Month: April 2018

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Day 110 — Psalms 6, 9, 10, 14, 16, 19, & 21

These psalms highlight David’s making God his refuge and strength in times of trouble. If you are in a place to need refuge and strength, find help from this collection of psalms! If you’re not in that place now, file these for future reference when you do need refuge and strength.

In Psalm 6 David pours out his deep anguish. Can you relate to it? His soul is in such anguish that he is faint and feels bone-deep agony. He weeps all night, and his eyes grow weak with sorrow. Have you ever felt that way? Are you feeling that way now? It’s safe to say that if you never have experienced such sorrow, you will. David didn’t put a good face on it, nor did he try to cover it up with entertainments or hard work or other diversions; he gave it full expression, didn’t he? That’s a first step we can take from David’s example: he grieved. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” A treasured counselor once told me that if I want to get to the other side of grief, I have to go through it; there is no way around it.

But then, after pouring out his grief and wallowing in it for a while, he manned up, tightened his belt, and faced the truth: he had asked for God’s mercy, and he knew God had heard his prayer. He was so confident that God would extend mercy that he said, “Away from me” to the source of his grief. He was ready to move on.

Psalm 9 is another psalm that is a great help in offering praise to God. David starts with thanksgiving as he recounts God’s deeds on his behalf, then he moves on to praise God for who He is. Can you find anything in David’s recounting to give you reason to praise God? One thing that speaks to me is that He rules the world in righteousness. That is one of those truths that hasn’t yet happened, but is so certain that David speaks of it as if it were already done. The One who is sovereign over the nations will one day rule the world in righteousness. When you are confronted by evil in this world, isn’t it balm for your soul to anticipate the day when God will rule the world in righteousness? Doesn’t that make you love God all the more?

A key part of praise is to be glad and rejoice in God. Another is to sing. Another is to proclaim among the nations what God has done.

Do you suppose that God was truly standing far off in the midst of trouble as the writer of Psalm 10 complained? That is not what Scripture teaches us about God. The psalmist himself essentially acknowledged at the end of his psalm that God is near to the needy. Jesus told His disciples before He ascended to Heaven that He would never leave them or forsake them. Sometimes despite knowing the truth, we assume that God is far off, or we feel like He is. Just as offering praise at the time we don’t feel like praising God is a sacrifice, I’m guessing that drawing near to God when our enemy is trying to exploit our feelings to deceive us that He is far off, is an act of worship.

Know what God says in Psalm 14 about those who say there is no God – such a one is a fool. That’s not the world’s assessment, but the world doesn’t determine what is truth; God does. Ultimately their choice not to believe but instead to turn away from God, will overwhelm them with dread.

In Psalm 16, note how David describes his relationship with the Lord. This is a list-worthy exercise that I will leave for you to do on your own. Can you say like David, that God fills you with joy in His presence? If not, please confess that to God and ask Him to transform you so that it is so. And your part in that transformation is to do what that list shows you to do.

Psalm 19 is so rich to me that I have a hard time restricting my comments to a length appropriate for this post. I will limit myself to challenging you with the ideas that

  • God’s creation declares His glory: what does it tell you about Him?
  • God’s word is described here in the loveliest of terms; do you treasure it as such?
  • No one can discern their own errors; can you acknowledge that fact and offer the same humble petition that the psalmist did?

Psalm 21 presents a significant contrast between David and Saul. Despite his own exalted position among men, David credits God with the strength and victory that enabled him to succeed. Such does the man after God’s own heart; so if we want to be transformed into God’s image, we will seek His glory in all of our efforts and accomplishments. How freeing that it doesn’t have to be about us!

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Day 109 — II Samuel 1 – 4

Was David a hypocrite for mourning for Saul as he did, after having cried out to God for vindication against him? I don’t believe so. Recall that in the beginning of their relationship Saul loved David; perhaps that feeling was mutual. In any case, the nation of Israel had suffered a great defeat, with their king and his sons killed in battle. That would have given all the people reason to mourn; as a leader and a poet who felt such things deeply, David had all the more reason to mourn. Then there was Jonathan, whose soul was knit with David’s in friendship “more wonderful than (the love of) women” and by whom he had been strengthened in the Lord. His absence would doubtless be missed as David took over leadership of the nation.

Everyone seemed to understand that David was chosen by God to be the next king. The trouble between the commander of his army and that of Saul’s army demonstrated that assumption of leadership is not that easy. One can’t lead if the people refuse to follow. So David ruled as king of Judah alone for the first seven and a half years of his reign. Likely the situation was due in part to the habitual lawlessness that characterized the period of the judges. A nation doesn’t overcome that in the space of a generation with a weak leader such as Saul was. Do you see how precious a good leader is to a people? We have the luxury of taking that for granted in our nation, but it is a blessing from God. We should use the reminder in today’s reading to thank God for our leaders and pray for them.

