"The Remembrance"

[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 of his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,] "I will love Thee, O LORD, my strength." (Psalms 18:1) If you read the portion of 2 Samuel that this Psalm is speaking of, it is quite an interesting read. The song that David is talking about, we find it in 2 Samuel 22; although a little longer, and somewhat different, it is the same song, just sung for a different occasion or purpose. In 2 Samuel 22:1, it says, "And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul". In the very next verse, we have the beginning of the song, which starts as such, "And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; Thou savest me from violence." Now compare this starting to the one above in this Psalm, and you find a little different start to this song; one that starts with our response to what God is and has done! Okay, maybe I am making to much of something that is simply a little different way of starting his song; but if you stop and think about it, it is fitting to start this new song in such a way. The previous song was sung just after David had defeated the last of the Philistine attacks; which was brought on by a famine in the land due to something that Saul had done to the Gibeonites. The famine had weakened the armies of David, and had given his enemies an reason for attack. The requirement for the famine to stop, was for David to offer something to the Gibeonites that would help correct what Saul had done to them. What they asked David for was seven sons of the house of Saul to hang upon a hill; which David did deliver to them. Long story shortened; after the seven had been killed, David gathered the bones of Saul and Jonathan, along with the bones of the seven, and buried them in the country of Benjamin, in the sepulchre of Kish, Saul's father. Then after several battles with the Philistines, some of which were almost the death of David, he sang this song. Here we have the remembrance of the song that was sung, and it begins with "I will love Thee, O LORD, my strength". This is an example of what our response should be to God's mercy and grace, and is the first commandment that we have been given to live by: To love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength!