For You, O LORD, light my lamp; my God lights up my darkness.
David came to the throne through almost insurmountable trials, and foreign enemies harassed him even into old age. Rather than boast of his own victories, he exalts God as the true author of them, showing that his reign prefigures Christ's kingdom, one that will triumph over all resistance by the Father's incomprehensible power.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 18:1-50
"For thou wilt light my candle." Even the children of the day sometimes need candle-light. In the darkest hour light will arise; a candle shall be lit, it will be comfort such as we may fittingly use without dishonesty—it will be our own candle; yet God himself will find the holy fire with which the candle shall burn; our evidences are our own, but their comfortable light is from above.
When God visibly took David's part, He both cleared his innocence before men and confirmed the testimony of his own conscience. A wicked departure from God is one done willfully and without recovery; but those who stumble yet repent and press forward have not truly forsaken Him.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 18:20-28