Psalm 18 (KJV) - Part 1: In my distress I called upon the Lord

From Psalms

Psalm 18
(For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD. He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:)

¹I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

²The 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.
³I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised:
      so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

⁴The sorrows of death compassed me,
      and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
⁵The sorrows of hell compassed me about:
      the snares of death prevented me.
⁶In my distress I called upon the LORD,
      and cried unto my God:
he heard my voice out of his temple,
      and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

⁷Then the earth shook and trembled;
      the foundations also of the hills moved
      and were shaken, because he was wroth.
⁸There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,
      and fire out of his mouth devoured:
      coals were kindled by it.
⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down:
      and darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly:
      yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
¹¹He made darkness his secret place;
      his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
¹²At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed,
      hail stones and coals of fire.
¹³The LORD also thundered in the heavens,
      and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
¹⁴Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
      and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
¹⁵Then the channels of waters were seen,
      and the foundations of the world were discovered
at thy rebuke, O LORD,
      at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

¹⁶He sent from above, he took me,
      he drew me out of many waters.

The first time I posted Psalm 18 I tried to post more than one of my hand written page. Only now do I see how heavy that was, and that it was too much for one posting. I have learned my lesson and will limit all of my posts to what I could fit into one 5.5 x 8.5 page.

As I go the first 16 verses of Psalm 18, again, I am drawn to the last verses of part 1.  The channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the earth were discovered.  He took me, he drew me out of many/deep waters.

The metaphor of deep water is so appropriate for addiction in so many ways.  Addiction will drown us - and for many of us it was that drowning that we had to experience before seeking recovery.  Addiction, like water, is deceiving in that at first the experience seems refreshing and relaxing.  However, to continue to get the same feeling and experience we need to go deeper, and farther out.  Until we've gone so far that we are in over our heads and our lives became unmanageable.  Thankfully, God, through prayers (which even went into his ears) and the 12 steps pushed those waters aside, and pulled us out of deadly waters.

Today my prayers go out to the addicts that still suffers.  That they may be guided or pulled out of those deep waters.  That they may realize that there is a higher power that can help them and save them.  That there are people around them that love them and want to help them.  That they reach out to their higher power and the people in their lives to be rescued.  That they let that higher power and those people into their lives so that they can experience a new life, free of addiction and the problems that addiction brings.  Amen.

Thanks for letting me share.