Divine Deliverance: Psalm 18

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in

practical ways.

Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys.

And today is Friday, Friday, f y Friday t G

I F yes, yes, And so this is Kyle.

Kyle, this is your last day with us. You've been

with us all week. Yes, thank you so much for

being part of it.

I hope I get the invite back, you know, but

maybe next time it'll be so far. Maybe next time

it'll be the Bible Guys with Chris and Kyle instead

of with Kyle and Chris.

Maybe I'll get the money and says the sign above

us says with Kyle and Chris, which you know, Hey,

that's fine. Yes, I'm all about helping those of the

next generation.

Look at you.

Yes.

So we're gonna start with a segment for the Desiree

put together for us, and it is who is most likely.

I'm used to doing this with Jeff.

So in order for us to uh have consensus on this,

we'd have to know each other really well. So we

know each other sort of kind of right, So we're

gonna have to do our best. The goal of this

is to say really quickly, who's most likely to do this?

All right?

And then hey, you know what, if anybody, even people

want to throw stuff on YouTube, I feel like this

is the opportunity if you're watching on YouTube or whatever,

just to just to throw your thoughts in there too.

Trash talk us if you want.

Trash talk us. Yep, all right, so we'll we'll every

other one. Ready, I'll do the first one, all right.

Number one, who's most likely to have a secret identity

as a superhero in their mind?

I would say you.

I'd say me too, tell me why.

I just think you have a really big imagination. Yep,

and I think that's a really good trait. But I

think your imagination, I think you are very creative, and yeah,

I think that's why you'd have a super I think

you probably could describe what the name like. And you're

also very particular, very detailed, Whereas I think I have

a good imagination, but it's like it's not quite to

the level that yours is. So I think this one

will be you.

Yeah. Well, and then and then you've left.

I think what you said is true, but it's also

you've left out the biggest part, which is I grew

up as a comic book nerd.

Oh okay, yeah, yeah.

So my brother Jimmy was the comics nerd in the family.

He's the one who draws, right.

Yes, yes, And so consequently all of us read all

the comic books that he would get, and so I

was sort of like one level removed from a true

comic book nerd. Right, but I consider myself combook nerd.

H Okay, yep, all right.

Second one is who's most likely to be overly competitive

in a casual setting. I would actually say, I think

we're both probably a little too competitive. I have I'm

going to go with me on this one because I

have had too many instances, okay, where I in casual

settings have gotten a little too competitive.

I would say, ten years ago, I would probably rival you,

but I would also actually probably slightly give the nod

to you, only because you've matured.

I'll be there ten years Yeah.

No, it's probably true you sort of care less, you.

Know what I mean, your competitiveness and not in everything

like if we're playing a game of like volleyball, I'm

going to be right there with y. Yeah yeah, yeah,

But in things that are less important. I'm just like,

I don't really care.

Doesn't many?

Yeah.

I Actually is funny because we had our because I'm

a campus pastor at our Stony Creek campus that just

opened a couple of months ago.

Shout out.

But the youth pastor from our from our main campus,

Connor Meat, actually came out and spoke at our first

every youth event which we had last night, which was great.

Yeah.

By the way, forty two students showed up. Eighteen of

them had never been to Heritage before. That wasn't that amazing?

Sixty something people with all our volunteers and everybody there

was a great event, great kickoff. But Connor, in his

uh message, shared a couple of stories of times where

I was overly competitive to him just to mess with me.

One of them being him being like a seventh or

eighth grader and we were playing a flag football thing

and he alleges that I tackled him. I remember it differently,

but either way, alleges that I tackled.

Either way, that's awesome.

Okay, Number three, who's most likely to accidentally join a

cult because they were cured?

Oh, I'm gonna dude, this is a tough one.

I'm gonna probably go with me on this one, Okay,

although I don't think that's very probable. Yeah, we had

to choose one of them, right, Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna

choose me only because of one reason. I could be

sometimes blissfully unaware of things. Okay, okay, And so although

I don't think I've ever been unaware of a cult,

but I think.

The only thing is I mean, and I agree. I

think it might be you a slight edge of me,

But I think you and I both are like kind

of like skeptical. Yeah, so I think it would be

tough to sell us both.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. Yes, all right.

