5 The bands of Sheol surrounded me, the cords of death encountered me. 6 In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and I cried out to my God; he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, into his ears. 7 Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled and shook, because he was wroth. 8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals burned forth from it. 9 And he bowed the heavens, and came down; and darkness was under his feet. 10 And he rode upon a cherub and did fly; yea, he flew fast upon the wings of the wind.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 18:5-10

Commentary on Psalm 18:1-19

(Read Psalm 18:1-19)

The first words, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength," are the scope and contents of the psalm. Those that truly love God, may triumph in him as their Rock and Refuge, and may with confidence call upon him. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it. David was a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. God's manifestation of his presence is very fully described, Hebrews 5:7. God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.