Psalm 18 Continued…
Although this Psalm is longer, it contains essential truths for us as believers. We have to read the whole of Scripture in the context of God’s love. The standard “creed” of Israel’s faith, the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:5-8), commanded them to “love the Lord” with all their hearts. To show the reciprocity of that love, Deuteronomy informs us that the Lord chose Israel not because they were more numerous than other peoples but because he loved them (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).
John wrote that immortal text in chapter 3 of his Gospel to say that we have to view the life and death and resurrection of Christ in light of God’s love (John 3:16). Jesus himself, when asked what is the greatest commandment, answers that it is to love God with all of our heart (Matthew 22:37-40).
Paul’s rhapsody of love in 1 Corinthians 13 makes love the “sine qua non” (essential condition) of the Christian faith and comes close to John’s declaration that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). And the doxology of the Revelation of John: …from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, (Revelation 1:5), virtually forming the title page of the book, sets human history in the framework of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
The whole of human history and the kingdom of God are framed in light of God’s love. Love is reciprocal – God loves the world, and calls us to love God – setting our faith apart from all others. David begins Psalm 18, joining a chorus of so many, as he sings out those words: I love you, Lord!
PRAY
May our prayer today be that of the apostle Paul when he wrote to the church in Ephesus and the young pastor Timothy there:
Ephesians 3:16-19 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.