My Rock Rocks!

New Year’s Eve is a wonderful moment to pause and ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to make sense of where we’ve been and where we are going. The words of David in Psalm 18 help me to do this very thing and I’m hoping it will do the same for you. 

I’ve written my own rendition of this psalm. It is a personalized paraphrase, not at all a precise translation. I’ve let David’s words stimulate my own reflections and prayers concerning my own life circumstances. Because David writes this psalm after the Lord has delivered him from all his enemies (see the heading of the psalm), his words are full of joyful confidence and finality. In my own journey, I’m not there yet. My ‘enemies’ are still very real and the battles of life are not yet over. This means that I struggle to pray with the same joyful exuberance and certainty that David has. 

But that is just the point! Making David’s joyful psalm my own helps me to see beyond the ruts in which I seem to be trapped and the battles that never seem to end. David’s words help me to express what I don’t know how to say and to anticipate a victory that has not yet been won. I hope my paraphrase of Psalm 18 will do the same for you.   

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A Personal Paraphrase of Psalm 18

I love you, Lord. 

Without you, I’m a weakling and a coward.

But you are a Rock! A mighty fortress and a strong shield. 

When I’m with you, I’m safe. Nothing can harm me there. 

Better than a bulletproof vest, an armored tank, or a steel-reinforced bunker;

When I trust in you, I am secure.

As soon as I call on your name, you deliver me from my enemies. 

When I look back on my life, how can I thank you enough

For the way you have rescued me time after time.

I was hit with one tsunami after another;

Overwhelmed, submerged, engulfed, swallowed up.

Waves crashed over me, the ground shook beneath me,

The enemy pressed me all around.

I had nowhere to turn… 

Except to my Rock.

“Help me, Lord! I’m drowning!” I cried out in desperation.

And you actually heard my cry. Yes, you heard me!

The heavens opened and you came down, like a mighty warrior,

With thunder and lightning, with earthquake and fire.

And my enemies fled like scared rabbits.

You reached down and pulled me out of the mess I was in.

You rescued me, yes me. 

I can’t explain it, but for some strange reason, you take pleasure in me. 

My sins and shortcomings were no secret to you. 

Yet, you looked past my sins and saw the deepest desires of my heart.

You knew that my will was surrendered to your will, 

That my desire was to do your desire.

Even more than I was holding on to you, 

You were holding on to me! 

Lord, when my heart was divided and polluted by sinful desires,

It seemed that you had become my enemy.

But when I humbled myself and confessed my sins,

You lit up the darkness and rescued me – time after time.

Yes, you saved me, even when you knew how messed up I was. 

Although you knew that I was spiritually bankrupt,

You showered my life with blessings. 

Oh Lord, your way is perfect! You are rock solid.

This has become my life message, the theme of my existence.

When I live according to your purposes and align my will with yours,

I am faster than a speeding bullet and stronger than a locomotive.

I can leap over tall buildings in a single bound.

When I am anchored in God my Rock, nothing is impossible!

The Lord lives. Blessed be my Rock!

And what my Rock has done for me, He can do for you!  

I want to sing Rock music forever!

My Rock rocks!

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