{"id":6442,"date":"2010-06-22T12:54:24","date_gmt":"2010-06-22T12:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html"},"modified":"2010-06-22T12:54:24","modified_gmt":"2010-06-22T12:54:24","slug":"our-common-prayerbook-18-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html","title":{"rendered":"Our Common Prayerbook 18 &#8211; 5"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/IMG_2010-15322.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/120\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/IMG_2010-thumb-333x249-15322.jpg\" width=\"333\" height=\"249\" alt=\"IMG_2010.JPG\" class=\"mt-image-right\" style=\"float: right;margin: 0 0 20px 20px\" \/><\/a><\/span>Psalm 18 is a long psalm. 18:30-34 is a strong word, a word about God that leads us to learn to trust in God and to depend on God, especially when life seems to be at its worst. Here the psalmist speaks of what God is like:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>God acts in a faithful manner; God&#8217;s promise is reliable; God is a shield.<\/div>\n<div>In fact, this leads to a sudden question: Who is God beside YHWH? (No one.) Who else protects? (No one.)<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>That God, the protector-reliable God, gives him strength; he removes obstacles; he provides agility on the craggy terrain; he prepares the psalmist for battle.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It reminds me of the safe places we found on Skellig Michael recently.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\">\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: Times;font-size: medium\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\"><span class=\"vref\" style=\"font-weight: bold\">18:30<\/span>&nbsp;The one true God acts in a faithful manner;<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\">the&nbsp;<span class=\"sc\" style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Lord<\/span>&#8216;s promise is reliable;<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\">he is a shield to all who take shelter in him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\"><span class=\"vref\" style=\"font-weight: bold\">18:31<\/span>&nbsp;Indeed, who is God besides the&nbsp;<span class=\"sc\" style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Lord<\/span>?<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\">Who is a protector besides our God?<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\"><span class=\"vref\" style=\"font-weight: bold\">18:32<\/span>&nbsp;The one true God gives me strength;<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\">he removes the obstacles in my way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\"><span class=\"vref\" style=\"font-weight: bold\">18:33<\/span>&nbsp;He gives me the agility of a deer;<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\">he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\"><span class=\"vref\" style=\"font-weight: bold\">18:34<\/span>&nbsp;He trains my hands for battle;<\/p>\n<p class=\"poetry\">my arms can bend even the strongest bow.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psalm 18 is a long psalm. 18:30-34 is a strong word, a word about God that leads us to learn to trust in God and to depend on God, especially when life seems to be at its worst. Here the psalmist speaks of what God is like:&nbsp; God acts in a faithful manner; God&#8217;s promise&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalms"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Our Common Prayerbook 18 - 5 - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Common Prayerbook 18 - 5 - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Psalm 18 is a long psalm. 18:30-34 is a strong word, a word about God that leads us to learn to trust in God and to depend on God, especially when life seems to be at its worst. Here the psalmist speaks of what God is like:&nbsp; God acts in a faithful manner; God&#8217;s promise&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-22T12:54:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/IMG_2010-thumb-333x249-15322.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our Common Prayerbook 18 - 5 - Jesus Creed","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our Common Prayerbook 18 - 5 - Jesus Creed","og_description":"Psalm 18 is a long psalm. 18:30-34 is a strong word, a word about God that leads us to learn to trust in God and to depend on God, especially when life seems to be at its worst. Here the psalmist speaks of what God is like:&nbsp; God acts in a faithful manner; God&#8217;s promise&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2010-06-22T12:54:24+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/IMG_2010-thumb-333x249-15322.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html","name":"Our Common Prayerbook 18 - 5 - Jesus Creed","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/IMG_2010-thumb-333x249-15322.jpg","datePublished":"2010-06-22T12:54:24+00:00","dateModified":"2010-06-22T12:54:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/19879975236b70da80f4cbea933c59d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/IMG_2010-thumb-333x249-15322.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/IMG_2010-thumb-333x249-15322.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/06\/our-common-prayerbook-18-5.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our Common Prayerbook 18 &#8211; 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