Throughout this series, David: Flawed Human, Holy God, we have been diving into stories about David and his interactions with God. We have learned a lot about how God interacts with flawed humans through the life of David. This week we are going to take a look at how David interacted with God but through David's own words.
Spend some time this week reading 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18. These two biblical passages are almost identical; there are minor differences. The author of 2 Samuel decided to include this prayer from David in his narrative account of the life of David. Most of David's prayers are recorded in the book of Psalms. Over the years, scholars have worked hard to discover the timeline of when David's prayers were written. Some, like Psalm 51, are easy and obvious. Psalm 51 was prayed after David was confronted with his sin of murder, abuse of power and adultery. The author of 2 Samuel placed this particular prayer (Psalm 18) near the end of David's life. Of all of his Psalms, this one stands out as his overarching revelation of what he discovered about God and his experience with God.
As you read this prayer of David, think about your own life. If you were to write a prayer at the end of your life about your experience with God, what would be included in that prayer? Do you encounter God in the everyday roles and tasks of life? David talks a lot about his role as a warrior in this Psalm and about how God was with him and strengthened him in battle. Do you experience God in your vocation, career, in what you do with your life? It could be said that David's life was characterized by God. What would it look like for your life to be characterized by God?
