For you save a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28 For it is you who light my lamp;
the LORD my God lightens my darkness.
29 For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
We all know people who somehow mention all their accomplishments and how much money they have in a two minute chance encounter on the street. David had just seemed to be doing that with God! He had told him, as he did in Psalm 17, that he was blameless and attentive to the law. Maybe David can’t be blamed. He is a king after all. Then come these three verses and all is different. Now we know David’s secret. Only by God’s power can David kill a lion and a giant named Goliath. Only by God can David run against a troop and leap over a wall.
David’s humility shows through as he lists all that God did through him and it gives us strength for our own battles because God is our strength. Only by God’s power can we pay an overdue bill, or conquer an illness. Only by God can we take on an army of troubles and heartache. Only by God can we overpower sin. When all is said and done and God helps us through all these trials, we can repeat the wonderful words that begin this psalm. David could say in true humility, I love you O Lord, my strength. May we find it easy to love him in our troubled life in a broken world.
Dear Lord, thank you for the strength that only comes from you. May we love you for this provision and serve you from that love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church