In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse study of the Bible, specifically focusing on David's Song of Deliverance in 2 Samuel 22. David recounts how God intervened and delivered him from his strong enemy, Saul, who was too powerful for him. David acknowledges that the Lord was his stay and brought him into a large place because He delighted in him. Despite facing waves of death and the sorrows of hell, David called upon the Lord in his distress, and God heard his cry and delivered him. The sermon emphasizes the importance of committing our ways to the Lord and trusting in His plan for our lives.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life and make you whole Welcome to The Word for Today, the broadcast ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible. And on today's edition of The Word for Today, we'll continue with more of David's Song of Deliverance as we pick up in 2 Samuel, chapter 22, verse 1. And now, with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith. And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all of his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. This song came early in David's career. It is thought that it was spoken by David when he had come to the establishment of the kingdom and had defeated the enemies all around him. And now his kingdom is firmly established. The king of Toy has sent messages of congratulations. And David acknowledged the Lord and God's providential care in this psalm. This psalm is identical to Psalm 18 with few variations that can be accounted to just the change of a letter here or there. Hebrew letters are quite similar. And so he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. The Lord as a rock is a common symbol, and as I suggest again, that you go through the Bible with a concordance and study how that the rock has become a symbol for God. He is our strength, strong as a rock. A place of defense as a rock. So the Lord is my rock, He is my fortress, He is my deliverer. The God of my rock, in Him will I trust. For He is my shield, the horn of my salvation, my high tower, chased like a partridge through the mountain. Would sometimes be up on the top of those lofty peaks. And the Lord is my high tower, He is my refuge, my Savior. So notice, rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, horn of salvation, high tower, refuge, Savior. And Thou savest me from violence. I will call upon the Lord, David said, because He is all of these things. He's my Savior, my refuge. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. And so shall I be saved from mine enemies. So, David, because God is his refuge, his strength, his fortress, he will call upon the Lord, and in calling upon the Lord, he is delivered, he is saved from the enemies. And so when the waves of death come past me or encompass me, the floods of the ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell come past me about, and the snares of death prevented me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried to my God, and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears. So he had seen the hand of God delivering him in many marvelous ways from the hand of Saul, and though he had been anointed by the Spirit of God to be king over Israel, he had that lapse of faith, the pressure, the constant pressure began to tell upon him. And oftentimes in our lives, as we are undergoing constant pressure, it begins to finally tell upon us, and we get discouraged. Though God has helped us, though God has delivered us so many times, we begin to think, oh, you know, it can't happen forever. I know that one day Saul's going to kill me, you know, and in that discouragement, but I will cry upon the Lord. When I'm in this distress, when I'm encircled by my enemies, I'll call upon the Lord. Now David speaks about how God intervened by many miraculous ways. The earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven moved and shook because he was angry. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and a fire out of his mouth devoured, and coals were kindled by it. He's speaking actually of the tremendous thunderstorm and the lightning by which he was delivered from the enemy. He bowed the heavens also and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and did fly, and he was seen upon the wings of the wind, and he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies, and through the brightness before him were the coals of fire kindled. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice, and he sent out arrows and scattered them, lightning and disconfitted them, and the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered at the rebuking of the Lord and at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. And he sent from above, and he took me and drew me out of many waters and delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me, for they were too strong for me. God intervened. Probably in one of the times when Saul had him cornered, looked like David's had it. And God sends this violent, extremely violent storm that David describes in very picturesque speech. How that God came and disconfitted Saul and all of his men, gave David the opportunity for escape. Tremendous lightning storm. These guys were seeking refuge. And David used it as an opportunity to escape. And he drew me out of the many waters. He took me and he delivered me from my strong enemy, who was, David acknowledged, too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. That