Home > Reading > NALC Advent Devotions – December 19, 2017

Tuesday of the Week of Advent III

I love you, O Lord my strength,
O Lord my stronghold, my crag, and my haven.
My God, my rock in whom I put my trust, my shield,
the horn of my salvation, and my refuge: you are worthy of praise.
I will call upon the Lord,
and so shall I be saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:1-20)

Read the assigned verses of this psalm as you have time. It could be the script for a block-buster action movie! Don’t miss it! “The breakers of death rolled over me… the cords of hell entangled me… I called upon the Lord… he heard my voice from his heavenly dwelling… smoke rose from his nostrils and a consuming fire out of his mouth… he parted the heavens and came down with a storm cloud under his feet. He mounted on cherubim and flew; he swooped on the wings of the wind. He wrapped darkness about him, he made dark waters and thick clouds his pavilion. From the brightness of his presence…  burst hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord thundered out of heaven…. He loosed his arrows and scattered them; he hurled thunderbolts and routed them…. He reached down from on high and grasped me; he drew me out of great waters. He delivered me from my strong enemies and from those who hated me…but the Lord was my support!”

In this psalm, David writes of the deliverance he has received from the Lord. He speaks vividly of the challenge of his enemies, the attacks he endured, yet through it all, the Lord was his Savior. When we are facing challenges and difficulties in life, don’t we wish it would be the same for us? We call out to the Lord who hears our cries, parts the heavens and comes down to help us with a storm cloud under his feet! As David was an earthly king, he expressed his deliverance in militaristic terms, with the Lord God attacking David’s enemies with hailstones, arrows, thunderbolts and victory! God delivers us in a different way, as he comes to us, not with smoke from his nostrils and fire from his mouth, but as a baby, conceived of his Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. God comes to help us as the Word made flesh, the Word which is sharper than a two-edged sword, the Word which will not return to God empty!

Prayer: I love you, O Lord, my strength, my stronghold, in whom I put my trust. Amen.

Advent Action: Do you know someone who is struggling? Share this psalm with them, to give them courage and assurance.

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