The Delight of the Deliverer Text: 2 Samuel 22:17-20
Introduction: A God Who Intervenes
We live in an age that is functionally deistic. Our sophisticated secularists, and even many Christians who ought to know better, are comfortable with a God who is a distant, abstract principle. He is the First Cause, the Unmoved Mover, the cosmic watchmaker who wound everything up and then retired to a safe distance to see how it would all run down. He is a God of grand, general providence, perhaps, but not a God who gets His hands dirty in the mud and blood of human history. He doesn't pick sides. He doesn't rescue individuals. He doesn't have enemies, and He certainly doesn't have favorites.
This entire chapter, which is a magnificent song of David, is a frontal assault on that anemic and pathetic view of God. This is not the God of the philosophers; this is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel. When His people are in distress, He does not send a memo. He doesn't form a committee. As we saw in the preceding verses, He bows the heavens and comes down. The earth shakes, smoke pours from His nostrils, and fire from His mouth. This is a God who intervenes. He is not a spectator; He is a warrior.
The passage before us today is the focal point of that intervention. The cosmic display of power we saw earlier is not just directionless, unfocused power. It is not God showing off for the sake of showing off. That thunder and lightning, that shaking of the foundations of the world, has a purpose. It is surgical. It is aimed. God displays His omnipotence in the storm, but it is all directed at one thing: the deliverance of His servant, David. This is the personal application of God's cosmic power. And in these verses, we learn not only that God saves, but why He saves. And the reason is far more staggering and wonderful than we often dare to believe.
The Text
"He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, But Yahweh was my support. He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me."
(2 Samuel 22:17-20 LSB)
Top-Down Salvation (v. 17)
We begin with the direct, vertical intervention of God.
"He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters." (2 Samuel 22:17)
Salvation is always a top-down affair. It is never a bottom-up achievement. Notice the pronouns: "He sent... He took... He drew." David is entirely passive in this rescue. He is not treading water, trying to meet God halfway. He is drowning. The "many waters" here are a classic Old Testament metaphor for overwhelming chaos, distress, and the threat of death. Think of Jonah in the deep, or the floods of ungodly men mentioned earlier in this psalm. These are the waters of judgment and despair, the currents of circumstance and enemy opposition that are pulling him under.
And from where does the rescue come? "From on high." God is transcendent. He is not caught in the flood with us. He is above it, sovereign over it. He reaches down from His throne into David's particular, historical crisis. The language here is intensely personal. "He took me." This is not a generic rescue operation. God does not cast a life raft into the general vicinity. He takes hold of David. This is the good Shepherd leaving the ninety-nine to find the one. This is God's elective, particular grace in action. He doesn't just make salvation possible; He accomplishes it.
The phrase "drew me out" is the Hebrew word mashah. This is not a common word, but it should ring a bell. It is the root of the name Moses. In Exodus, Pharaoh's daughter says, "I drew him out of the water" (Exodus 2:10). David, the great king, is here identifying his own salvation with the foundational salvation of Israel in the Exodus. Just as God reached down to pull His infant people out of the waters of the Nile and, later, the Red Sea, so He has reached down to pull David out of his own sea of troubles. Every personal salvation is a miniature Exodus.
Overwhelming Grace for Overwhelming Foes (v. 18-19)
Next, David identifies the specific nature of the threat from which God delivered him.
"He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, But Yahweh was my support." (2 Samuel 22:18-19 LSB)
David is not being falsely modest here. He was a mighty warrior, a giant-killer. But he frankly admits the power of his opposition. His enemy, whether we think of Saul or the Philistines or Absalom, was strong. Those who hated him were "too mighty" for him. This is a crucial confession. We do not need a savior until we recognize that we are faced with a foe we cannot defeat on our own. As long as we believe we are strong enough, we will never call out for rescue. The beginning of salvation is the recognition of our own weakness.
The enemies did not attack when David was at his strongest. They were cunning. "They confronted me in the day of my disaster." The word for disaster is `eyd`, which means calamity or ruin. It's when you are already down that the enemy loves to kick you. It is in the day of your weakness, your failure, your sin, your grief, that the accuser comes with his legions. They see an opportunity and they press the attack.
And in that moment of overwhelming opposition and personal failure, what was David's hope? "But Yahweh was my support." The contrast is stark. "They" confronted me, "but Yahweh" was my support. The word for support is mish`en, which means a staff, a stay, something to lean on. When his legs were about to give out, when the enemy was pushing him over the cliff, David leaned his entire weight on God. God did not just offer moral support from the sidelines. He became the very staff that held David up. Our strength is not in ourselves; our strength is in having a God strong enough to lean on.
The Goal of Deliverance (v. 20)
Finally, we come to the outcome of this rescue, and more importantly, the ultimate reason for it.
"He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me." (2 Samuel 22:20 LSB)
God does not rescue us from drowning simply to leave us sputtering on a barren rock. He brings us "into a broad place." This is a place of freedom, security, and blessing. The "many waters" and the "strong enemy" represent constriction, being cornered, being trapped. The broad place is the opposite. It is a place where you can walk freely, where there is room to breathe, room to live, room to flourish. It is the inheritance of the saints. It is the liberty we have in the gospel.
But the last clause is the foundation of everything else. It is the sun that gives light to this entire song. Why did God do all this? Why the dramatic intervention? Why the personal rescue? Why the deliverance into a place of blessing? "Because He delighted in me."
Stop and let that sink in. He did not rescue David because David was inherently worthy, though as we see later in the psalm, David's covenant faithfulness was the instrument through which this deliverance came. He did not rescue him because he was useful. He did not rescue him out of a grudging sense of duty. He rescued him because He found joy in him. God's salvation is not just a transaction; it is an affection. God is not a reluctant savior; He is a glad-hearted Father. The Father does not just love His people; He likes them. He delights in them.
The Greater David and the Greater Delight
As always, David is singing about himself, but he is also singing about someone far greater. This song finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. He too was surrounded by the "many waters" of death. He too faced a strong enemy, Satan, who was far too mighty for any mere man. They confronted Him in the day of His disaster, on the cross, when He was made weak for our sakes. But Yahweh was His support. God sent from on high and raised Him from the dead, taking Him from the depths.
And God brought Him forth into a broad place, seating Him at His own right hand, a place of ultimate freedom and authority. And why? Because in Him, God was well-pleased. At His baptism, the Father declared, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). The Father's delight in the Son is the eternal, foundational reason for all salvation.
And here is the heart of the gospel for us. We are in Christ. By faith, we are united to Him. And this means that the Father's delight in His perfect Son now rests on us. God does not save you because you are delightful. He saves you because He has placed you in His delightful Son. And having done so, He now looks at you and says, "I delight in you." He rescued you from the waters of sin and death, not out of a dour obligation, but with joy. He brought you into the broad place of His kingdom because He likes having you there.
This is the truth that kills legalism and despair. Your standing with God is not based on your performance, but on His pleasure. And His pleasure in you is as secure as His pleasure in His own Son. Therefore, when you are in the day of your disaster, when your strong enemy confronts you, lean on your support. And know that the one holding you up is not doing so with a sigh of resignation, but with a heart of infinite, unwavering, and glad-hearted delight.