When you have time, compare the reading of Psalm 18 to the one here in Psalm 144. The opening lines are quite similar. In fact, scholars have often remarked that this psalm is cobbled quite a bit from other poems in the psalter.
And yet, the writer here expresses something quite different.
In Psalm 18, the writer recalls his desperate cry to the Lord for deliverance. He then recounts the glorious appearance and work of God in which God in all His fury parted the heavens and came to rescue His servant.
In this Psalm however, using many of the same expressions, the writer once again finds himself in a desperate situation. But his cry is not one of desperation. It is one of confidence. Because the Lord has helped him before, the psalmist knows God can do so again – and he believes God will.
We must confide our struggles and fears to God and ask His help. We must wait for His response and have our eyes open to the many ways He might answer our prayer. We must remember God’s replies.
Why?
Because this is one of the ways that faith is built, so that the child of God in desperate times does not despair, but confidently believes God will care for him. “Blessed are the people of whom this is true.”