Fourth one who's most likely to invent a ridiculous game

for their friends? That's an easy answer. That's you, Chris

arm that's for sure. And it's funny because even some

of these I'm like, among my group of friends who

I grew up with, we still hang out, our wives

get along like I am that guy because it's the

youth pastor and me is like, come up with a

game like I am that guy. But I think you

actually operate like that on a normal basis.

Oh, you have no idea actually actually who's most like

to invent a ridiculous game for their friends.

I do this currently all the time.

So I don't know if you know this or not,

but we have a you know, the tzar Ba Annual.

Golf out photos.

Our whole family invents golf ridiculous things for golf, right, So, like,

for instance, uh, you know, on the back nine.

I'll just give you one example.

There was the pirate hole where you had to play

that particular hole with an eye patch, which really messed

up your depth perception. And then when you're on the green,

if you say one word outside of pirate sayings, you're

you have a stroke penalty. So you could only talk

pirate on the green, so you have to say it

was like six phrases like very bury treasure I made there,

she blows, you know, things like that or right, and

that was it and and so anyway, so yeah, I

mean we do that stuff all the time continually in

my family's fun all right, right, And then the last

one is who's most likely to end up with an

unusual pet like a tarantula?

Be honest, I think I would, and I think that

one may be me. And it actually has nothing to

do with me has to do with my kids. Yes,

they'm there are still at that phase where any animal

we see, and even my wife, honestly, she's brought animals

home that I'm like, are you kidding me? Is this

is this our new?

Is this our life? Yeah?

I would have definitely leaned more towards you, only because

your kids are younger.

Yes.

And it's funny because people ask me this all the

time that we have bunnies, we have like a dog,

we've had animals. They're like, oh, are you how did

you end up with that? And I'm like they're like, oh,

you don't want a bunny. I'm like, no, we don't.

This would be our last bunny. And then they're like

how many of you had? I'm like we've had five?

Like how I'm like I don't know. Somehow they just

keep showing up at our house. So whenever people ask like, Kyle,

do you like having pets, I'm like, I don't mind it,

but somehow I keep having more and more pets, it

seems like every year. So blame my youngest, who is

a huge has a ton of empathy for every animal.

So that's really great.

Well, hey, that was fun. Yes, that was fun.

And you know what, we actually didn't have a disagreement.

Yeah, disagreement.

I think we're on the same page.

We had a consensus the whole time.

Yep, all right, should we get into us Psalm.

Did I almost said we consensused, We consensused. Yes, we

had a consensus.

Hey, you cut, you cut to the chase. It's it's

twenty twenty four. That's how we text, right, just cut

to the chase. True, all right, Psalm eighteen. So we're

wrapping up this week.

You just let auto correct take care of.

Yes, exactly, That's what I do. And sometimes I talk

to text, which I know you do as well. And

I sometimes when you reread your auto text, it's you're like,

I cannot believe I just said this. I'm embarrassed. Ye,

all right, back to this. So Psalm eighteen, we're in

the final uh uh verse or section of verses of

this week. And throughout this week we've been talking about

David and some of the struggles he's gone through. Is

he's been been, you know, back into the throne after

Abslom had kind of taken over, and so we're in

Psalm eighteen where he's kind of crying out to God.

The theme here says that gratitude for deliverance and victory

the only shirt. Uh yeah, the only sure way to

be delivered from surrounding evil is to call upon God

for help and strength. So that's the context behind what

we're going to be reading in the psalms. As Chris

mentioned a couple of days ago, David is the writer

of the most of the psalms, and then these ones

we've read this week in particular. So I'm gonna read

thirty verses today.

And by the way, this one he actually wrote for

a choir director.

Yes, that's awesome, that's neat. Yeah, So for the choir director,

a psalm of David the servant of the Lord. He

sang this song to the Lord on the day of

the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul.

He's saying this, I love you, Lord, You are my strength.

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 power that saves me and

my place of safety. I called on the Lord, who

is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.

The ropes of Death entangled me. Floods of destruction swept

over me. The grave wrapt that's rope around me. Death

laid a trap in my path, which, by the way,

this is amazing. We should just next three thirty worship

song off of this. But in my distress, I cried

out to the Lord. Yes, I prayed to my God

for help. He heard me from his sanctuary. My cry

to him, My cry to him reached his ears. Then

the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the mountain shook.

They quaked because of his anger. Smoke poured from his nostrils.

