Winter 1984
Behold God is My Salvation
Nancy Otis
Pinecrest Student

David found himself in many circumstances that caused him to cry to God for help. Many of the Psalms were written during the troubled periods of his life. We find him continually running and hiding from Saul, who was out to destroy him because he knew if he didn’t, David would be the next king, and his own house would be forsaken. Yet, David was never on the offensive; though he had many an opportunity to kill Saul, he refrained because he perceived that Saul was presently God’s anointed. David’s problem then was not one of conquering, but one of staying alive, preserving his life . . . he trusted in God to take vengeance upon his enemy. So, he was clearly in a position where he could not use his strength to prevail, he had to throw himself upon the mercy of God, which is what he did.

Therefore, we see in the Psalms that time and time again David gives glory to God for overcoming for him; he never ascribes strength to himself, but God. The following Psalm David spoke to the Lord the day He delivered him from Saul.

“I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.” Psalm 18:1-3, 46-47

God delivered him because he acknowledged his own weakness and fallibility and believed and trusted in God’s mercy and strength. Instead of allowing the adversities to make him bitter, David learned the secret of crying out to God. He never blamed God, only looked to Him for a way out. And in spite of the many dangers he faced at times, he never feared them, but he feared God.

This Salvation of God, which David cried out for, this Mighty Deliverer from all his foes, this place of hiding and shelter from all harm, this Shepherd that led him through the valley of the shadow of death . . . was the Lord Jesus Christ. He was God’s grace and mercy revealed to David’s heart in the most desperate of situations. Like Jacob, in crisis, he grasped hold of God.

What a rational thing to do, and yet something most of us fail at!

As stated before, David never tried to overcome in his own strength, but let God battle for him. This is significant. Rather than fighting, we see him always on the defensive, running (yet not in fear), and hiding from Saul. His battle then, consisted of remaining hid and secluded! What was he saying in his heart to God while in hiding? He begins to call God his fortress, his high tower, his refuge. He cries: “. . . hide me under the shadow of thy wings . . .” (Psalm 17:8) and declares boldly: “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me; he shall set me upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5). Perhaps most beautiful of all, he prays: “. . . lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings” (Psalm 61:2-4).

What did Saul and the other enemies represent in David’s life, and what might they represent in our own lives? There is another situation in which David finds shelter in God and calls Him his hiding place and deliverer. But here, he is not found running from Saul, but from something in his own life. Here in Psalm 32, it is sin that drove him into the arms of God. And here, God reveals to David His same nature in the face of this battle, as He had in the others: “For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shall preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance” (vs. 6-7). In verse 10 we read:’ “. . . mercy shall compass him about.”

What mercy! What a revelation that must have been to David. Until now, the battles in which he suffered, and in which God delivered him, had never been his fault – he was clearly in the right. Now we see him miserably wrong and yet because he cried to God, he was heard, and vengeance was taken upon this enemy also. Concerning the same sin he cried in Psalm 51:14 “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation . . .” Once again, David finds a hiding place in Him.

This leaves a pattern for us to follow. There are areas in our lives, sins, that always seem to be on our trail, wanting to overcome and consume us. There seems yet to be with us that nature that opposes itself against the new creation life in us. Sin would utterly destroy us and usurp the calling to rulership that God has given to us though the Lord Jesus Christ. We can only win in the same manner that David did: not by our own strength, for by strength shall no man prevail (1 Samuel 2:9), but by looking steadfastly to the Rock of our salvation, to Jesus Christ who has already conquered all upon the cross. We must learn to run to Him regardless of what we’re faced with, that we might find in Him what He was to the Psalmist: a hiding place, a refuge from trouble, and know for ourselves the free and flowing mercy of our God and Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.