Mensa Otabil - The Lord Responded
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We’re in Psalm 18, and we are tracking David’s trust in the Lord and what the Lord did for him. In verses 9 and 10, he says, «He bowed the heavens also and came down, with darkness under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and flew; he flew upon the wings of the wind.» One of the things we must learn as we study the Bible, especially different books of the Bible, and now in the Psalms particularly, is that a lot of the message comes with poetic language because Psalms are songs, and songs work with poetry. Therefore, we do not literally interpret the words in the Psalms because they are allegories, analogies, metaphors, and poetry, with similes and so on. This understanding is important as we interpret the scripture.
David is talking about how God answered him. In earlier verses, he has spoken about God thundering, but now he says that God bowed the heavens. What does it mean that God bowed the heavens? He pictures the heavens as a curtain, or there’s a curtain that divides heaven from the earth. He says God literally tore the curtain; God separated the dividing line between heaven and earth. So when God is responding to us, there is no distance between Him being in heaven and us being on earth. That is what he is saying: there is no distance when I cry to the Lord; He hears me and removes any boundary between His spiritual place of abode and our earthly and physical relation.
Then secondly, he says, «God came with darkness under His feet.» What is David talking about? He says God bowed the heavens; He opened the door of the heavens; He created an access point. He is coming to help me, and He is coming with darkness under His feet. So David is saying that when God is working, there is a part of Him that is hidden. God is helping you, but you don’t see everything He is doing. You don’t see His feet; you don’t see His works; you don’t see Him removing all the obstacles. There is darkness, but just because you don’t see God and what He’s doing does not mean He is not doing anything. The Lord comes to help us, but there is darkness under His feet; He is hiding a portion of what He’s doing. That is why faith is important: when we trust God for something, we don’t want to see the process of A, B, C, D, and see everything that God is doing; we just trust Him even when we don’t see and we cannot account for all the actions. We just trust Him because there is darkness under His feet; there is a part of His work that is hidden from us.
So David says God bowed the earth; He came; there is darkness under His feet, and then He flew upon the wings of the wind. David is basically saying God came to me swiftly, speedily. He’s telling us how God saved him. I believe if you are in a battle and the enemies have surrounded you, and somebody has pulled an arrow against you, a spear, and they’re within inches or feet of you, you don’t expect God to wait till next year to come and deliver you. It has to be a quick work; it has to be speedy. So David says, «You know what? When I’m in this tight spot where there’s no way out, God comes upon me speedily and delivers me.» God will always deliver us just in time-just in time-and He will not wait for you to be destroyed before He delivers you. He delivers you just in time, and that is what David is telling us. We can all learn as we trust the Lord that as we call upon Him, He removes every barrier between the spiritual and the natural, and He comes to our aid. When He’s working on our case, there are paths we don’t see, and when God is working, He works swiftly. He’s never slow and never lazy.
Let’s pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank you for always being there for me. You hear my cry and respond swiftly. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.