Note David’s typical king-like behavior in taking four more wives (five if you count Michal) in the seven and a half years he ruled from Hebron. One of them was the daughter of the king of Geshur, which was a pagan king occupying land east of the Jordan River and adjacent to Israelite tribes living east of the Jordan. This was obviously a marriage designed as a political alliance. Such behavior might have been what a king was supposed to do in man’s eyes, but was not part of God’s plan for Israel’s king. These choices would cause him and the entire nation great heartache in the future. Even though he was a man after God’s own heart, David was not spared the consequences of his sinful choices. Let’s not be deceived into thinking that we could be spared the consequences of our sinful choices, either.

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Day 108 — Psalms 121, 123-125, 128-130

The psalms of ascent were to be sung by pilgrims as they ascended to Jerusalem. Thus, they are intended to prepare God’s people to meet together and worship Him. In his later days, David instituted music as a part of the worship practices of God’s Old Testament people. These psalms speak to the need of our preparing our hearts to worship God and planning our worship. What principles do these psalms teach us about worship?

Psalm 121 –What action prescribed by the psalmist is a surprising aspect of worship? Depending on the translation you’re reading, it might not be apparent, so in case you’re having trouble identifying it, it is looking to God for help. Consider that for a moment: counting on God and acknowledging Him as your help is a form of worship. Do you do so, or are you too independent for your own good?

Psalm 123 – Do you know what it is like to be disrespected by others who treat you with contempt? The writer of this psalm had had enough of that kind of treatment. Yet he didn’t intend to take matters into his own hands, but he spoke of waiting on God to change the situation. How does a servant look to the hand of his master? That this is a psalm of ascents implies that waiting on God is another unusual aspect of worshiping Him.

Psalm 124 – Relying on God as rescuer is another way we worship Him. He is so good at rescuing that most of us probably enjoy the luxury of taking His rescuing of us for granted. But for those of us who are Christians, we need to take this opportunity to appreciate His heroic rescue of us when He became flesh so He could die a most gruesome death for us. When we were helplessly enslaved to sin, He came to our rescue and saved us so completely that we not only are freed from sin, but from sin’s ugly consequences. Can you embrace Him as your heroic rescuer today?

Psalm 125 – Trusting in God is another facet of worship. Trusting Him for protection in the midst of a sin-cursed world (Jude 24), trusting Him to bring good as He has promised to do (Romans 8:28), trusting Him to work justice. Aren’t we blessed to be able to trust Him for such wonderful works on our behalf? Do you know Him as mountains surrounding you? Doesn’t that image make you feel safe and secure? Can you snuggle up to Him today and tell Him that you trust Him?

Psalm 128 – Recall that God promised His Old Testament people that if they feared Him and walked in all His ways, He would bless them with prosperity. We don’t enjoy the promise of such blessings as God’s Old Testament people did, but that is not because the New Covenant is inferior to the Old; rather, it’s better! Think about the blessings we enjoy as New Testament people of God. Enjoying them fully is a way we worship Him, because we make it about Him! The blessings He gives us are all about relationship with Him. If you don’t truly appreciate that privilege as a joy, please be honest with God about that and ask Him to change you. I had to do that, and He did change me, and I am certain that He would want to do that for you as well. He wants to enjoy intimate relationship with each one of us, and that can only happen through mutual enjoyment of each other!

Psalm 129 – Not giving in to defeat in oppression, but rather looking to God for strength, victory and hope, are ways we worship God. This is a challenge for me right now, I confess, but I have resolved to offer God this sacrifice in worship: I have fixed my hope on Him. To be truthful, it doesn’t look like worship to me at this point, but I am trusting Him to make it what will honor and glorify Him. Do you need to do the same today?

Psalm 130 – Asking forgiveness from sin is another feature of our worship of God. David will be showing us in another psalm more about what that should look like, and it is surprisingly not the prolonged, abject contrition I have long thought it should be. Rather, it is seeking full redemption and restoration of God’s unfailing love. That doesn’t mean we treat His forgiveness presumptuously, but we do our part in turning from sin and humbly seek the full restoration that He longs for us to enjoy. Do you need to speak to Him today about forgiveness?

What aspect of worship presented in these psalms speaks most profoundly to you today? Please offer your worship to God accordingly!

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Day 107 — I Samuel 28 – 31; Psalm 18

I don’t understand about the spirit world, and I don’t believe it is wise to delve into what God forbade His Old Testament people, so I have no insight about the ability of the medium to call Samuel.

