God Shows Us Himself

Musings on Psalm 18: 1-36

So, I began reading Desiring God with the first chapter titled "The Happiness of God: The Foundation of Christian Hedonism". That title struck me as bizarre but as I continued to read I found just how important the happiness of God is to my own happiness. If He is glorifying Himself (as He always is in some manner, even in a wicked world), He is full of delight. And ultimately, if I am glorifying Him in my life, I am full of delight. Why? Because my Father's happiness, my all-powerful Creator's happiness, brings me more joy than anything in this world ever can. Incredible thought...convicting and motivating thought.

All of this brings me to Psalm 18, which I turned to this morning as I enjoyed my usual pineapple yogurt. The first verse is powerful enough in itself: "I love You, O Lord, my strength." Do I love Him? Oh yes, but not as deeply as I should. Is He my strength? He has never failed me when I call on Him, but how often I fail to call on Him because I want to be able to handle life on my own strength. This psalm is beautiful and powerful for many reasons but to there is one major idea that kept coming to the forefront and causing me to worship:

God shows us Himself. God wants to show us Himself. God is not content that we have mere knowledge of His existence or authority, but that we embrace Him with our souls. And, truly, we will never be content with mere knowedge of His existence or authority unless we do embrace Him with our souls. Unless we bow to His power and will, pour out our praise and affections to Him, and seek Him until we find Him in all His glory.

Notice verses 4-15. What takes place here? David feels the weight of the world's emptiness (4-5), cries out to the Lord in distress, and He hears (6). But, then He answers, angry at the wickedness surrounding David, with multiple awe-inspiring demonstrations of His power (7-15). David asks the Lord for help and what does He do? He answers, in a big way that could not be interpreted as anything but the hand of God.

In verse 19, there is a phrase that holds more mystery for me than maybe anything in this chapter: "He rescued me, because He delighted in me." The Lord delighted in David? More profound, He rescues me because He delights in me? God reveals to me His saving power because He delights in me and because His delight in me brings delight to Himself. As the chapter continues, verses 20-24 describe the psalmist's obedience and faith.

And finally, in verses 25-26 (and up to verse 36) I find the stunning reality: God shows us Himself. He wants to show us Himself. But, it is amazing the way in which He shows us Himself. "With the kind, You show Yourself kind; With the blameless, You show Yourself blameless." As we seek to display the attributes of God, we discover the depths of their beauty. Yet another searching phrase appears in verse 26: "And with the crooked, You show Yourself (twisted)." We can also display our hardened hearts and our anger in our lives, and in return God reveals His anger toward us...all in an effort to reveal His holiness and ultimately to draw us back to the only One worthy of our worship.

He is our strength and shield. He upholds us. He rescues us. And everything about our God is everything we need to be fully satisfied. We not only are privileged through salvation to be able to serve Him and obey Him, we can delight in Him. As a bride delights in her husband and as a child delights in the love of her Father. We can be thrilled by the Word of God in the same way an epicure is thrilled by a gourmet feast.

God doesn't give anything to us by halves. Abundant grace. Abundant strength. Abundant love. And abundant joy, if only we would seek our joy in His.