We are plodding along through the Psalms, and we call this our “common prayerbook” but it is the one prayerbook that unites all Christians. Furthermore, the Psalms aren’t here simply so we can figure out the inner heart of David when he was King, but they are here because these were the prayers of Israel — and these prayers were how Israelites, including Jesus and Paul, learned both how and what to pray. Psalm 18 is a Testimony-about-God psalm. 50 verses.
And we are reading John Goldingay’s commentary on Psalms: Psalms 1 
.
.Vv. 1-2 open with words that are then echoed in vv. 49-50: David has been delivered and he praises God for his deliverance, and he gives his testimony and witness to his experience of deliverance. To do this David labels God with descriptors that tell us about God:
1. God is a source of strength.
2. God is a high ridge.
3. God is a stronghold.
4. God is a deliverer.
5. God is a rocky summit of shelter.
6. God is a shield.
7. God is a horn.
8. God is a refuge.
These are all in vv. 1-2. And they begin with David’s public announcement that he loves God — he loves the God who delivers and he loves God because God delivers. Goldingay, though, suggests that raham here denotes less “love” and more “steadfast commitment.”
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