Samuel told Saul that God had not only departed from him, but had become his adversary. Saul might not have minded at the time that God had departed from him, but he minded desperately now. He was a mess. Understand that this is what the outcome of sin and departure from God looks like: ultimately it leaves the forsaken a mess.

Imagine what a relief Saul’s death was for David. He had waited for God to take vengeance on Saul, and now could take the kingdom with a clean conscience. Isn’t that so much more satisfying than taking matters into his own hands? He had waited a long time to be relieved of the awful burdens of living in exile, lacking any safe place; and now he was not only free, he was king! No wonder Psalm 18 is such a happy psalm.

Psalm 18 doesn’t exaggerate the desperation of David’s predicament while Saul was alive. If it wasn’t Saul chasing him, it was the Philistine lords lurking to entrap him. God didn’t really shake the earth and smoke didn’t really come out of His nostrils when David cried to Him; this is David’s way of relating how wonderful he saw God’s response to his cry. Have you ever seen God respond to your cry in wonderful fashion? If not, I would suggest that you haven’t cried to Him in desperation, or else you haven’t cried to Him from a clean conscience, or you haven’t looked back with thankfulness and praise for what He has done. Is there an event in your own life for which you can offer your own psalm of praise today? I believe that God wants to be a hero to each one of us as He was to David. I believe that He has done heroic deeds on behalf of each one of us, if we will only make the effort to contemplate the matter prayerfully and acknowledge them joyfully as David did here.

Note in verses 20 to 24 the righteousness for which God had rewarded David. Did he leave any room for compromise in his description? If this is the kind of righteousness for which God rewarded David, would righteousness of a lower standard (is there such a thing?) receive such reward from God?

Perhaps one of the reasons David was a man after God’s own heart is that he relied on God so much. Look in verses 30 through 36 at David’s account of what God did for him. Or perhaps David relied on God so because he was a man after God’s own heart. In any case, to know God is to be like Him, and to be like Him, we’re going to have to rely on His help. If David knew God as these verses describe, might we know Him the same way? Only if we seek to do so. Seeking will certainly involve asking God for such a privilege and placing ourselves in the place to receive God’s graces, as Richard Foster describes it. But what wonderful rewards it brings! If you haven’t experienced reward in seeking God, please don’t give up seeking. As I heard in a powerful sermon this past Sunday, if you have sought God but aren’t satisfied in Him, you haven’t reached the end of the story.

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Day 106 — Psalms 17, 35, 54, 63

The common thread in these psalms is vindication. How can we reconcile David’s frequent longing for vindication with Jesus’ teaching to love your enemies, pray for those who despitefully use you, and if someone slaps your cheek, offer the other cheek? God is a God of justice, and being made in His image, man values justice. Like David, when we are injured, we want the wrongs made right. But God is also a God of love. Out of love Jesus gave up His rights in order to come to earth and be tortured and hung on the cross. The salvation He won for us is so wonderful and abundant that we now have the power to get over ourselves enough to love others as He loved us, as He commanded us to do. The Old Testament offered justice; the New Testament offers love. So while we may long for justice with David, we have been given a better way. As we have seen from previous lessons from the psalms, one way we can follow the better way is to learn from David to take our complaints and our longing for justice to God with the expectation of leaving our burdens with Him, and ask for His help with the loving.

David certainly had reason to want vindication, but he knew that it was God who should vindicate him, and not he himself. How did he discipline himself so that he didn’t do what was in his power to do? In Psalm 17, note what David said he did and what he sought from God in the way of help. One startling thing he asked is, “Keep me as the apple of your eye.” If he can ask that, couldn’t we? Imagine yourself as the apple of God’s eye. Are you willing to hide in the shadow of His wings and take refuge in Him from your foes? With the privilege comes responsibility.

In Psalm 35 David asked God to contend with those who contend with him.  Not contending for ourselves is difficult, but God’s plan is that we yield to Him to contend, and we rest from contention. God can contend for us in wonderful fashion, in ways beyond our imagining, and we get to rest in Him and let Him do His lovely work in us. Are there contentions in your life that you should yield to God?

When we choose to obey God, we are transformed ever more into His image, and our love for Him grows, as we have seen in previous days’ reading. Look at David’s love for God: can you say that your whole being longs for God, as one longs for water in a dry land where there is none? Do you value God’s love better than life? Does He satisfy you fully? Why not ask Him to grow that love in you?

