READING FOR JUNE 10, 2025: 2 SAMUEL 22, GALATIANS 3, PSALM 52:1-4 2 SAMUEL 22 This chapter is almost identical with the mighty Psalm 18. Verse one says David “spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” Verses 2-7 This is a song of praise describing what God is to him: his strength, his rock, his fortress, his deliverer, his refuge, his shield, his salvation, and his stronghold. David praises God for answering his call. (How often do people ignore our calls, texts, emails or we do likewise to others? Not our Lord.) David praises God for hearing his personal distress cry, even though the universe God rules from His Temple is vast. (Try getting a response from the leader of any organization.) No wonder Noah offered a sacrifice immediately upon emerging from the Ark. No wonder Moses wrote a praise song immediately after crossing the Red Sea. No wonder Joshua piled up memorial stones after crossing the Jordan. No wonder the one leper came back to praise God for healing. Does God ever wonder where we are when we fail to offer Him praise for who He is and what he has done for us? Verses 8-20. David was not content just to say God helped him. His language was a touch more evocative. When God heard David’s cry for help, the earth shook, the mountains trembled, smoke emerged from God’s nostrils, and fire flamed from His mouth. God immediately came by bending the sky, bringing down darkness, and flying to the rescue on a cherub at the speed of the wind. God’s voice thundered from the sky, accompanied by hailstones and fiery coals. God scattered David’s enemies with arrows and flooded their way with deep channels of water. God then rescued David from the danger of the waters and his powerful enemies. Finally, God comforted David and placed him in a safe place. Why did God do this? Because God delighted in David. NEWS FLASH: GOD DELIGHTS IN US IF WE ARE HIS. Psalm 147:11 says, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.” Remember a time when God delivered us. Let’s reword our memory of it using speech worthy of who God is, what God did, and why God did it. Use David’s example. Verses 21-30. This is a Psalm David spoke after God delivered him from his enemies. As we saw from the first 20 verses, David was over the top in His praise to God for rescuing Him. No one could accuse him of thinking he achieved this result on his own. These 10 verses might make us a little uneasy, though. Is David being a bit too self-righteous? Here is a perspective from Biblical scholar Dr. R. Herbert: “In the Hebrew Bible the word sedek, which is often translated as ‘righteousness.’ literally means ’straightness’ as opposed to ‘crookedness,’ but it is usually used of the status of relationships rather than as a measure of perfection.” Sedek is the word used here. David is far from perfect, as we have repeatedly seen. He did, however, start out walking with the Lord and here rightly ascribes all credit to God: “For Thou dost light my lamp; the Lord my God illumines my darkness” (Psalm 18:28). As David did, let’s walk in the light of God’s word. In addition, let’s balance any confidence we might feel from our relationship with God with wisdom from the New Testament: “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (James 4:10). Verses 31-51 David’s Steps to Victory: Start and End with God
- Verses 31-32 God’s qualities
- Verses 33-37 God’s strengthening of David
- Verses 38-49 David’s enemies defeated by God
- Verses 50-51 David’s praise offered to God
Perhaps this process can serve us in battles we are facing today. (Eph. 6:12 reminds us that our battles today are against evil forces and not people!) Pray the following steps:
READING FOR JUNE 10, 2025 CONTINUED: 2 SAMUEL 22, GALATIANS 3, PSALM 52:1-4
- Your ways God are perfect and your Word is trustworthy. You are my shield, refuge, leader, and rock (vs. 30-31). (Only pray this if you mean it! God knows our hearts.)
- Strengthen me, God, and keep me from disobeying you. Prepare me for the challenge(s) I currently face. Keep me from falling with your gentle hand (vs.32-36).
- Deliver and rescue me from (fill in the blank) and be the God of this victory (vs. 37-48).
- Thank you for your deliverance and kindness to me and all who care for me (vs. 49-50).
GALATIANS 3 Remember that Peter upset Paul when he withdrew from eating non-kosher food with Gentile believers in Antioch once Jewish Christians arrived. Peter’s action falsely signaled that faith in Jesus was not sufficient. Now Paul gets back to the situation in Galatia. He pointedly asks, who led them to believe that faith in Jesus is not sufficient and that following the Mosaic law is required for salvation? Paul reminds them their great patriarch Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised. He goes on to say God promised that all nations would be blessed through Abraham’s seed: Jesus. He quotes scripture that demanded obedience to the entire law, which Paul says is not possible. Again, he quotes the Old Testament to show what will save: “The righteous one will live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4).
Paul asks rhetorically, why was the Mosaic law given? Remember, the promise to Abraham had been given before the 400-year stay in Egypt, a land of false gods. During that time, the violations by Abraham’s descendants of God’s commands reached a point that angels asked that the people be given this law to help them maintain their special relationship with God until Jesus entered the world. The law in no way contradicted the promise or covenant made before with Abraham, but neither did it provide for individual righteousness. Paul said the law kept Israel protected as a set-aside people until Jesus came. Plus, it actually pointed faithful people to Jesus. Having served its purpose, the focus now must be faith in Jesus. Believers are now clothed in His righteousness, not our works. Our primary identity is belonging to Jesus, not as a Greek, Jew, boss, slave, male and female. We are all now heirs of Abraham through faith. Many people still believe we are saved by being more good than bad or perhaps better than others. Please know that we are saved only through faith in the work of Jesus on the cross.
PSALM 52:1-4 This Psalm has David speaking to an Edomite (descendant of Esau) named Doeg, although not in his presence. David’s is reacting to Doeg’s providing information to Saul about David’s interactions with the priest Ahimelech, who assisted David (1 Sam. 21-22). This led Saul to command Doeg to kill Ahimelech and 84 fellow priests. David, perhaps sarcastically, calls Doeg a mighty man because he killed 85 defenseless priests and boasted about it. He reminds him that God is faithful. In this case, this affirmation about God’s faithful- ness seems to be meant as a threat to the doer of violence. There is no getting away with anything with God.
Interestingly, all of David’s condemnations are directed toward the words of Doeg rather than the violent acts that the words brought forth. This should give us pause. Not many of us will kill 85 people in the next few days, but do we ever speak deceitfully or even enjoy gossiping about evil? “See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our body’s parts as that which defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell” (James 3:5-6). Once we begin speaking carelessly or unlovingly, the consequences can be far worse than we can imagine.
