11-14-13. 2 Samuel 22:1-20. MY GOD IS MY ROCK-my devotional

Key Verse: 22:3                                                                                                                                                        Kevin E. Jesmer

“my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.”

  Dear Lord heavenly father, than you for the gospel of Jesus that gives us hope and meaning, life and joy and peace. Where would I be without Christ and the gospel ? You satisfy my soul with good things. You give me peace in the midst of the storm. You provide all good things. You are an anchor and a rock in my life. Though this world is forever changing, you are God. You stay the same. Your love remains the same. I thank you for this. I depend on you. Thank you for blessing the marriage seminar. May it strengthen marriages. May all the couples be blessed. Help us all to grow in oneness and work to support marriages across America. I pray that you may bless the reading of your word. Inspire me and grow me in faith and in the mind of Christ. I pray in Jesus’ holy and mighty name. Amen!

Part 1: “The Horn Of My Salvation” (1-7).

Verses 1-7, “And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. 4 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. 5 “For the waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me 6 the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. 7 “In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears.”

Suffering led King David to a closer relationship to God. 2 Samuel 22:1-4, “And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. 4 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”  When David was young, he served King Saul. Later however, Saul tried to pursue David and kill him. Here David met God his deliverer. Through his life as a fugitive, David met God personally as his rock and his horn of salvation. It was a time of overwhelming distress, but it produced the everlasting testimony of the Lord through his life.

I can see the spiritual convergence that has occurred in David’s life, brought about by his life of hardship and suffering. We would hope to think that gaining ascendency to the kingship could be brought through low risk events and processes, but this is not the case. It was totally necessary for him to go through certain things to make him the man that he became. There was no other way. The path that God led him through was absolutely the right path.

The conclusion of all the events was that David sang to the Lord, songs of praise. This is amazing! He was hounded by a king who was bent on taking his life. After years of suffering and hardship, even with the rebellion and death of Absalom, David could sing songs of praise to the Lord. His suffering never made him bitter. His suffering never led him to doubt the love of God. He stayed steadfast and true to the Lord and his love for God grew through every hardship. He reminds me about Jesus, who suffered greatly at the hands of sinful humanity and never did doubt the love of his Father in heaven. I need to allow every trying moment in life to lead me to sing songs of praise to my Lord Jesus.

How is this possible? This is such a hard topic for people who are experiencing such hard suffering in life. Their suffering is very real and there are no easy answers. But it is possible to rejoice in the Lord when we can see what God is doing through it all. It is possible when we recognize convergence happening according to God’s sovereignty in our lives. Romans 8:28 reads, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (NIV) I have a few minor hardships in life.  There is a difficult work schedule. There are interpersonal sufferings in my relationship with those close to me in life. There are the common aches and pains. There are financial stresses and time constraints. These sufferings are nothing compared to what other people are going through, but they are my struggles nonetheless. How can I handle them? Do I just become a recluse and hide, seeking peace at any cost? Or do I see what God is doing in my life and family and ministry and sing praises to my Lord. Obviously the correct Christian response is the latter.  I pray for strength to always be drawn to Christ in each and every situation of life.

I love this song of David. It is so full of spiritual truth. It expresses the sentiments of all believers. Look at verses 2-7, “He said, ‘The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. 4 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. 5 “For the waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me 6 the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. 7 “In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears.” (ESV)  God truly is our rock and our deliverer. He is our refuge. He is the horn of salvation.

First Jesus is my rock, fortress and deliverer. 2 Samuel 2: 2-3 read, “He said, ‘The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.” A rock is a solid and unmovable foundation. It is a secure place of safety among the raging waters of life. We can stand on the rock and not be swept away. In the Midwest we are used to flooding. If you are swept away in a flood, you can find hope if you find a rock that you can cling to and stand upon. You will live and be rescued. Jesus is that rock. There are sinkholes in Florida swallowing up whole houses. But if the houses were built on the rock then it would never be swallowed up by a sinkhole. It would stand firm.  A huge rock will be a place or refuge to flee to when escaping a pursuing army. To win a battle an army must get the high ground. They must possess the hill top fortress. Then they have some hope for victory. The rock is our refuge. When Conan the Barbarian was running from pursuing wolves, he found a mound of rocks that he hid in and found an ancient burial site of a king. He found refuge and a sword in the rock mound. Jesus is all of this. He is our foothold in the storms and floods of life. He is the sure foundation. He is our mountain top fortress that brings us victory. He is our refuge where we can find rest from all that pursue us. I thank God for Jesus being all these things to me and my family. What else can we take refuge in if it were not the rock of Jesus? There is nothing in this world that can be the refuge and fortress for my soul.

