My Fortress and My Deliverer: the God who keeps you and gets you out

When David called God my fortress and my deliverer, he was naming two kinds of rescue he had lived through himself. A fortress is a high, hard-to-reach stronghold that keeps you safe where you stand. A deliverer is the One who gets you out when you are caught. Both words come from the song David sang after God rescued him from Saul and all his enemies, written down twice in the Bible, in 2 Samuel 22:2 and Psalm 18:2.

A hunted man in the hills of Judah

The story starts with a victory. After young David beat Goliath, the women of Israel sang that Saul had killed thousands and David tens of thousands. King Saul took it badly. The Bible says Saul eyed David from that day and forward (1 Samuel 18:9). Jealousy turned into fear, and fear turned into a javelin thrown at him (1 Samuel 18:11). David had to run.

For years after that he lived as an outlaw. One of his first hideouts was a cave: he escaped to the cave Adullam, and soon a ragged crowd of people who were in trouble, in debt or unhappy gathered around him, about four hundred men (1 Samuel 22:2). Later the group grew to about six hundred. They moved from place to place across the dry, rocky land west of the Dead Sea.

The King James Bible has a word for the spots where they camped: strong holds. These were cliffs, ridges and caves where a small band could see an army coming and could not easily be reached.

And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.

1 Samuel 23:14

Notice the end of that verse. The cliffs were good, but the verse gives the credit to God.

Some escapes were not about walls at all. In 1 Samuel 23, Saul and his soldiers were on one side of a mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away. Saul's men were closing in around them. Then a messenger ran up to Saul with news that the Philistines had invaded the land, and Saul turned back to fight them (1 Samuel 23:26 to 28). David slipped away. Right after that, he dwelt in strong holds at En-gedi, an oasis with a spring in the desert cliffs above the Dead Sea.

Years later, with Saul gone and the danger behind him, David sat down and sang about all of it. The Bible tells us when:

And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

2 Samuel 22:1-2

Two Hebrew words, two different pictures

The first word, translated fortress, is metsudah. It means a stronghold, a high place that is hard to get to. Strong's dictionary, a standard word list for the King James Bible, also gives it a surprising second meaning: a net, the kind used to catch an animal. Both meanings are connected to a Hebrew verb for hunting. So the same word can mean the trap the hunter sets or the high ledge the hunted animal climbs to so it cannot be caught. David knew which side of that word he had been living on.

The second word, translated deliverer, is mephalti, built from the verb palat. That verb means to slip out or escape, and in the form David uses, to cause someone to escape. It is not mainly a picture of a giant hero smashing the enemy. It is the picture of someone who gets free just in time, like David on the far side of that mountain.

In Hebrew, both words end with a short sound that means "my." David did not say God is a fortress in general. He said God is my fortress, the way you would talk about your own house or your own family. He was speaking from memory, not from a textbook.

Put the two words side by side and you get a full picture of rescue. Some trouble you cannot leave, so you need to be kept safe in the middle of it. Other trouble you must get out of, and you need someone to open the way. David says God has done both.

King James verses about God the fortress and deliverer

David kept coming back to these words in other psalms. Each verse adds something.

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.

Psalm 18:2

This is the most famous form of the line. It is a pile of titles, one after another, each starting with "my." Fortress and deliverer come right at the front.

For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.

Psalm 31:3

Here the fortress is not only a place to hide. It is also a guide. David asks the God who protects him to show him which way to go next.

But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

Psalm 40:17

To tarry means to wait or delay. This is a short, urgent prayer: I have nothing, You are thinking about me, please hurry.

He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Psalm 18:19

This may be the sweetest line in the whole song. The rescue did not end in a cramped cave. God brought David out into open space, and the reason given is simple: God took delight in him.

Living with God as your fortress and deliverer

Most people go through seasons that feel like David's years in the hills. A family that keeps fighting. A school where someone is always after you. A job you cannot quit yet. An illness that will not go away. In times like that it helps to know which kind of help to ask for.

Sometimes God keeps you safe right where you are. The trouble does not leave, but it does not destroy you either, and you find strength you did not know you had. Other times the answer is to get out, and God makes a way: a door opens, a person steps in, a plan falls into place. Faith does not mean you must stay in a place where you are being harmed. Running from Saul was not a lack of faith for David. It was wisdom, and God was in it.

It is also easy to forget past rescues. David sang this song because he took time to remember. You can do the same.

• Write down three times you got through something you thought would break you. Next to each one, write what helped.
• Ask God plainly which help you need today: to be kept safe where you are, or to be shown the way out.
• If someone is hurting you, tell a parent, teacher, pastor or other trusted adult. Getting help is often how God delivers.
• Read Psalm 18 out loud, slowly, and notice how many times David says "my."

David did not stop at fortress and deliverer. Later in the same verse he calls God my buckler, the shield in His hand, and the verse ends with my high tower. Just before these words comes the Rock, and you can see all of them together on the names of God in the Bible page.