is true. The Lord delighted in David. Even as the Lord delights in you as his child. God knows all about you. He knew all about David. He knew the weaknesses of David. And yet the Lord delighted in him. And the Lord rewarded me, he said, according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands, as he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all of his judgments were before me. And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. I also was upright before him. I have kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore, hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his eyesight. Now, this tune changed in time to come. As David sinned so completely and miserably in the sight of the Lord. And I believe that David after that had a much better relationship with God. Because now he was relating to God on the basis of God's mercy and God's grace rather than his righteousness. Oh, how happy is the man whose sins have been covered. Oh, how happy is the man to whom God does not impute iniquity. I'm relating to God in a whole new way. As a child of God living in the grace of God, God does not impute to me iniquity. But as I walk in the light, as he is in the light, I have fellowship with him as the blood of Jesus Christ is continually cleansing me from all of my sin. David said in verse 26, With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. With the upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure. And with the forward, thou wilt show thyself unsavory. And the afflicted people, thou wilt save. But thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down. For thou art my lamp, O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. So, God's dealing with men. Blessed are the merciful, Jesus said, for they shall obtain mercy. With the merciful, God will show himself merciful. With the upright, God will show himself upright. With the pure, he will show himself pure. But I am these things only as I am in Christ. My righteousness is not of my own making. It isn't of my own efforts. My righteousness is something that God has imputed to me through my faith in Jesus Christ. And so, by my faith and trust in Jesus Christ, he makes me merciful, upright, pure. For by thee, and I love this, David said, I've run through a troop. By my God, I've leaped over a wall. If there were another period of history, there's a couple of other periods of history I would like to have lived. I would like to have lived in the time of Christ. I would like to have been one of the disciples. I would have really loved that. Just kicking around the country with Jesus. To me, that would have been fantastic. I would have loved it. But I also would have loved to have lived in the times of David. I'd like to have been one of David's mighty men. Leaping over the walls with him. Pursuing the enemies. At times, I guess, being pursued by the enemies. But running through the troop, leaping over the walls. I mean, he's my kind of guy. I love David. Looking forward to meeting this fellow. He speaks of the Lord as his lamp. Lightening his darkness. As for God, now David said, his way is perfect. For the word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all of those that trust in him. Beautiful words. God's ways are perfect. Oh, God, help me to realize that. Sometimes I complain to God concerning his ways. I have a tendency sometimes to ask God, Lord, why did this have to happen? Lord, why have you made me thus? And yet I realize that God is sovereign. And as the potter, he has absolute power over the clay to make of it whatever kind of a vessel he wants. And yet here I am, the clay saying to the potter, hey, do you think that's necessary? I don't like that wrinkle that you've put in there. Can't you do something else? God's ways are perfect. God's dealing with my life is perfect. For it's tried, proven. And for those that trust in him, there's strength, the buckler. For who is God save Jehovah, and who is the rock save our God, other than our God. So God is my strength and power, and he maketh my way perfect. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth you. And then this beautiful, he maketh my feet like hind's feet, and setteth me upon my high places, sort of like an antelope, who stands on the tops of the mountains and his fleet of foot running over the mountains. So God has made my feet like hind's feet and sets me on the high places. And he teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of bronze, steel is a poor translation here, steel was not yet developed, a bow of bronze is broken by my arms. That is, God has given me enough strength to draw on a bronze bow. Now that took tremendous strength. I don't know how many of you fellows are familiar much with archery, but you can get bows of 60, 70, 80 pounds, pull on them. The bronze bow had a pulling strength of somewhere near 90 pounds. David speaks of God giving him strength so that he could draw with a bronze bow. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy gentleness has made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me so that my feet did not slip. Gave me big feet. I have pursued mine enemies and destroyed them and turned not again until I had consumed them. And I have consumed them and wounded them that they could not arise, they are fallen under my feet. Oh, God has been with me. God has helped me. God has delivered the enemies into my hands and now has also given me the necks of mine enemies that I might destroy them that hate me. They looked, but there was none to save them, even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I did stamp them in the mire of the strait and did spread them abroad. Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people and thou hast kept me to be the head of the heathen, a people which I knew not shall serve me. So God delivered the Edomites, the Moabites, the Ammonites and these nations round about into David's power really and they became subservient to David. Strangers shall submit themselves unto me as soon as they hear and they shall be obedient unto me. Strangers shall fade away and they shall be afraid out of their close places. The Lord liveth, blessed be my rock and exalted be God of the rock of my salvation. It is God that avenges me and that brings down the people under me and that bringeth me forth from mine enemies. Thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me. Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore I will give thanks unto the O Lord among the heathen. I will sing praises unto thy name for he is the tower of salvation for his king and showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David and to his seed forevermore. So the glorious psalm of David as he recognizes that God has been the one that has been with him, strengthened him, helped him, gave him power over his enemies, delivered the enemies into his hands and gave him to reign over the people having anointed him and thus his thanksgiving and praise and acknowledgement of God for the things that God had done in his life. Now these are the last words of David and as we pointed out the last words of a man are often cherished because a person when he stands at the door of death so often there on the border he begins to have a little view over the wall. He now becomes more conscious of the eternal things and as he speaks he so often speaks now of the eternal. You know he's not worried anymore about Del Taco or McDonald's where should we eat our hamburger you know. But now there is that eternal and the thoughts of the eternal and the mundane things have been sublimated and they're sort of cast aside as he begins to reflect on the real issues of life and upon eternity. And as David has come to this place ready to leave this realm of the material and enter into the eternal. David the son of Jesse the man who was raised up on high by God taken from the sheep coat and made king over Israel. The one who was anointed by God to be king when Samuel came to the house and poured that oil over him. The sweet psalmist of Israel. David left a legacy not only for Israel but for every saint and child of God through the ages in the Psalms. Comfort. Hope. Encouragement. Strength. Oh the Psalms are so rich as they minister to the people of God through all ages. What a blessing the Psalms. Think of the loss that we would have if we didn't have the Psalms. Where is it that you flip in the Bible when you're discouraged or you just feel, oh I need a quick fix, you know. I need help, I need strength. We flip to the Psalms and you don't have to read very far before God is speaking to you. You're encouraged, you're lifted up. You get perspective. God's on the throne, God's going to take care of it. This was the whole theme of David. The Lord is in control, rest in Him. Don't fret yourself because of the evil doers that bring evil devices to pass. Rest in the Lord, trust also in Him. Delight thyself in the Lord. And all of the help and the strength. The ministry of God's Spirit to our hearts through the Psalms. He was the sweet Psalmist of Israel. What a legacy he has left. We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study through the book of 2 Samuel in our next lesson as we review the last words of David. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us. 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And be sure to include the call letters of this station with your correspondence. And now, on behalf of The Word for Today, we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse study through the book of 2 Samuel. That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith. God bless you. And may the Lord guide you in His plan for your life. And may you learn as David to just commit your ways unto the Lord, knowing that the Lord will take care of things as you just submit your life, its facets, unto Him. And may God just continue to use you as His instrument in bringing His love to a needy world. The Word for Today Every year, Pastor Chuck gives his prophecy update to prepare Christians to be ready to give an answer for anyone who wants to know what the Bible has to say about the future. So it is with great excitement that The Word for Today presents to you this year's Maranatha VI conference entitled The Forming Confederacy. Join Pastor Chuck Smith, Mark Hitchcock, Don Stewart, Doug Hamp, and Arieh Eldad, the former senior commander of the Israeli Defense Force, as they help us to comprehend and unravel scriptures pertaining to the imminent forming confederacy coming against the nation of Israel. I encourage you, as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, to become informed about what the Bible says about the signs of the times and prophecy being fulfilled right before our very eyes. For more information on how you can order the Maranatha VI prophecy conference on DVD with a bonus mp3, call The Word for Today at 800-272-9673 or visit us online at thewordfortoday.org. This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.