These “Grace Notes” have been being produced for some forty-five years. On some occasions, I’m afraid, their title was a grievous misnomer, marred as they often have been by my ignorance, error, opinion, and carnality, and always by some considerable measure of human weakness. But I am confident that the title, “Grace Notes,” has never been more fitting than it is today because the body of this note is simply the unadulterated Word of God. It is a portion of Psalm Eighteen, penned by David. The fact that it appears virtually verbatim in the twenty-second chapter of Second Samuel attests to its significance in the eyes of the Lord. Any comments I might make would only detract from the magnificence of this exceptional poetry and its revelation of the glory, might, and grace of God in rushing to the aid of one of His children. Please read it reverently, prayerfully, thankfully, and with rejoicing.

⁶In my distress I called upon the LORD,

And cried to my God for help;

He heard my voice out of His temple,

And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

⁷Then the earth shook and quaked;

And the foundations of the mountains were trembling

And were shaken, because He was angry.

⁸Smoke went up out of His nostrils,

And fire from His mouth devoured;

Coals were kindled by it.

⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down

With thick darkness under His feet.

¹⁰He rode upon a cherub and flew;

And He sped upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him,

Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

¹²From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³The LORD also thundered in the heavens,

And the Most High uttered His voice,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴He sent out His arrows, and scattered them,

And lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them.

¹⁵Then the channels of water appeared,

And the foundations of the world were laid bare

At your rebuke, O LORD,

At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

¹⁶He sent from on high, He took me;

He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy,

And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

But the LORD was my stay.

¹⁹He brought me forth also into a broad place;

He rescued me, because He delighted in me.

 

And all the people said, “Amen. Praise the Lord.”