Psalm 18:49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen and sing praises unto thy name.
Your Testimony
I may have told you before about the first time I was asked to give my testimony. I was given this opportunity when I was fourteen years old by a youth pastor who volunteered me to give my testimony on a trip to the Nashville Rescue Mission. It scared the liver out of me. I’d never done it, and I was not a boy preacher. I thought to myself, “What do I have to say?” Here were men who had been saved from drunkenness, drugs, and what have you, and I had been saved at four years of age.
Many times people feel caught in a trap when they are asked to give a testimony, and they feel like they must give some dramatic history of all of their past sins. Well, Psalm 18 is a testimony, and it is a great instruction on how to give your testimony. Let me tell you, and then I’ll show you. Your testimony is the story of Who God is illustrated by what He has done, and it is followed up by gratitude.
Psalm 18:1-2 says, “I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” What a rich description of Who God is!
God is specifically the help we need at the time at which we need it. At times, He is my strength. At times, He is my defense. At times, He is my salvation. At all times, God is God. Your testimony is a putting together Who God is and what God has done.
If you look at verses 3 and following, you find out how God’s attributes were demonstrated to David in his life. Verse 3 says, “I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” Verse 6 says, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple…” The following verses tell how God worked in David’s life.
Who is God? He is not just a rock, a buckler, or a shield. He is mine. Notice the psalmist says, “My God, my strength… my buckler.” We see Who God is and we see what God has done. David takes this very personally because he took God personally.
The psalm concludes with gratitude. The last part of verse 48 says, “Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.”
Your testimony is the story of Who God is illustrated by what He has done followed up by gratitude. That is something you can do next Sunday night when there is a testimony time, and even those who do not know God can comprehend that.