My Rock and My Fortress
Of David.
144:1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle;
2 he is my steadfast love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield and he in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
3 O Lord, what is man that you regard him,
or the son of man that you think of him?
4 Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.
5 Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!
Touch the mountains so that they smoke!
6 Flash forth the lightning and scatter them;
send out your arrows and rout them!
7 Stretch out your hand from on high;
rescue me and deliver me from the many waters,
from the hand of foreigners,
8 whose mouths speak lies
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song to you, O God;
upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
10 who gives victory to kings,
who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouths speak lies
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12 May our sons in their youth
be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars
cut for the structure of a palace;
13 may our granaries be full,
providing all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands
and ten thousands in our fields;
14 may our cattle be heavy with young,
suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;
may there be no cry of distress in our streets!
15 Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!
Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!
Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord! Wow what a statement, what a thought! David recognized that the Lord is sovereign, that He is steadfast and man is not. This is David’s Isaiah 6 moment (or at least one of them), he sees not only himself, but all men as so insignificant that it is amazing that God would even consider them, even think of them.
As we enter into this season of remembering the birth of our Lord, we must also remember what David understood. Our blessings, our provision, our sustenance does not come from this world or the work of our hand, but from the Lord. It is His sovereign grace, and the fact that He doesn’t just consider us but loves us, that provides all we need.
It is easy in this season and this day to get entwined with the world’s view that man is basically good and that everyone will eventually go to heaven because God loves us all. The truth is God does love us all, and for that fact, there will be some who are treated as foreigners, who God will separate us from, and who God will stretch out his hand against.
Praise God for his blessings. Praise God for His Son who died for us. Praise God for His justice which will separate us from the foreigners. Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!!!
