“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears.” (Psalm 18:6)
The superscription of this Psalm says that David prayed this when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.
This is the prayer of a dead man walking, one who has nothing left to lose except his life, and that’s not looking good either. It is reminiscent of Jonah in the belly of the great fish, tangled up in the cords of death and bound in the chains of Sheol. A dead man walking, or in the case of Jonah, floating fish food.
This is the prayer of Christ, the Son of David, who as the messianic King came to do battle with the ultimate enemies – sin, death, and the devil. He conquered death by dying, and destroyed the lie of the devil that God isn’t true to His Word. As humanity’s Substitute, Jesus suffered our distress. The cords of death entangled Him and He cut loose once and for all. He went down to the dead to deliver Adam’s fallen race from its captivity.
We, too, are pursued by the enemy. The enemy is not flesh and blood but the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature. We are helpless to save ourselves. In fact, we naturally fall in line with the enemy against God. The lie comes naturally to our lips, faithlessness to our hearts. Had God’s Son not intervened, we would be nothing more than dead men and women walking.
But the Son of God took up our cause, became our sin, literally became the enemy of God, so that in Him we might be reconciled to God and have peace. He is our Rock, the stone rejected by the religious builders of Israel, yet made by His dying and rising, the cornerstone of our salvation. He is our refuge, our hiding place where we can find shelter from the wrath of God against our sin. He is our stronghold and fortress. In Jesus, sin cannot harm us, the devil cannot lay hold of us, and the Law cannot condemn us. Even the grave (Sheol) cannot hold one who is marked and redeemed by the Christ, the crucified. In our distress, our cry goes up to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit, and our cries are heard for Jesus’ sake. And in Him, we conquer.
“Lord, once You came to earth’s domain And, we believe, shall come again;
Be with us on the battlefield, From ev’ry harm Your people shield.” (Lutheran Service Book, #401)
Daily Lectionary: Zechariah 14:1-21; Titus 2:7-3:15
Introit for Septuagesima: Psalm 18:5-6, 1-2, 27, 32, 49
Higher Things would like to thank the Rev. William M. Cwirla, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, CA. Pr. Cwirla will be one of the main speakers at BOTH of the For You Higher Things Lutheran youth conferences this summer.