Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 18:35

"Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation; And thy right hand hath holden me up, And thy gentleness hath made me great." — Psalms 18:35 (ASV)

You have also given me the shield of your salvations — You have saved me as with a shield; you have thrown your shield before me in times of danger. See the note at (Psalms 5:12).

And your right hand has held me up — You have sustained me when in danger of failing, as if you had upheld me with your own hand.

And your gentleness has made me great — Margin, “or, with your meekness you have multiplied me.” The word here rendered gentleness evidently means favor, goodness, kindness in this context. It commonly means humility, modesty, as applied to men; as applied to God, it means mildness, clemency, favor.

The idea is that God had dealt with him in gentleness, kindness, and clemency, and that to this fact alone he owed all his prosperity and success in life. It was not by any claim which he had on God, by any worth of his own, or by any native strength or valor that he had been thus exalted, but it was wholly because God had dealt kindly with him or had shown him favor. So all our success in life is to be traced to the favor—the kindness—of God.