God’s Gentleness Has Made Me Great: Psalm 18

A Psalm of Mighty Praise

Psalm 18 is one of the longest Psalms in the Bible. In it, David expresses gratitude to God for saving him from his enemies and praises God for rewarding his righteousness. He speaks of God as "my strength, my rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, stronghold, and the horn of his salvation." God actively delivered David from evil. Among these titles in this Psalm stands a much different word, a tender word: "gentleness." David tells us that it is God's "gentleness that has made me great" (Psalm 18:35).

A Surprising Title: God’s “Gentleness” (עֲנָוָה)

This is the only place in the Bible where God is described in this way. In Hebrew, the word for gentleness is anavah, which means humility, meekness, or to condescend. The word doesn't imply weakness but rather strength that is under control.

Echoes in the New Testament

Centuries later, Jesus gives an example of strength under control. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus describes Himself as meek and lowly, or in some translations, gentle and humble. The Greek for gentle there is praus. In 2 Corinthians 10:1, Paul appeals to the Corinthians "by the mildness and gentleness of Christ." Here the Greek term is Epieikos. This was a legal term which means one who has the power not to exercise that power, but to show compassion. He comes, not as a judge who condemns, but with mercy.

God’s Gentleness Has Made Me Great

As David looked back at his life, he saw the many opportunities where God could have withheld His gracious hand toward him, but instead, the Lord treated him with tender gentleness. As the youngest son of his father, he wasn't even in the line up for Samuel to be anointed as the future king. Yet Samuel, knowing there was one more son, asked for him. Jesse called David from the field and Samuel recognized this young unassuming shepherd was to be the next king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13).

When David was being chased and threatened continuously by Saul, God gave him the gentle blessing of a dear friend, Jonathan. When David first entered Saul’s court as a harpist, Jonathan, the king’s eldest son, immediately recognized God’s hand on David and “loved him as his own soul” (1 Samuel 18:1).

As Saul’s jealousy turned to murderous rage, Jonathan repeatedly warned David of his father’s plots and helped David escape by hiding him in fields and clefts in the rock (1 Samuel 19–20). He was a friend that loved at all times. Their friendship exemplified sacrificial love: Jonathan risked family and kingdom to support the man God had chosen, and David never forgot that loyalty.

When David and his troops were insulted by Nabal, he threatened to destroy Nabal and his household. God graciously sent Abigail, Nabal's wife, out to bring provisions and beg for mercy, thus preventing bloodshed. When Nabal died ten days later, David made Abigail his wife (1 Samuel 25). Till the end of his days, David was able to see the gentle workings of God over his life.

Modern Glimpses of God’s Gentleness

When we look at our own lives, don't we see the same? Can you see a young woman, failing at her life, who reads the Word of God and realizes for the first time ever that God really loves her? It's as if His arms are wrapped around her, holding her tight as she sobs.

Can you see an old man, dying and alone, calling out to Jesus in His final moments, expecting rejection, but instead Jesus welcomes him home with forgiveness and love? This is the gentle God that David sees. That gentleness allowed David to become great. It placed him in the position of king.

In our lives, do we see the graciousness, the gentleness of God towards us?

Wrath and Rescue: The Dual Portrait

How interesting that David describes God's wrath with words like these, "The foundations of the world were uncovered At Your rebuke, O Lord, At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils" (Psalm 18:15). David is describing the rebuke of his enemies. He says, "The Lord thundered from Heaven" (Psalm 18:13). But it isn't in fierceness and wrath that David has been made to be great, no, it is in gentleness. David describes earth shaking wrath, but it is gentleness that lifts him up. Why was David delivered from his enemies? Because, he says, God delighted in him.

Righteousness, Mercy, and God’s Actions

David attests that he was a righteous man, who kept the ways of the Lord and had committed no iniquity. David is not claiming perfection. He is claiming that his heart has been for God. David says God will be merciful to the merciful and that if we trust Him He will be our shield. David tells us that God has made him the head of nations and subdued his enemies. But notice that David isn't saying that he has done these things. He is saying God has done it! David repeatedly blesses, thanks, and praises God. He praises the Lord for raising him up when God could have chosen not to.

When Mercy Meets Discipline

David also experienced the judgment of God when he was caught in the sin of adultery and murder. God is gentle and merciful, but willful sin doesn't go unpunished; not even for the king of Israel. We pray that God will have mercy on us.

Reflecting on Our Own Stories

God could choose to punish me for every single shortcoming. He could judge me for every flaw, but instead he chooses gentleness. Yet when he disciplines me, he still welcomes me back with gentleness. How many times have we been far from Him and in hindsight seen His gentle hand working? He has provided for us: bringing healing, a better job, a spouse, children, even when we were far from Him. Why would He do this? So we can look back and say, "Ahh, my Father was gentle, bless His holy name! He didn't repay me as I deserved."

Pride vs. Humble Service

Some say that this Psalm seems to show an arrogant side of David, as if he was saying he was totally deserving of the blessings he received. But repeatedly David says it was God who "sent, took, drew him, delivered him, and brought him." In this Psalm, David calls himself "the servant of the Lord." David acknowledges in verse 27, "For You will save the humble people, but will bring down haughty looks." David knows the proud will fall, but the righteous will be blessed.

God’s Shield for All Who Trust

In Psalm 5:12, David says, "Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." Do we see the Lord's favor around us? When bad things happen, do we still acknowledge that God's favor is our shield? When Jonathan died, David mourned, yet in his sorrow he remembered how God’s gentle favor had always shielded him—even in his closest friendships.

David knows God's way is perfect. He says that "The word of the Lord is proven." And then he says something very striking. He says that God is a "shield to all who trust in Him" (Psalm 18:30). Not just to King David is God a shield, but to all — to you and I and all who trust in Him. A shield protects, it is a defense against enemies. But we must do our part; we must trust God.

Proven Promises & Our Response

We can trust because, as David tells us, God's word is proven. Over and over we see it in our own lives and the lives of others. God's way may be difficult, God's way may be long, but it brings about His perfect will and He treats us with gentleness, meekness, and humility. He treats us the way He wants us to treat others. Where we could be harsh and unloving, He wants us to be gentle and kind, meek and lowly.

In Titus 3:2 Paul reminds those who follow Christ, "to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men." We used to be the opposite of these things, but Paul says that when "the kindness and love of God appeared" we have been made heirs to eternal life. Not because of our righteousness, but because of His mercy.

Has God made us great through His gentleness? What could be greater than this, that the God of all gentleness invites us to reign with Him? Revelation 3:21 says, "The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne." You and I will be granted the right to sit with Jesus on His throne. We may not be able to fully grasp this promise, but I know that it is true because of the gentleness, love, and mercy of God.

The refrain to an old hymn, "Gently, Gently, Kneel and Pray" by Thoro Harris reminds us:

Gently, gently shine the stars,

Gently grow the flowers,

Gently smiles the love of God,

And His love is ours!

People Also Ask:

What does the phrase, "the horn of my salvation" mean? A horn was symbolic of strength, greatness, and power. In Psalm 18:2, calls God (Yahweh), "the horn of my salvation". We see Jesus referred in the same way in Luke 1:68-69. The salvation of Jesus is great indeed, as He forgives our sins and grants us eternal life. Just as Paul tells us in Romans 1:16, the gospel is "the power of God unto salvation."