18:1-19 The first words, I will love thee, O Lord, my strength, are the scope and contents of the psalm. Those that truly love God, may triumph in him as their Rock and Refuge, and may with confidence call upon him. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it. David was a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. God's manifestation of his presence is very fully described, ver. 7-15. Little appeared of man, but much of God, in these deliverances. It is not possible to apply to the history of the son of Jesse those awful, majestic, and stupendous words which are used through this description of the Divine manifestation. Every part of so solemn a scene of terrors tells us, a greater than David is here. God will not only deliver his people out of their troubles in due time, but he will bear them up under their troubles in the mean time. Can we meditate on ver. 18, without directing one thought to Gethsemane and Calvary? Can we forget that it was in the hour of Christ's deepest calamity, when Judas betrayed, when his friends forsook, when the multitude derided him, and the smiles of his Father's love were withheld, that the powers of darkness prevented him? The sorrows of death surrounded him, in his distress he prayed, Heb 5:7. God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.

Verse 3. - I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. Not so much a simple future, "I will call upon the Lord at some particular time," as a future of continuance, "I call, and will ever call, upon the Lord, worthy to be praised;" and so - i.e., so long as I call - shall I be saved from mine enemies (comp. Psalm 5:10, 12; Psalm 6:8-10; Psalm 10:15, 16, etc.).

I will call upon the Lord,.... In prayer, for fresh mercies, and further appearances of himself, and discoveries of his grace and favour;

who is worthy to be praised; for the perfections of his nature, the works of his hands, his providential goodness, and more especially for his covenant grace and blessings in Christ. The Targum is,

"in praise, or with an hymn, I pray before the Lord;''

agreeably to the rule the apostle gives, Philippians 4:6; and this prayer was a prayer of faith, as follows;

so shall I be saved from mine enemies: which was founded upon past experience of God's goodness to him in distress, when he called upon him, as the next words show.

3. to be praised—for past favors, and worthy of confidence.

Psalm 18:3 Parallel Commentaries

Psalm 18:3 NIV
Psalm 18:3 NLT
Psalm 18:3 ESV
Psalm 18:3 NASB
Psalm 18:3 KJV

Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible