2 Samuel 22-23
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold, my high tower, my savior, the one who saves me from violence. – 2 Samuel 22:2-3 NLT
What does God mean to you? If you had to come up with a list of adjectives or nouns to describe your relationship with Him, what words would you use? How would you tell others about His involvement in your life? For many of us, what we know about God we have been told by others. We have been taught about His attributes in Sunday School or in Bible studies we have attended. But our first-hand experience with God is probably somewhat limited. We could probably say God is all-powerful, but could we give examples from our own lives to prove it? We could confidently state that God is omnipresent – or is everywhere all the time. But how come we feel like He is nowhere to be found at times? We could tell others about God's faithfulness and love, but could we tell them specific ways in which He has shown us either one in the last week?
You see, God is a personal God and He wants to show Himself real in our personal lives. He doesn't want our knowledge of Him to be limited to what we read in the Bible or what we hear from a sermon. God wants to involve Himself in our lives and does so every day. But sometimes we fail to recognize His activity in our lives. But David didn't. And in 2 Samuel 22 we are given an up-close and personal glimpse of what David thought about God. His descriptions of God are far from academic. He didn't get them out of a book. He isn't just reciting doctrine. He is describing exactly what he has learned about God over the years as he has watched God work in his life.
…my rock
…my fortress
…my shield
…the strength of my salvation
…my stronghold
…my high tower
…my rescuer
…my deliverer
…my light
…my strong fortress
…my solid rock
…my helper
…the rock of my salvation
How did David learn these things? Through the experiences of life. It was through some of the most difficult times of life that he learned the most valuable lessons about who God really is. David had experienced the truth and reality of every one of these characteristics of God by going through the difficulties of life. He had read about them in God's Word, but it wasn't until he experienced them first-hand that they became real for him. God wants to show Himself strong in my life and in your life. He wants to prove to you and me His faithfulness, strength, and unfailing love. And He sometimes chooses the trials of life to reveal Himself. But we so often want to escape the trials of life. We want to avoid them. We don't want the Red Sea experiences. We don't want to face enemies that appear to be unbeatable or battles that seem unwinable. But those are the times that God's strength are the most apparent. It is in our weakness that we get to see His strength. God wants our testimony about Him to be real. He wants what we have to say about Him to be from experience. He wants us to be able to say like David, "For this, O LORD, I will praise you among the nations; I will sing joyfully to your name" (2 Samuel 22:50 NLT).
Father, I want my description of You to be from my personal experience, not just what I read about in the Bible. I want to be able to describe You in ways that are real and reflect what I have seen You do in my life. Sometimes it's just a matter of recognizing that You are already doing incredible things in my life, but I have failed to see them. Other times, I rob You of glory by trying to win all my own battles and solve all my own problems. I fail to experience Your power, because I am relying on my own. Like David, I want to be able to describe You in such a way that everyone knows You are my everything. Amen