Now here would be an epic song. Smoke poured from

his nostrils. Fierce flames leaped from his mouth. Glowing coals

blazed forth from him. He opened the heavens and came down.

Dark storm clouds were beneath his feet. Mounted on a

mighty angelic being, he flew soaring on the wings of

the wind. He shrouded himself in darkness, darkness, veiling his

approach with dark rain clouds. Thick clouds shielded the brightness

around him and rained down hail and burning coals. The

Lord thundered from heaven, the voice the most high resounded

amid the hail and burning coals. He shot his arrows

and scattered his enemies. His lightning flashed, and they were

greatly confused. Then at your command, O Lord, had the

blast of your breath. The bottom of the sea se

could be seen. The foundations of the earth were laid bare.

He reached down from heaven and rescued me. He drew

me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my

powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too

strong for me. They attacked me in a moment when

I was in distressed, but the Lord supported me. He

led me to a place of safety. He rescued me

because he delights in me. The Lord rewarded me for

doing right. He restored me because of my innocence. For

I have kept the ways of the Lord. I have

not turned from my God to follow evil. I have

followed all his regulations. I have never abandoned his decrees.

I am blameless before God. I've kept myself from sin.

The Lord rewarded me for doing right. He has seen

my innocence. To the faithful, you show yourself faithful to

those with integrity. You show integrity to the prayer you

show yourself pure, but to the wicked, you show yourself hostile.

You rescue the humble, but you humiliate the proud. You

laid a lamp for me. The Lord, my God lights

up my darkness and your strength. I can crush an

army with my God. I can scale any wall that's epic.

And then that we're closed with this these last two verses.

God's way is perfect, All the Lord's promises proved true.

He is a shield for all who look to him

for protection. For who is God except the Lord who?

But our God is a solid rock.

It's good.

Wow. Well, so here's here's the main question that's on

everybody's mind. Is this an event or is this a vision?

What happened here?

Yeah?

I know, it's very interesting because it feels like you're

reading like the Book of Daniel or.

You're reading a.

Yeah yeah, yeah, And it's and it's really interesting because

I've come across this psalm obviously several times throughout my lifetime,

and I'm not sure that I know anybody who has

taken a strong stance on whether or not this actually

happened or whether or not this was a vision. But

I would definitely say most of which I've heard scholars

talk about, is this is a metaphor, like, in other words,

David again, there's no proof, right, and we can get

to heaven and all be wrong, right, But most scholars

belief I think that this is a way for David

to describe how God swoops in and delivers him, in

this case, from the enemies of Saul, right because it's

written in the Bible that he sang the song to

the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from

all his enemies and from Saul. Right now, when we

read about how God rescued him from Saul, we don't

read about God coming in the clouds. We don't read

about an actual event of like and then you're, you know,

like Elijah on the top of Mount Carmel, you know

where God where Elijah calls for fire and all of

a sudden, God demonstrates him self with fire. Like, that's

not what happened when God delivered David from Saul. So

most people would say, uh, this is David describing God

in power and saying, you know, fire blew.

From his nostrils.

Well, come on, I mean, there's there's no other time

in scripture where God is compared to like a.

Dragon dragon yet right, yes, I.

Mean I guess there is, you know, I mean there's

a bunch of weird looking beasts and revelation right and

in Daniel. But but but but not a literal dragon

with fire breathing out of his nose and so uh

you know, cold blazed from his eyes and.

It rained down coal. You know, he comes down in.

The clouds and uh, you know, but again it can

feel like uh, God doing miracles.

Now let me let me, let me say this. Have

you ever been around.

A miracle where you prayed for something and something miraculously happened,

or God shows up in a mighty way to where

it feels as if God himself has just miraculously swept

down and he was right there physically.

Right, I've seen that happen.

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, I mean I've shared it before

on the Bible guys. In fact, probably not even to

you know. It was actually just recently. But the time

where we ran over that cow and then there was

and then there was a guy who spoke Swahili talking

to a guy who only spoke pocot, and then there

was an injured cow on the side of the road

that was dying, and the and the driver who spoke

Swaheli came over, who spoke English, because he spoke English,

but those guy who spoke pocot didn't speak English. And

the guy came over the driver and said, stay in

the car. These guys will kill you. And then and

then we just sprayed and said, God, send us a miracle.

