2 Samuel 22:26-30 Humility

 ”“With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down. “For You are my lamp, O Lord; The Lord shall enlighten my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall.“

‭‭II Samuel‬ ‭22‬:‭26‬-‭30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful: Jesus discussed this principle in the Sermon on the Mount but from the perspective of man instead of from God: For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.(Matthew 7:2)

i. “In these words we have revealed the principles of relationship between God and man. God is to man what man is to God.” (Morgan)

ii. David didn’t only sing about this principle; he also lived it and benefited from it. God showed David great mercy because he showed great mercy to others, like Saul (1 Samuel 24:10-13) and Shimei (2 Samuel 16:7-12).

iii. “Note that even the merciful need mercy; no amount of generosity to the poor, or forgiveness to enemies, can set us beyond the need of mercy.” (Spurgeon)

b. With the devious You will show Yourself shrewd: Translators have trouble with this sentence because it communicates a difficult concept. It’s easy to say that if a man is pure towards God then God will be pure to him. But you can’t say that if a man is wicked towards God, then God will be wicked towards him because God can’t do anything wicked.

i. “David expresses the second half of the parallel by a somewhat ambiguous word, the root meaning of which is ‘twisted.’ The verse actually says, ‘To the twisted (or crooked) you will show yourself twisted (or crooked)’…. The idea seems to be that if a person insists in going devious ways in his dealings with God, God will outwit him, as that man deserves.” (Boice)

c. You will save the humble people; but Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down: David proclaims his confidence in the principle repeated in Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, and 1 Peter 5:5: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

i. There is something in true humility that prompts the grace and mercy of God and there is something in pride and haughtiness that prompts His resistance and displeasure.

ii. Humility isn’t necessarily a low opinion of self; it is a combination of an accurate opinion of self and simple self-forgetfulness. Humility is others-centered not self-centered.

d. The LORD shall enlighten my darkness: When God met David’s need He first brought light. Great strength and skill don’t help much at all if we can’t see in the midst of the struggle.

e. By You I can run against a troop; by my God I can leap over a wall: When God met David’s need He brought strength. One man should not be able to battle a troop, nor should he be able to leap over a wall protecting a city.

i. David knew the principle of Ephesians 6:10long before Paul penned the words: Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. God has a resource of power (His might) that He makes available to us by faith. We don’t have to be strong in our might, but we can be strong in His might. (Guzik)

Humility 

We can all learn to be a little more humble! 

”Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”“ ‭‭I Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Dear God, please reveal any proud ways within me because I desire to be clothed in humility. Thank You for Your mercy and grace. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.

Blessings