An Evening with David

February 11th, 2025

An Evening with David

2 Samuel 22:1-20

1 And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said,

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior; you save me from violence.
4 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
5 “For the waves of death encompassed me,
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
6 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
7 “In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I called.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry came to his ears.
8 “Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations of the heavens trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
9 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
10 He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
11 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he was seen on the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness around him his canopy,
thick clouds, a gathering of water.
13 Out of the brightness before him
coals of fire flamed forth.
14 The Lord thundered from heaven,
and the Most High uttered his voice.
15 And he sent out arrows and scattered them;
lightning, and routed them.
16 Then the channels of the sea were seen;
the foundations of the world were laid bare,
at the rebuke of the Lord,
at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
17 “He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
18 He rescued me from my strong enemy,
from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
20 He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

An Intimate Conversation

When I was a student at Union University, the school hosted an annual scholarship fundraising banquet. The event featured a well-known speaker, often a world leader like George H. W. Bush, Colin Powell, or Condoleezza Rice. The university billed the event as “an evening with” the famous guest, suggesting an intimate conversation. You had watched this celebrity from a distance, on the news. Now you were invited in close, to hear a personal account of the major events in which they had participated.

Consider 2 Samuel 22 “an evening with David.” After we have read all these stories about him, the man himself now takes the stage, and we get to hear directly from him. David looks back over his remarkable life, at all that he’s seen, done, and been through, and says, “Let me tell you what I’ve learned.” These are David’s personal memoirs, echoed in Psalm 18. While a lot is going on in these 51 verses, I see three major themes. We focus today on the theme of struggle (1–20).

Personal Pronouns

The opening verses set the tone: “Yahweh is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence (2–3).” Martin Luther is reported to have said that the Christian faith consists of personal pronouns: it is one thing to say that Christ is a Savior; it is another to say that he is my Savior. David can’t go two words without using that word “my” to talk about the Lord. There is nothing distant or abstract about this relationship; God is near, he is known, he is real.

Again & Again

And if God is personal to David, he is also precious. As David begins to describe what the Lord has meant to him, nine or ten images cascade out of his heart. It may seem a bit much to us, but not to David. He knows what God has taken him through. David developed this intimate walk with God, not in the calm of his study, but in the struggle of real life. The images he chooses describe the safety, stability, and salvation God has provided in moments of desperation. As David looks back, there have been two constants in his life: he was usually in trouble, and God was always faithful. “I call upon Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies (4).”

He provides one dramatic example for us in vv5–20. Saul is closing in on him, David throws up a desperate prayer, and like that, God sends a flash flood. Saul runs for home, and David winds up safe on high ground. It’s just one of hundreds of examples that David could have offered. In every season of his life, there was adversity: a bear and a lion, Goliath the sneering giant, murderous Saul, swarms of Philistines, Absalom’s rebellion, insidious Joab, and his own sinful heart. “Again and again, life brought me to the end of my resources,” David seems to say, “And again and again, God delivered me—even when I least deserved it. That’s how I learned to trust him. It’s how God became real to me; it’s how Israel’s God became ‘my God.’”

How God Becomes "My God"

We will learn to trust God the same way. Not simply by reading a book, sitting in a church service, or hearing your parents talk about the Lord. You forge a relationship with God through the fires of life: high school, marriage and parenting, financial need, health crises, encountering difficult people, etc., In every season, God uses circumstances to bring us to the end of our wisdom, our strength, and our courage, so that we will call on him and find him faithful. That’s how “God” becomes “my God.” Is He yours?

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True Greatness