Psalm 18:

1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
so I shall be saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of perdition assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called upon the LORD;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.

This is a very special psalm to me. There have been a number of times when me or someone I love have been in desperate places. Maybe you know what that’s like.

“The cords of death encompassed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me…”

I remember one time in particular when our older daughter (in high school at the time) was in a dire situation. I was at the hospital helpless to do anything for her. It was a terrible, terrible feeling. I was standing by her bed and we prayed together. But I couldn’t even form words in my mind to pray. So I opened the bible and we prayed this psalm. Over and over. Even after she returned home to recover it became a ritual. Each day we would open our bibles to Psalm 18 and pray these words together. And day by day my daughter got stronger.

“I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I trust…”

Maybe you’re in that kind of a place today. The weight of the world is heavy. Hope seems hard to find. Circumstances seem out of control. This psalm reminds us there is no problem too great for our God. Cry out to the Lord, dear sister/brother. He will hear you.

Heavenly Father, listen to your children praying. Hear our prayers and deliver us. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.