Now remain, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love – the ultimate kind of sacrificial love described in Corinthians 1:13. Agape.

So perhaps we’ve come to understand that not all love is created equal. There have been books authored to dissect different forms of love. C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves elaborating on Divine love (Agape), Brotherly love (Phileo), Eros (Romantic), and Storge (parental) come to mind. But what about love for God. What should that look like?

I think David’s example in The Psalms reveals some insight into certain essential elements of his sacred love for God that we might consider … afterall, he was a man after God’s own heart.
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To the Chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that The Lord delivered him from the hand of all , and from Saul: And he said:

“I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer: My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my bucker, my salvation, and my high tower.”

I will call upon the Lord upon The Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” (Psalm 18: 1-3)

This will not be a shallow, superficial love. This will be devotion.
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Interestingly most of the preceding Psalms leading up to his rejoicing over his deliverance depict David crying out to God to save him from danger – from the tyranny and blood lust of his enemies. But he not only cries out; in his pleading he’s equally insistent upon trusting. In fact, he has so confidently and resolutely placed his faith in his God that in the last phrase of the last verse of Psalm 17, before we’re told of his deliverance in Psalm 18, he isn’t even pleading for or professing victory. He’s resigned to resting and focusing on something more sublime – seeing God [face to face}; and on a new, and greater hope …

Favorable Experience & Precedent
Theirs isn’t a new relationship. David has known God and has been known by Him.

Thou hast proved mine heart, thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me… Psalm 17:4

I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. Psalm 17:6

Keep me as the apple of thine eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.  Psalm 17:8

Humility, Surrender & Dependence
Oh Lord rebuke me not in thy anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Have mercy on me Oh Lord for I am weak. Oh Lord heal me for my bones are vexed … Psalm 6:2

When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou vastest him? Psalm 8:4

Trust & Confidence in God as Protector, Savior
Throughout the psalms David displays the kind of trust and dependence natural to a child, but that often grows less common and more remote in adulthood. My son once asked this question when he was very young, and we joke about it today – “Mom, can dad lift a house?” His childlike expectation was that his father was so strong, so powerful that the impossible feat of single-handedly lifting a house was not outside the realm of possibility. This is David’s version, which strikes me at particularly poignant …

Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword.” From men which are thy hand … Psalm 17:13

This is remarkable because not only does David expect his God to intervene on his behalf, but he discerns that his enemies are indeed a tool/agent of the Lord (“…from the wicked which is thy sword … from men which are thy hand). This is a recognition and acknowledgement of his God’s complete sovereignty and supremacy.

What this means is that submitting to the knowledge that God uses those who exercise enmity against us to accomplish His sovereign will, while simultaneously pursuing Him for deliverance from that very oppressor, are not mutually exclusive. They can co-exist. Reconciling the two in this way is a posture of both humility & wisdom.

Adoration & HonorOh Lord our Lord how excellent is Your name in all the earth! Who has set they glory above the heavens.  Psalm 8:1

Reverence & Allegiance
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son (reference to Jesus?? – fascinating), lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little …Psalm 2:11

But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Psalm 5:7

Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god … Psalm 16:4

Adherence to Good Counsel. Obedience.
I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in night seasons. Psalm 16:7

Reliance on His Source of Protection for Peace & Rest
But thou oh Lord art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill (Selah). I laid me down and slept, I awakened, for the Lord sustained me. Psalm 3:3-5

I will both lay me down in peace and sleep: for thou, Lord only makest me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8

Transcendent Expectation
David’s faith in His God went beyond believing for, or and preoccupation with victory yet unseen – of that he was confident. He transitions to a new aspiration – to emulate the character of the God he’s experienced. His new desire is to be transformed into The Father’s likeness:  The scripture reads

”… As for me, I will behold they face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” Psalm 17:15

Source of Relief, Hope & Joy
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time of their corn and their wine increased …Psalm 4:7

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thine Holy One (reference to Jesus?) to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:10

Gratitude
All of Psalm 18 is David’s highest expression of gratitude for his deliverance – such that he recounts each mighty act of his God on his behalf (It’s reminiscent of this sentiment – “when I think of the goodness of The Lord, and all he’s done for me, my soul …,” which then mostly erupts into a raucous outburst of praise and worship in some denominations – you know who you are 🙂 )

Here David extols the virtues of an indomitable, heroic savior who rescued him from a treacherous enemy that would have otherwise overpowered him.

“He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me for they were too strong for me. … He brought me forth also into a large place, he delivered me, because he delighted in me. Psalm 18: 16-19

But when the psalmist gives this reason for his epic deliverance: “because he delighted in me,” we may find that it registers as a little off-putting at first; afterall, we’re saved by grace not by works that none may boast.

But we might also hear ringing in our spirit “But without faith it is impossible to please God.” And David’s conduct leading up to his deliverance displayed only pure, unadulterated – faith. It might then be fair to say that the measure of David’s blessing and the degree to which God delighted In him, was tantamount to the measure of his trusting faith.

Commitment
The love David professes in. Psalms 18:1  is a committed, determined love. “I will love thee …” He intends to ascribe love by an act of His will: Having found that he had placed his trust in a wholly trustworthy God, he professes this conviction “ The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” He is assured of a simple and an impenetrable action plan moving forward. “I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies.“ Psalms 18:2

David’s model of love for his God is exemplary, phenomenal, enriching, profound, and compelling: one we should endeavor to follow. Yet our best efforts can never quite compare to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP0tEceh8Bg