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"The LORD sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters." (Psa 18:16)
This life is pictured in Scripture as a desert waste or an ocean storm. Nothing or too much. In either case, it's overwhelming.
Here, in Psalm 18, the picture is of the storm: certain death in an endless sea. "Which way do I go? What good would it do? O LORD, save me."
He does. For David this "saving from on high" is symbolic, metaphorical. God is higher than we are and so His salvations come to us from "on high." But the reality--the real experience--was that somehow David was saved and then he attributed this salvation to God's work. David did not see a Savior descend to his aid.
The reality for us is much different.
God sent from on high, literally. He drew us out of many waters, not by providential means or sovereign appointments or happy chance, but by His own strong arm. We are not attributing hidden works to our heavenly God.
No, not this time. "I came from the Father and have come into the world," Jesus says in John 16:28. "The Father sent me," Jesus says over and over again. "The Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world." (1 Jn 4:14)
The LORD sent from on high to save us. But this was not salvation attributed to God, but God's own saving of us Himself. His being. His glory. His face. His right arm. "What we have heard...seen with our eyes...looked upon and have touched with our hands." (1 Jn 1:1)
Holy Week reminds us of this. Scripture is not asking us to "look for" or "ascribe to the LORD" salvations in our life, but rather to "look at" and "behold" the salvation of the LORD: "the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come." (Malachi 3:1)
It happened. He has done it. It is finished.
"For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing to your name." (Psa 18:49)
(Photo by Sam Schooler on Unsplash)
