Introduction:
An amazing and intense Psalm filled with worship and promise.
One of the things that makes this Psalm so amazing is it’s direct connection to 2 Samuel 22, giving us circumstance and story behind the Psalm.
In 2 Samuel 22, this exact Psalm appears almost as if it is David’s final words before his death.
What we are led to conclude is that this Psalm is a summary of worship and thanksgiving for God’s multiple deliverances of David throughout his long life of service.
This is a life in retrospect... a life of one of God’s children... who is looking back through time praising God for His visible work... David here sees and acknowledges God’s activity in His life.
This is a 50 verses to this Psalm broken into 6 sections which mirror one another.
And there are a number of suggested ways to read and divide this material up...
One of which, we’re not going to do but bears mentioning, is that this is a Messianic Psalm in that it prophecies about Jesus Christ covering His death (vs.1-6); His resurrection (vs.7-18); His exaltation (vs.19-27); His victory (vs.28-42); and His Kingdom (vs.43-50).
Transition:
For this Psalm, however, I believe that the primary application and theme that the Psalmist intends is the richest one... and we need to look no further than the first three verses of this Psalm to find David’s originally intended application.
vs.1-3
Can you hear David professing his love for God, who has shown Himself to be his deliverer and to be worthy of his praise... and David does this, the way only a Psalmist can do, using metaphor... beautiful, rich, deep metaphor.
Now... there are two kinds of metaphors which are used to portray God in these verses.
One kind relates to David’s military victories, picturing God as his “Strength,” “Shield,” and “Horn of Salvation.”
The other type relates to the times David was forced to flee from his enemies.
These images picture God as David’s “Rock,” “Fortress,” “Deliverer,” and “Stronghold.”
7 metaphors for God in all.
What I’d like to do over the next few Wednesday nights is discuss what each metaphor means in application to David and in application to us.
ROCK:
The most important of these, the theme of the psalm, is that the Lord was David’s “Rock.”
This metaphor occurs twice in vs.2, but it also appears later, in vs.31 and vs.46. The four form a meaningful sequence.
The LORD is my rock.
My God is my rock.
Who is the Rock except our God?
Praise be to my Rock!
Now... the Biblical metaphor “rock” has several applications and uses.
Metaphor #1:
First, it is an image for protection and share. In the hot, sandy lands of the Bible the struggle of life against the merciless elements is intense in a way we can hardly appreciate.
When the spring rains come a light carpet of green, doomed to be scorched by the sun and then covered with sand in just a few short weeks, will emerge on the desert’s edge. But set a rock in the sand, and soon a small oasis develops on the boulder’s leeward side.
The desert’s feeble life prospers under the rock’s protection. Similarly, a man traveling through the desert during the hottest hours of the day can find shade in the rock’s shadow and can survive and continue his journey.
These ideas are present in verses like Isaiah 32:2, which describes the king as “the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.”
It was because the Lord was David’s rock that he thrived.
Metaphor #2:
The second use of this image is to portray God as a refuge for His people.
This is the prominent idea in the 18th Psalm as David reminisces about God’s protection during the years when he was forced to hide from Saul and later Absalom.
When it comes to finding refuge in the rock... really there was no one better than David.
This guy would have been the hide and seek champion of all of Israel...
David knew every cranny, crack, and secret hiding place in the vast, rocky wilderness... so, when David fled to the rocks, he knew that he would be safe in their protection.
From the height of some great rock David could look down into the canyon below and watch his enemies pursue him hopelessly.
His safety was in the rocks, his comfort was in the rocks... his rest, his peace, his very life was in the rock.
Metaphor #3:
The third biblical image for rock has to do with foundations.
Most often the “rock” that is our God is contrasted with mire and sand... Psalm 40:2.
Jesus uses this same imagery in the closing lines of the Sermon on the Mount in which he contrasted the person who builds his life on sand with the person who builds on rock.
The person who builds on sand suffers the loss of everything when the rains come.
The house that is built on rock stands firm against the rains, flood, wind, and storm “because it has it’s foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:25).
The word “rock” is used about twenty-four times in the book of Psalms with reference to God.
The Rest of Scripture:
We can appreciate the use of “rock” better when we understand its Old Testament background... but what about the rest of Scripture... really quickly...
During the wilderness wandering, God caused water to flow from a rock.
Later, Moses was literally between a rock and a hard place in the wilderness — and for his own good. God hid him in the “cleft of the rock” and covered him with His hand for protection (Ex. 33:22).
With these background experiences, Moses was the first in Scripture to use the word “rock” in a figurative sense in connection with God. “The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are justice” (Deut. 32:4; cf. vv. 13,15,18,30,31,37).
Others in Israel would speak of God in the same figurative way. Hannah prayed, “There is none holy as Jehovah; For there is none besides thee, Neither is there any rock like our God” (1 Sam. 2:2).
The word “rock” is equated with the idea of strength.
- God is our source of strength in times of distress and danger.
- God is also our refuge.
Like Moses, we can hide in the cleft of “the Rock.” God will care for us.
“Rock” also typifies something about the nature of God.
- He is solid as a rock.
- He is unchangeable in nature — immutable.
- Moses had this in mind when he spoke of God’s ways and justice (Deut. 32:4).
The “rock” symbolism continues and perhaps is best completed in the New Testament with reference to Christ.
- He is the foundation, the chief-corner stone.
- He is the rock of offense to those who reject Him, but the spiritual rock for those who obey Him (Eph. 2:20; Rom. 9:33; 1 Pet. 2:8; 1 Cor. 10:4).
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