Psalms 18:32
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way clear.
BSB
ASV
The God that girdeth me with strength, And maketh my way perfect?
KJV
It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 18:33-34 (339)
He builds me up with his own strength and weapons, and he affirms by his grace my mortal and human strength; just like one having his limbs undergirded by his own strength, I will stand against my enemies. But as it is said above, "My God, his way is perfect," so also wishing me to be likened to his own image, he has made my way blameless by teaching, admonitions and discipline of whatever type he wishes, and he has refined and perfected my way or settled life.
Surveying all the armour in which he fought and conquered, the joyful victor praises the Lord for every part of the panoply. The girdle of his loins earns the first stanza: "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect."
God's perfection is the source of his own, which has resulted from his trust on the one hand, and God's promised help on the other. tried--"as metals are tried by fire and proved genuine" (Ps 12:6). Girding was essential to free motion on account of the looseness of Oriental dresses; hence it is an expressive figure for describing the gift of strength.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 91:2I will say to the LORD, “You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
leads to
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
Through
Psalms 28:7The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.
leads to
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.