What does it mean that the Lord is my rock (Psalm 18:2)?

Appropriately David begins his song with a number of the wonderful aspects of God's nature and character. Jehovah is his rock, the symbol of unchanging stability. 1 Corinthians 10:4 tells us "That Rock was Christ, for He is God over all, blessed forever." "My fortress" speaks of the place of impregnable defense. David, in his time of exile, learned how valuable a fortress was. Added to this is "my deliverer." When endangered on more than one occasion, when it seemed the enemy was on the verge of capturing or killing him, God intervened to deliver him from harm. He was also "the God of my strength." At times when weakness became overpowering, it was God who renewed his strength. If we are to prove this in experience we must learn to "wait upon the Lord" (Isa.40:31), and the renewal of strength will appear to be virtually miraculous. "My shield" speaks of God's protection when face to face with the enemy, while "the horn of my salvation" speaks of the power of God in saving him from enemies and from adversity.

God being his "stronghold and refuge" involves kindred thoughts, the stronghold speaking of His protecting power, the refuge emphasizing the grace of that protection. Finally David calls God "my savior," a lovely term that finds a fuller meaning in the new Testament when we consider the great work of the Lord Jesus in suffering at Calvary to provide eternal salvation for the lost. God had saved David from violence on various occasions when he was in imminent danger of death. But the Lord Jesus saves from the greater violence of eternal judgment by virtue of His sacrifice.

God is our rock, God is our cliff (we could say), God is our fortress. David knew this from his many experiences- perhaps particularly fighting against the Philistines, but other enemies too- David knew practically the Lord giving a strong defense from the attacks of his enemies. He was able to defeat the enemy because of the strength of the ground on which he stood.

The psalm instructs us thus to call upon the Lord in distress, come how or why it may, to call on the Lord; and thus not only the deliverance is known, but the Lord is known in His sympathy, and kindness, and interest in us. I love Jehovah, he says; or rather the heart turns to Jehovah Himself and says, "I will love thee, O Jehovah, my strength," and then the heart thinks of all He is for us. "Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." The heart enlarges in the sense of what He has been for us. And so He is. Though our deliverances may not be exactly of the same kind, yet difficulties and distress often beset us, and there is deliverance in crying to the Lord. Note also, there are holy affections drawn out by the dealings of the Lord, as by His eternal salvation, holy and confiding affections, piety; not merely praise, because He has redeemed us for ever, but daily exercise of sympathy and tender thoughts of compassion. He cannot bear to see us suffer, save when needed, and there are trials which draw out love to Him. Surely He says, "Ephraim is my dear son; for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still." There indeed it was the remembrance of him when under chastisement. Here it is suffering in integrity, but at bottom there is integrity in the Christian, and in Christ. He can cry in that distress. The psalm, however, is the cry of a holy and calm spirit, confiding in God and finding the abundant results in His faithfulness. The heart is drawn to Himself. In Psalms 16, 17 and 18, we have found Christ Himself - His personal position, the joy set before Him in heaven, and His final triumph on earth as suffering when legally righteous.

This is another remarkable Psalm. Though David wrote it not everything could be his experience. He was a prophet (Acts 2:30) and prophesied; much in this Psalm is prophecy describing the deliverance of Christ from the jaws of death and the glory God has given Him, and this deliverance and glory also concerns the remnant of His earthly people in "that day." The Psalm begins with an outburst of praise and it ends with His praise among the nations. Hebrew authorities tell us that the proper translation of "The LORD is my Rock" is "Jehovah, my cleft of the rock." It is Christ the rock, cleft for us, in whom the believer has found His refuge. And He Himself was saved from His enemies and in Him His people are saved and will be saved from their enemies (verse 3). It is His own death experience which is described in verses 4-6. "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of Belial (marginal reading) made me afraid." Then in His distress He called and cried unto God and was heard.

David's confidence is in the Lord as his rock and his fortress. The rock is the solid basis of his very existence, and the fortress is his all encircling defense. "Therefore, for Your name's sake, lead me and guide me." David does not ask this for his own sake, but for the sake of the name of the Lord. Since the Lord alone is his rock and fortress, this is reason for his confidence in God to go before him as Leader and to guide him also as he goes on his way.

Certain basis-truths are constantly repeated in these psalms; and, simple as they are, the repetition must be as wholesome as it is inevitable. That Jehovah — God in His unchangeable self-consistency — is the rock of faith, needs not, of course, to be proved, nor is it. It is used with God Himself as a prevailing argument for Him to show Himself in that character. Must He not be to the soul that trusts Him all that it counts upon Him for? The suppliant can plead His righteousness even in his own behalf; for does He not encourage faith to lay hold upon Him? "Be to me" therefore, he cries, "a rock of strength, a house of defence, to save me: for my rock and my fortress Thou art." And would He not be known for what He is? that is, act for His Name's sake, — lead and guide His people in conformity with this?

The first section is a simple appeal to God as the confidence of faith, the one sufficiency. As an introduction it gives us, as very commonly, the theme, which the rest of the psalm expands and illustrates. Faith is the expression of self-renunciation, which as such leaves God Himself in what He is, to be its all, and thus occupied with Him without distraction, its plea is founded on His very nature. It is a safe argument, if a true one: "I have put my trust in Thee, let me not be put to confusion." And thus God's righteousness can be pleaded by a sinner, the Cross of Christ being the full declaration and justification of this. The psalmist, divinely taught, goes to the full extent of this, claiming God as his rock-dwelling, to which he can resort whatever the danger. And His word assures him — the prophecies of God concerning Israel? — that He has given commandment to save him: "for Thou," he repeats, "art my cleft of the rock and my fortress."

And let us not forget that all is "in Christ Jesus". Christ Jesus is my Rock and my Fortress (Ps. 31:2-3) within which the Peace of God keeps guard over hearts and thoughts. So the picture is complete: we have the Fortress and we have the Garrison that guards it. Both are Divine. What perfect safety, and what perfect peace, is there for every believer! In 1 Peter 1:5 we "are kept guarded by the power of God, through faith for salvation." (J.N.D.) "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee". Therefore, my Beloved, "Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is the Rock of Ages." (Isaiah 26:3 & 4; Margin).

We are all familiar with the hymn, "Rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee." Christ is the Rock of Ages, He is the only Rock of refuge for a sin-laden soul. But the rock is also often spoken of in the Bible as a place of refuge, shelter and protection from the attack of the enemy. "In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in Thy righteousness. Bow down Thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be Thou my strong rock for a house of defense to save me. For Thou art the rock of my fortress" (Ps. 31:1-3; see also Ps. 18:2; 27:5-6).

The rock was the only safe place for Moses, for otherwise he would have been consumed by the glory of God. There is some important teaching in Scripture about God as the Rock. In Deuteronomy 32 Moses repeatedly spoke about God as the Rock of His people: He was the Rock of their salvation, the Rock who begot them and who fathered them (vv. 4, 15, 18, 30, 31). This picture is also often used in the Psalms. God was the Rock in whom David trusted, and whom he blessed as the God of his salvation (Ps. 18:2, 31, 46). In Him he found a safe place in times of trouble: “In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me: He shall set me up upon a rock” (Ps. 27:5). Psalms 31 (vv. 2-3), 40 (v. 2), and 61 (vv. 2-4) also speak about this place of shelter on the rock.