I know one of “those guys.” He’s a dear brother, a faithful servant, but when it came to that “joke”, he was one of “those guys.” You might have met one of those guys, as well. You know, the guy when asked the last time he told his wife he loved her, tilts his head a bit, cracks a grin, and says something like, “I told my wife I loved her on our wedding day and that if things ever changed, I’d let her know! Ha, ha, ha!” Yuck! Don’t be one of those guys.

So why does that guy come to mind this morning? Because I’m gripped by the opening words of a song written by another guy.

I love You, O LORD, my strength.

(Psalm 18:1 ESV)

When’s the last time you told the LORD you loved Him? Hope it wasn’t on the day you were saved.

Though I love You, are the first words of verse 1, they aren’t the first words of Psalm 18. Instead, they follow this introduction to the song:

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

On the day when the LORD rescued David from the hand of all his enemies, David said: “I love You, O LORD, my strength.” Makes sense. Seems like a good thing to express to the One who delivered you from all your enemies. Seems fitting to be fashioned into a song. Seems appropriate to write the song with a choir in mind. Guessing it was sung often. Perhaps every time another enemy encountered was another enemy defeated by the LORD, my strength.

The LORD who heard my voice when I cried to Him in distress (18:6). The LORD who “took me” and “drew me out of many waters” (18:16). The One who supported me “in the day of my calamity” (18:18). The LORD who “brought me into a broad place”; who “rescued me, because He delighted in me” (18:19). The LORD who “rewarded me according to my righteousness” (18:24) — the righteousness He credited to me by faith. The LORD who loved me. To that LORD, David sings, “I love You!”

We love because He first loved us.

(1John 4:19 ESV)

In my King James Bible days, I learned it as “We love Him because He first loved us.” For David, for sure, He loved the LORD because the LORD, his rock and his fortress and his deliver (18:2), had so powerfully and faithfully first loved him. And David wrote a song so that other people would also sing, “I love You, O LORD” — for He had already loved them too.

Reminds me of another song (we called it a “chorus” back in the day) that never ceased to stir me from the inside out. Still does.

I love you, Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship You
Oh, my soul, rejoice!

Take joy my King
In what You hear
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ear

Laurie Klein © 1978 House of Mercy Music

So, let the redeemed sing. Let the rescued sound off. Regardless of the enemies we face today, let us sing to the LORD who has already and so wondrously first loved us.

Let’s not wait until “things change.” But may we often and earnestly offer to heaven our melody from earth, “I love You, LORD.”

By His grace. For His glory.