Second, Jesus is the horn of salvation. Look at verse 2 Samuel 22:3 reads,  “my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.”  Let’s think more about what it means that Jesus is our horn. Luke 1:68-75 reveals more clearly what it means that Jesus is our horn of salvation.  Luke 1:68-69 reads, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”  (NIV)Horn refers to the horn of a bull or an ox that it uses as a weapon. The footnote says that “horn” symbolizes strength. Psalm 92:10 says, “You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox…my eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries…” (NIV)

Some people have been pierced by Satan’s horns. Doubt is surely one of his horns. Satan tries to make God’s people doubt God’s love. He tries to make us doubt God’s absolute word, doubt our salvation and even doubt God’s work in our lives. Jesus the horn of salvation can defeat the devil’s doubt. Another of Satan’s horns is fear. Hebrews 2:14 says that the devil holds us in slavery by our fear of death. He pierces us with the horn of fear. We fear failure; we fear sickness; we fear the future. We fear rejection. Jesus can surely defeat the horn of fear. Satan pierces us with the horn of despair. We give in to our old bad habits when we give up in despair. It is Satan’s horn. Jesus the horn of salvation defeats despair when we call on him for help. Satan sometimes pierces us with the horn of bitterness. We become bitter and feel like victims. The horn of salvation Jesus takes away bitterness and heals our hearts.

We need the horn of salvation to do battle for us in the spiritual realm. In Revelation 12, the devil is described as having seven heads and ten horns. This means that he is very smart and very powerful. He is the one who leads the whole world astray. We must know that we cannot defeat the devil by our own strength. But the horn of salvation, Jesus, is stronger than the ten horns of the devil. He defeats the devil and the power of sin by his death on the cross and by his glorious resurrection.

Jesus the horn of salvation can rescue wounded and powerless and raise them as powerful children of God and servants of God. He protects our hearts and makes us full of faith and joy. God sent the horn of salvation to rescue us from our enemy Satan and to enable us to serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. (Luke 1:74-75; NIV). Our God is faithful. What a blessing it is to serve God without fear. We need the healing that only Jesus the horn of salvation can give. Praise Jesus who is the horn of salvation for everybody.

If we truly believe that Jesus is our Rock and our horn of salvation, then we must learn to pray regularly and pray often. Verse 7 reads, “In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears.”  We need to call on the horn of salvation Jesus and receive his help. Then we can experience the truth that the horn of salvation is mightier than the horn of Satan. Then we can taste true peace from God.

Most times, in times of distress, I do not pray. I just become quiet and introverted. I just let “time” do its thing. But from David’s example I need to learn to pray and pray often. God delights in hearing and answering the prayers of his people. God’s ears are attentive to the prayers of 5 billion people on this planet. How can we ever think of defeating the power of the devil by our measly human efforts? It is not possible. The spiritual battle is more immense than we can ever imagine. There are actually spiritual battles involving nations and powerful angelic forces. (See Daniel 10) Who are we, except weak human beings? We need God. We need to pray to the Lord and cry out to him in our distress. Then he will answer in his time and in his way.

Part 2: “The Lord Was My Support” (8-20).

Verses 8-20, “Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked, because he was angry. 9 Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. 10 He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. 11 He rode on a cherub and flew; he was seen on the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness around him his canopy, thick clouds, a gathering of water. 13 Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth. 14 The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice. 15 And he sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning, and routed them. 16 Then the channels of the sea were seen; the foundations of the world were laid bare, at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. 17 “He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. 18 He rescued me from my strong enemy,    from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. 19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. 20 He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.”

The same God who led him step by step-to trust in him when he was facing the torrents of destruction-this was none other than the Almighty, the sovereign ruler of all creation. With prayerful discernment, David could see his rock thundering from heaven with an awesome display of heavenly glory. The Lord was powerful enough that at his rebuke, the very foundations of the earth were laid bare. At the same time he was tender enough to take hold of young David and rescue him for he delighted in him.

We need to have spiritual insight to interpret what God is doing. The events of the world are not just meaningless events. We need to see God at work in this world, answering prayers in the midst of calamity. We need to see the hand of God in the midst of the 70 tornadoes that set down ten states today. This is hard. We want to blame God saying, “Why?” I don’t know all the answers. No one does. But it trust God and I know the one that I must attune my heart to overcome. That one is Jesus Christ my Lord. He is high and exalted. He is our Lord, our Rock and our deliverer. This life can be full of distress. When we are confronted with such things, what have we been seeing? Are we seeing the calamity? Or are we seeing the Sovereign Lord over all creation, the Lord God almighty. May God open our eyes to his glory in each and every situation. This is the only way to stand up victoriously in all situations as we travel on our pilgrimage though this fallen world. Jesus is the way.

Prayer: Lord, you are my rock and the horn of my salvation. Help me to see you actively at work in this world and in my life.”

One Word: My God, my rock