“I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. 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.” (Ps 18:1-2 AV)
Note the promise here and upon what that promise is based. David promises to love God. He does so because of the facts that follow. God is his rock. He is that stable influence in his life that is always consistence, reliable, and faithful. He changes not. God is his fortress. He is to whom David can flee when he needs a sense of safety amid the many threats that come upon him. God is his deliverer. When that which does become overwhelming seems to stall his hope and joy, it is God who rescues him from that which threatens him. God is his strength. He is the source of life to which David resolves when life seems too much to bear. It is His word that gives promises upon which to lean that he fall not headlong into hopeless despair. It is God’s strength that David has learned to trust. Especially above his own human and limited strength. God is his shield or buckler. A God who stands between the saint and the enemy. A buffer that makes the blows much easier to bear. God is David’s horn of salvation. He is the authority upon which David resides to know he is safe from eternal harm. And, God is David’s high tower. He is that source of hope which seems to stand in the distance, showing the way of life and grace. The tower to which those who need to see things from a different perspective flee and begin to see things as God sees them. David promises to love God for all that He is above, and more.
A funny thing happens as we grow older. We begin to appreciate more and more what we had when we were younger. Especially when we consider all that our parents did for us. Most of it went unnoticed. If we did notice, it was usually undervalued because we did not see the significance of it until much later in life. Some of those things we didn’t realize until well into adulthood. One of those things was my father’s pattern of protecting us from harmful peer pressure. He didn’t do this by making a whole lot of rules. He accomplished this by providing a better alternative. It was Boy Scouts, paper routes, household chores, and a large family. My father also paid to have us all educated in religious schools as opposed to the public school system. He made friends with good families that had children our own age. Recently, the LORD allowed me to reconnect with one of the best friends I ever had. He was my best friend from first grade to about eighth grade. All of these things worked together so that my father could provide a safe childhood free from the temptations of bad company and frequent temptations. I didn’t fully appreciate it until well into my adult years. One has to wonder how different our relationship would have been had I seen this sooner.
We saw that we love God. But why? Or, we wonder why we do not love God more. Perhaps what we need to do regularly is to take stock of who and what God is to us. Perhaps we need to review our journals and rehearse exactly what it was God has done for us. Maybe, as we read our devotions each day, enter some sort of example that God has done for us that resembles that which we just read. Perhaps we should ask others what they see. Maybe there are things God is doing for us to which we are blind, but others notice. One thing is for sure. We could all love the Father a bit more than we do. David’s promise to love God for all that He is to him. It is the least he could do. And it is the least we could do, too.
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