Psalm 18:1-19

Thanksgiving for Deliverance

18¹ I love you, God - you make me strong. ² God is bedrock under my feet, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight. My God - the high crag where I run for dear life, hiding behind the boulders, safe in the granite hideout. ³ I sing to God, the Praise-Lofty, and find myself safe and saved. ⁴ The hangman's noose was tight at my throat; devil waters rushed over me. ⁵ Hell's ropes cinched me tight; death traps barred every exit. ⁶ A hostile world! I call to God, I cry to God to help me. From his palace he hears my call; my cry brings me right into his presence - a private audience! ⁷ Earth wobbles and lurches; huge mountains shake like leaves, Quake like aspen leaves because of his rage. ⁸ His nostrils flare, bellowing smoke; his mouth spits fire. Tongues of fire dart in and out; ⁹ he lowers the sky. He steps down; under his feet an abyss opens up. ¹⁰ He's riding a winged creature, swift on wind-wings. ¹¹ Now he's wrapped himself in a trenchcoat of black-cloud darkness. ¹² But his cloud-brightness bursts through, spraying hailstones and fireballs. ¹³ Then God thundered out of heaven; the High God gave a great shout, spraying hailstones and fireballs. ¹⁴ God shoots his arrows - pandemonium! He hurls his lightnings - a rout! ¹⁵ The secret sources of ocean are exposed, the hidden depths of earth lie uncovered The moment you roar in protest, let loose your hurricane anger. ¹⁶ But me he caught - reached all the way from sky to sea; he pulled me out ¹⁷ that enemy chaos, the void in which I was drowning. ¹⁸ They hit me when I was down, but God stuck by me. ¹⁹ He stood me up on a wide-open field; I stood there saved - surprised to be loved!