So here's five white guys who are missionaries sort of

in the car, and here we are, you know, the

ones who ran over the cow. And we actually thought

to ourselves, God, if you don't send us a miracle,

we're going to be smoke. We're gonna be dust. We're

gonna be killed right here in the middle of this

field somewhere. And then what we get done praying? And

then in the distance the smoke. We see the smoke.

And we had not seen a single vehicle in seven

full days, not one vehicle. And here comes a motorcycle

guy stops, knocks on the window and says, hey, can

I be of assistance. Turns out he's a veterinarian who

speaks English, Swahili and Pokon.

So he literally walks over.

Invests you know, you know, he tends to the cow

and then communicates to all of us and then we

solve it.

We ended up buying the cow. You know.

Anyway, the guy, the guy who was selling the cow

whose cow we ran over, he needed the money because

his mom was sick, and we ended up giving him

more than it was worth and then we let him

keep the cow, so then he had the meat of

the cow. So then he was like crying because now

this guy was about to kill us, now has money

for his mom for medicine, and he.

Has the cow.

Meet all because God sent us a veterinarian who spoke,

who spoke, by the way, the only three languages that

were barriers between us.

Yeah, I mean it was crazy.

Yeah, So I gotta just because I want to. I

want to tack onto this because I have a story.

I think you'll you'll enjoy this because you've been in

Tanzania before.

Yeah.

I went to Tanzania in May on a Timothy Initiative

vision trip. And it's it's related because it speaks to

God providing the right person, which is kind of what

you're talking about, God providing in these ways. But a

friend of mine, when he knew I was going to Tanzania,

he said his last experience. He's a pastor, local pastor

in the area. He went there and he said he

just saw crazy things. I was like, well, what type

of crazy things? He said that one time he went in,

he was brought as a pastor and a few other

staff members of his brought into this home with this

woman who had been big the same claiming she was

possessed by the devil. Demon possessed and in that area

there's a lot of witchcraft and things like that. They

opened the door up to a lot of spiritual attack

there in certain parts of these villages. So they go

visit this home, and he said he knew from the

moment he walked in there was a there was a

dark spiritual force in this place. There was definitely demonic

activity going on. So then sure enough, this this this,

this person is speaking and they would would like their

voice would change, like slipping between her and then this

demon like deeper to whatever. And they were having this

conversation back and forth, and he's like, I have never

seen this ever. He's like, in my thirty five years

on this planet. Yes, so like the voice is changing. Well,

then sure enough, his coworker, who's an American spoke up

boldly and started rebuking the demon in the name of

Jesus and just going like going on right and then

and then they hear the voice like voice of this

the devil talking back, voice getting deeper. There's this stuff happened. Well,

then sure enough they end up praying for this woman.

They all walk out of the house and they're like,

that was absolutely, like insane. They're applauding this girl who's

with them, who normally isn't bold like that, but she's like,

I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I just started

rebuking the demon.

Oh.

They thought it was wild. They were like, that was

the life changing kind of moment for them. The next day,

the translator who was there, who's from Tanzania, he's talking

and he said he he was talking to her. He said,

you know, that was incredible last night, and she said, yeah, yeah,

thank you. He goes, I had no idea you spoke Swahili.

She goes, I don't speak Swahili, because yeah, you did,

you did last night. She goes, no, I was I

was speaking English. He goes, no, no, you were speaking

Swahili when you were rebuking the devil. Something happened between

what they what she said. She doesn't speak Swahili. She

spoke English to this woman rebuking the devil, and they

and and the woman heard everything that was going on

was speaking back, which they thought was odd. Turns out

the translator hurt her speaking in Swahili. I don't know, man,

your story like that, And you're like, okay, okay, that

is amazing wild right, yeah, yeah, And it's And the

reason I brought that up is for one you you've

had a really great story there, but also your.

Story no no, no, no no.

But it's just one of those things where God sends

a like when you see the God send in providing, right,

God is providing what's needed. And even in these verses,

I love the fact that Installmatina talks about. He says,

You're my strength, my rock, my fortress, my savior. My

God is my rock and whom I find protection. And

that's the point of what he's trying to say. There

is no matter what he's been through, no matter what

David has encountered, that God is the rock, He's the protector,

he's the fortress, which is what we need in our lives.

