I just came across an old blog idea dated June 8, 2012: “It is important to build time with God’s Word into your daily schedule. I know it has been such a source of comfort to me, sometimes a summer rain but sometimes a deluge of peace, comfort and promises!!”

Lately, the Psalms have come alive to me, but probably none so much as Psalm 18.

My blog idea from almost eight years ago is so very true. Let me share.

First, there is a very comforting and faith-building description of our relationship with the Lord:
“I will love You, 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 shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.”

Then comes the description of the situation:
“The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.”

Then came the action of the psalmist:
“In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.”

Then came the part that still gives me chills—the reaction of God Almighty to the situation:
“Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.
He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.
And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
He flew upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness His secret place;
His canopy around Him was dark waters
And thick clouds of the skies.
From the brightness before Him,
His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.
The LORD thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe,
Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.”

Then it happened—the deliverance:
Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered
At Your rebuke, O LORD,
At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
He sent from above, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy” (Psalm 18:1-17, NKJV).

I love this! Our God is truly Almighty God! When we as His children are experiencing floods and pangs and snares of death, we simply have to cry out to Him, and His reaction is violent, huge, powerful, epic against the enemy! It’s the stuff war movies are made of: earth trembling, hills quaking, smoke, fire, hailstones, the bowing of the heavens, the Father riding through dark clouds on a cherub, dark waters and thick clouds shrouding His brightness from the enemy as He approaches, coals of fire, thunder, arrows, lightnings—and the foe is scattered!

The next scene shows the waters that were once the floods back in their designated channels and no longer covering the world—AT THE REBUKE OF OUR LORD, and “at the blast of the breath of [His] nostrils.”

He truly moves heaven and earth when we cry out to Him from the floods!

When you are in the throes of the battle for your prodigal, immerse yourself in the word of God! You will find crazy amounts of faith, peace, and rest!

(Another psalm about victory over the flood is Psalm 93. Another scripture passage about the Lord’s riding on the heaven ready to help is Deuteronomy 33:26-27.)