Psalm 18 (Part 3)

How Clean Are Your Hands?
Psalm 18:20-29

No matter how difficult your trials may be–if you have clean hands, God will fill those hands with blessing. “The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me” (v. 20). “Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight” (v. 24). David’s hands were clean. Oh, his enemies were lying about him–those people in Saul’s court who wanted Saul’s attention and affection. They lied about David. They said, “Saul, David said this,” but David never said it. “David is doing this to you,” but David never did that. David’s hand were clean. And when your hands are clean, when you are keeping the ways of the Lord, God’s hand will work for you. God will give you what you need, protect you and see you through.

God responds to us as we respond to Him. “With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; with the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd [opposed]” (vv. 25,26). We decide how close God is going to be to us. We decide how much affection He will be able to show us. “He delivered me because He delighted in me” (v. 19). The Lord delights in children with clean hands and a pure heart. Integrity is the key word, isn’t it? David was a man of integrity. Saul was a man of duplicity. Saul was double-minded. He was looking in two directions at once. But David kept his eyes on the Lord.

When your hands are clean, no matter how difficult your life may be, God will see you through. He will take you through the trials and enable you to bring glory to His name when it’s all over.

Have you been mistreated, misjudged or maligned recently? Our Lord Jesus was too. Study 1 Peter 2:18-25 to see His response. Memorize one verse that will remind you to give God your desire for revenge.

Giving us Hinds’ Feet
Psalm 18:30-36

Live is 10 percent how you take it and 90 percent what you make it. You’ll notice the repetition of the word “make” in verses 30-36. “It is God who arms me with strenght, and makes my way perfect” (v. 32). I like verse 35: “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.” Why does God permit difficulties to come to our lives? To make us. Sometimes He has to break us before He can make us. Sometimes He has to reveal to us what we’re really like before He can make us.

David went through some difficulties. Here is young David anointed by God, God’s chosen servant. Here is David, who won great victories, who is destined to be God’s next king on the throne. And what happens to him? He becomes a fugitive. He’s being chased from place to place by a godless man. He’s being persecuted by people who lie about him. What in the world is God doing? God’s making him. He is taking David’s life and making him all he ought to be.

We read in verse 33: “He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places.” God wants to make our way. He wants to make our feet ready for that way and make us more like Jesus Christ. God wanted David to go higher. He wanted David to have feet like hinds’ feet that could just bound over the mountains and over the rocks. He didin’t want David to sit still and complain and pout as Elijah had.

God gently deals with us (v. 35). It didn’t look like gentleness at the time. But when David later looked back over all those years of persecution, he said, “I see the gentle hand of God in all of this.” God wants you to go higher and farther. Let Him make you.

What past difficulties can you thank God for because He used them to make you more Christlike? Praise God for His gentleness in dealing with you.

© Warren Wiersbe 

Warren Wiersbe

Dr. Warren Wiersbe (1929-2019) was an internationally known Bible teacher, author, and conference speaker. He graduated in 1953 from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. While attending seminary, he was ordained as pastor of Central Baptist Church in 1951 and served until 1957. From September 1957 to 1961, Wiersbe served as Director of The Literature Division for Youth for Christ International. From 1961 to 1971 he pastored Calvary Baptist Church of Covington, Kentucky south of Cincinnati, Ohio. His sermons were broadcast as the “Calvary Hour” on a local Cincinnati radio station. From 1971 to 1978, He served as the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago 1971 to 1978. While at Moody Church he continued in radio ministry. Between August 1979 and March 1982, he wrote bi-weekly for Christianity Today as “Eutychus X”, taught practical theology classes at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and wrote the course material and taught a Doctor of Ministry course at Trinity and Dallas Seminary. In 1980 he transitioned to Back to the Bible radio broadcasting network where he worked until 1990. Dr. Wiersbe became Writer in Residence at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids and Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. In his lifetime, Dr. Wiersbe wrote over 170 books—including the popular Be series, which has sold over four million copies. Dr. Wiersbe was awarded the Gold Medallion Lifetime Achievement by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).