You work through me. And then I can keep myself from iniquity. Well, that's the first part of the psalm. Now, it's interesting. This psalm basically has three points in the first part.

The three points in the first part are number one, David praises God. Number two, David talks about how his deliverance comes from God. And number three, he talks about why God delivered him. Now we're going to count down three to one, because first David's going to speak about why God delivered him.

Then he's going to speak about how his deliverance comes from God. And then he's going to finish the psalm with praising God again. It's almost like he goes one, two, three, three, two, one at the end of the psalm.

Mercy, Humility, and God’s Response

So now we're in the middle point. Again, more reasons why God delivered David. Verse twenty six. With the merciful, you will show yourself merciful. With a blameless man, you'll show yourself blameless.

With the pure, you'll show yourself pure. And with the devious, you'll show yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people. But your eyes are on the haughty that you may bring them down. You are my lamp, O Lord.

The Lord shall enlighten my darkness, for by you I can run against a troop. By my God, I can leap over a wall. With the merciful, you'll show yourself merciful. Jesus discussed this principle in the Sermon on the Mount.

Do you remember those words of his? He said in Matthew chapter seven, one, excuse me, seven, two, which is right after Matthew seven, one. Curiously enough, Matthew chapter seven, verse one is the most quoted verse in the Bible.