Psalm 18: When the Enemy Is Too Strong for You

Core Theme: For when you’re worn down and outmatched — needing a strength that has to come from somewhere beyond yourself

(Related Theme: This psalm also carries a strong note of Gratitude, Joy & Praise — see Verses 46–50 below.)

Background

David wrote Psalm 18 “in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.” Nearly the same song appears in 2 Samuel 22, near the end of David’s life. This isn’t a prayer from the middle of a single crisis. It is an old soldier looking back over decades: years hunted by Saul, battles against the Philistines and surrounding nations, rebellion within his own house. He gathers it all into one great song. It is one of the longest psalms, and it moves from desperate distress, to God’s dramatic rescue, to the strength God gave David for every battle that followed. Running through all of it is one conviction: the strength was never David’s own.

Psalm 18 (KJV)

1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.

5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.

23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.

24 Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;

26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.

28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?

32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.

33 He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.

34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.

36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.

37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.

39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.

41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.

42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.

44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.

45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.

46 The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

47 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.

48 He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.

50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

The heart of it

Psalm 18 is the testimony of a strong man who learned that his strength was never his own. David was a warrior and a king, yet the word he keeps coming back to is “me” on the receiving end: He drew me, He delivered me, He girded me, He held me up. The psalm opens with love, “I will love thee, O LORD, my strength,” and every image that follows explains why. When David was too weak, God was strong. When the enemy was too strong, God was stronger.

That is the kind of courage this psalm offers. It doesn’t ask you to dig deeper into yourself. It points you to the God who supplies what you lack. Paul learned the same lesson: “…My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness…” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Psalm 18 shows what that looks like across a whole lifetime.

Walking through it

Verses 1–2: “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.”

Before David tells the story, he declares his love. Then he piles up names for God, as if one could never be enough: rock, fortress, deliverer, strength, buckler [a small shield carried into battle], the horn of my salvation [the horn being a symbol of strength and power], and high tower. Each is a picture of protection David had actually lived. He had hidden in rocky strongholds and climbed to high places to escape his enemies. But he learned that the real fortress was never the cave or the cliff. It was the Lord. Notice too the word “my,” repeated again and again. This isn’t a list of facts about God. It is what God had personally been to him.

Verses 4–6: “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.”

David doesn’t pretend he was fearless. Death wrapped around him like ropes, and the ungodly came at him like a flood. The snares of death prevented [came upon, confronted] him. He was afraid. But in his distress he did the one thing that mattered: “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God.” And the cry from the bottom of that pit reached the ears of God in His temple. Nothing in heaven or earth was too far away for that prayer to travel.

Verses 16–19: “He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.”

In verses 7–15 David describes God’s answer as a great storm: the earth shaking, the heavens bowing, thunder, lightning, and the very foundations of the world laid bare. It is poetry, but it makes a real point. When God moves on behalf of His child, all of creation answers to Him. Then all that power narrows down to something personal and tender: “he took me, he drew me out of many waters.” David is honest that the enemy “were too strong for me.” That admission is the doorway to strength, not the end of it. When they came at him in his worst moment, “the LORD was my stay” [support, the thing he leaned on]. God brought him out “into a large place” [wide open space, room to breathe after being hemmed in], and then David gives the reason: “because he delighted in me.” God didn’t rescue him out of obligation. He rescued him out of love. “…he will rejoice over thee with joy…” (Zephaniah 3:17).

Verses 28–29: “For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.”

There are seasons when even a small light feels out of reach. David knew that the One who made the sun could light his little candle, and could enlighten [bring light into] the very darkness that surrounded him. With that light came strength he didn’t know he had: “by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.” The troop and the wall were real obstacles. What changed was who was carrying him over them. Jesus said, “…I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Verses 32–36: “It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.”

Here David describes how God equipped him. God girdeth [wrapped around him like a belt] him with strength. He made his feet like hinds’ [female deer] feet, sure-footed on the steep rocky heights where a single slip could be fatal. Habakkuk used the same picture: “The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet…” (Habakkuk 3:19). The verses that follow (37–42) describe David’s battles in strong soldier’s language, but the credit never shifts. God “girded me with strength unto the battle.” Then there’s verse 35, one of the most beautiful lines in the psalm: “thy gentleness hath made me great.” The God of thunder and lightning lifted David up with gentleness. And He “enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.” He gave David room to walk and ground to stand on.

Verses 46–50: “The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.”

After everything, the psalm bursts into praise. “The LORD liveth.” He is not a memory or an idea, but a living God who still acts. The struggle of the whole psalm ends in gratitude, joy, and praise: “Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.” The last verse looks ahead to mercy shown “to David, and to his seed for evermore,” a promise that reaches all the way to Jesus Christ, the Son of David. Paul quotes verse 49 when he speaks of the Gentiles glorifying God for His mercy (Romans 15:9). The deliverance David sang about points toward a far greater one, offered to everyone who trusts in Christ.

Carrying this forward

If the Lord has already carried you through battles you couldn’t have won on your own, do what David did and look back. Name the times He drew you out of deep waters. Remember the nights He lit your candle when everything around you was dark. It’s so easy, once the battle is behind us and life gets “better,” to slowly drift and start believing we got through on our own strength. David, a seasoned king near the end of his life, made sure he never forgot. Psalm 18 is his record of it. Keep your own record, and let it turn to thanks.

If you’re in the middle of it right now, and the enemy you’re facing, whether a person, a circumstance, or a weight you can’t shake, is simply too strong for you, you’re in good company. David said the same thing. Call on the Lord in your distress. Your cry will reach His ears. You don’t have to manufacture strength you don’t have. He girds His people with strength, sets their feet like hinds’ feet on high and slippery places, and holds them up with His right hand. “…they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). The God who delighted in David delights in you, and He will not let your feet slip.