Right. Well, let's go back to the idea of like, okay,

is it a vision or an event? Well, so if

you were to poetically, like David describe that miracle, Let's

pretend like that was you. Right, Let's say you were

the gross from Swahili. Okay, Let's say that happened to you,

and you were to sit down and reflect on that

like David as a musician who writes poetry and music,

and you were to just give praise to God because

you found yourself in a situation where you were terrified,

you were confronting this demon, and all of a sudden,

God swoops in and does this amazing miracle. You could

metaphorically write something like David wrote. You can say, God,

you swept in in that moment. You you swept an angel

like an angel, right, you know, you you you whatever.

And so I didn't want to pretend to even come

up with things. But but and I could do the

same thing. Yeah, I can say, you know, here, here

we are in the midst of fear. You know, in

one hundred and fifty degree heat. It seemed like anyway

in that car with the air off, that that God

you sent this motorcycle, this this angel who left the

heavens and swept down and took on the form of

this you know, uh person on a motorcycle, you know,

those kinds of things. And I could definitely write a metaphorical, uh,

you know thing that talked about God's strength and his

might and his and his and his mercy and his

wisdom and everything else, which I think is what David

is doing here.

Yeah, yeah, And I agree with that.

And it comes down to like what even our question we

had about who would be most likely to have a

comic book superhero that they came up with, right, Like,

I think that David would be the type of guy

who was so creative, Right, And then I mean, how

long after this has so this is this event happened

three thousand years ago, this this writing was three thousand

years ago. How much after the event these events did

he write? Right, he's obviously writing this, but he's reflecting back.

So you're right. I think it's it's very possible that

he's he's referring back.

To God in this.

I think he said he wrote it on the day,

on the day that it happened, Okay, but I mean

hid the events that had led up to that though.

He said the servant he sang this song to the

Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from all

his enemies and from soul. So is this specific day

he wrote it and sang it on that day, but.

So still reflecting though on his life and how God

had swooped in and saved him on many occasions.

Yeah, I mean think about it.

I mean, you know, when everything's over, the great battles over,

and you go into your tent and you sit down

and you're just almost weeping because of you know, seeing

God's hand once again. Be faithful in your life, you know,

and the first thing you want to do is give praise.

And what does David do. He does what he always does, right.

He takes out a parchment probably and in a pen,

and he writes songs and poetry, and he organizes a

feast and a celebration.

And what does he do. He gives us to the

choir director. Yeah, and he says, hey, I've spent.

The last five hours writing this piece, and I want

you to sing this at the celebration tonight.

And that's what David does. Yeah.

And you know one point I want to say before

we wrap up here, and the footnote in the Life

Application study Bible and Psalm eighteen thirteen. It says the

most High. The way he describes God was an important

designation for David to make. Pagan Idol worship was deeply

rooted in the land, and each region had its own deity,

but these images of wood and stone were powerless. David

was placing the Lord alone in a superior category. He

is by far the most high. And I don't know, man,

I feel like that's a really great way to look

at that verse and look to you, really look at

the world we live in, the life around us. Is

the fact that he is saying that the most high.

That David is saying, God, you are the most high.

All these other pagan idols that people worship, these false gods,

they're there, they believe that they're but no, there's one

who is most high above all those.

That's awesome.

And hey, by the way, I can't sign off without saying,

we only read half the chap. Yes, but in verse

number forty six, we didn't get to the song that

I memorize this versus a kid and if you grew

up in Sunday school, you probably know this song. But

VERSU for forty six says the Lord lives blessed, Praise

to my Rock, may the God of my salvation be exalted.

But in the King James version where I learned it,

it goes the Lord liveth and blessed be the Rock.

Bless it.

Oh, I remember that.

My salvation, the Lord liveth.

And actually there's a second version of that, and I'm

not sure if that's the one that my Sunday School

teacher always used to modify songs, but I think it

was the Lord liveth and blessed be the Rock and

let the God.

Of my salvation be exalted.

Anyway, that is uh, that's exactly how people wanted to

end their Friday, right, That.

Is exactly correct.

They're like, you know what, Chris, you know what I

need for Friday.

I need to sign us off with Sunday School.

That's right.

That'll be stuck in their head to.

Hey, who knows, maybe maybe David's Army sang his songs

just like I remember this song.

That's really cool.

So hey, I have a great day today and hopefully

we'll see you next time.

On the Bible guys, see it