Day 36: Horn of My Salvation
Read: Psalm 18:1–6
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
— Psalm 18:2 (ESV)
Reflect
Read this verse slowly and count. Rock. Fortress. Deliverer. My God. My rock. Shield. Horn of my salvation. Stronghold. Eight names, stacked one on another, with a single verb tucked in the middle: "in whom I take refuge."
David is not writing a list of attributes. He is a man who has been hunted, and every name is a place he has run.
One name stands out: the horn. The word is qeren, "horn." In this verse the horn means strength — the power of a wild ox that no one could hold down (compare 1 Samuel 2:1, 10). But Israel would also have known the horns of the altar, one on each corner, which a desperate man could take hold of.
That second picture is an association, not what the verse says. But it sits nearby: the God who is strength to win the fight is also the one you grab when you have no fight left.
Some of these names may be familiar to you. You may have sung them for years. But knowing the names and running to them are not the same thing. David has run to every one.
Across Scripture
When King Solomon came to the throne, his rival Adonijah fled and took hold of the horns of the altar to save his life (1 Kings 1:50). Centuries later, when John the Baptist was born, his father Zechariah praised God for what was about to happen through Jesus: God "has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David" (Luke 1:69).
Sit With It
Which of these names have you actually run to, and which have you only read? Pick the one your situation needs today, and stay there.
Pray
My horn of salvation, I take hold of you.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.