I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 18-22.

    I love the imagery in Psalms 18 and 19. The psalmist declares that he was at his end, completely overwhelmed by the troubles which had wrapped him up. His words evoke an image from a horror movie, ropes coming up from a grave, wrapping him up, and pulling him down into the earth of the grave. There was nothing he could do but cry out to God, so he did. God heard his cry and the earth shook. I can just picture the scene in a movie (it kind of reminds me of a 50s B Horror movie). There our hero is in the graveyard. Suddenly, animated ropes come out of a grave and wrap him up completely. The ropes are dragging him back into the grave. Our hero is grasping, reaching for anything to hold onto, but failing to obtain a grip. He cries out, “God save me!” The whole scene shakes, in the distance we see smoke rising up as if out of the nostrils of a dragon. The dark clouds in the sky part, the sun shines through, and a figure rides down to earth on storm clouds. Thunder booms forth and hail strikes all around. Then in the midst of all this noise and violence the figure stretches forth its hand and gently raises our hero up from where the ropes have fallen away. The wounds the hero suffered are healed and he is sent in pursuit of his enemies. They fall before him. Now it is their turn to cry out to the Lord, but He does not answer them.
    And why did the Lord not answer the cries of our hero’s enemies? Because they did not do right. They were not faithful and did not show integrity. They were crooked and proud.

    Then Psalms 19 tells us, again with great imagery how can know what is right so that we can do it. The very world around us proclaims God’s greatness. His will and instructions are revealed in the sky above us and the world around us. God’s instructions are both a warning and a reward. They give insight into living and are sweeter than honey. The psalmist cries out to God to reveal the sins which he does not even know he is committing and to cleanse him of them. He asks God to keep his deliberate sins from controlling him. This psalm resonates with me because I know that it is only if the power of the Holy Spirit acts within me that I will be able to resist the temptation of sins. And it is only by the revealing light that I will recognize the sins which hide deep within my heart.