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Day 105 — I Samuel 25 – 27

David didn’t have trouble waiting for God to take vengeance on Saul for his attempts on David’s life, but he lost his head with Nabal over a rude refusal to throw him a feast, and immediately took action to take vengeance. Likely the stress of living in exile under the conditions we saw in yesterday’s psalms had gotten to David. I take comfort in the man after God’s own heart, who had God’s Spirit living in him, succumbing to stress, because I can relate. However, we must also understand that the stress would not have excused him if he had indulged his impulse to take vengeance into his hands. God doesn’t excuse our indulgences in moments of stress, either. We need to welcome people like Abigail in our lives, who will be our accountability partners and voices of reason. And we need to be Abigails to others who need that voice of reason.

Twice David had the opportunity to take Saul’s life, twice he was encouraged by his companion to take the life that God had delivered into his hand. And this time he did have undeniable help from God. How did he know that he wasn’t the means by which God would strike Saul? He knew what was wrong and what was right, and he knew that circumstances don’t change wrong and right. We need to understand the same, and not be confused by what our postmodern culture tells us about right and wrong.

And then David lied to Achish for his own protection. I have no insight on that. Lying of course would be the only way he could live safely among the Philistines, but were the Philistines the only safe haven he had? Who couldn’t understand David’s lying to protect himself and his men and their families; who wouldn’t understand if he had taken vengeance? They are both understandable in the mind of men. In the word of God, however, if there was no excuse for taking vengeance against those who treat one wrongly, there was no excuse for lying. Sin is sin.

So we see that the man after God’s own heart was still a man. What a contrast he reveals between the man who scrupulously wouldn’t take vengeance, even the man who was pacified by Abigail’s voice of reason when he set out to take vengeance, and the one who lied for his own protection so that he could live an easier life among the Philistines. This is the contrast between the loveliness of following God’s way and the unlovely way of sin. Let us understand this from David’s actions: following God’s way bears lovely fruit, but following the way of sin bears rotten fruit.

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Day 104 — Psalms 56, 120, 140-142

These psalms share the common theme of David complaining to God. Each one presents an example to us of situations in which we may find ourselves and how God would want us to respond, based on the example of the man after God’s own heart.

How does one set a guard over his mouth so that he is known as one who speaks well-spoken words, as David says in Psalm 141, and doesn’t complain or perpetuate the evil going on in this evil world? He takes his complaints and his cares to God rather than sharing them with men. I think also of Jesus, who left Heaven to live in this sin-cursed world, without a place to lay His head, with a group of followers who most of the time just didn’t get it. He probably spent so much time in prayer in part because He unburdened Himself to God. In I Peter 5:7 we are also invited to “Cast our cares on Him.” To whom do you unburden yourself?

Don’t let the repetition in Psalm 56 of David’s claim that he trusts God weary you; rather, recognize that as a key idea. My Bible has a footnote in the introduction to the psalm that references I Samuel 21:10- 12 as the incident “when the Philistines seized (David) in Gath.” Samuel tells us that David feared greatly in that situation. Was David a hypocrite, saying one pious thing in his psalm, and behaving differently in reality? Not at all. In his fear, he exercised his choice to put his trust in God and to be unafraid. We see the result in Samuel’s account: he was able to devise an ingenious scheme to escape the grasp of the oppressive, lurking Philistines.

David understood that God kept track of his tears. It’s not that God delighted in his tears, but that they were precious to Him, precious in the sense that He didn’t take them lightly, didn’t waste them. A pastor once told me that God doesn’t waste our pain; it is precious to Him. That truth arouses such love in me for Him.

David didn’t like where he was living as he wrote Psalm 120, and who could blame him, living in exile? We should experience the same in this world, because our home is in Heaven. And we shouldn’t be surprised that people want to stir up trouble with us. This psalm is a reminder that we are not alone when we are tired of life as a “stranger and alien: in a foreign land.

In Psalm 140 David asked for burning coals to fall on the heads of those who surround him, that they “be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, never to rise.” One reason he asked this isn’t necessarily for vindication, but so that “slanderers not be established in the land,” that justice be secured, and righteousness prevail. That’s one way we can reconcile the man after God’s own heart longing for evil to befall his enemies, while Jesus tells us to bless our enemies. As we are transformed by the Holy Spirit by the renewing of our minds, we will be more and more provoked by evildoers who try to stir up trouble. That’s a good thing!

Psalm 142 finds David in a cave in more ways than one. He had no refuge; what happened to God as his refuge? Again, he had to choose to let feeling follow faith. He was alone, with no one to be concerned for him. No one cared for his life. The people pursuing him were too strong for him. Do you ever feel that way? Have you ever felt so sad that there are no words? Here’s yet another example for us: he didn’t have much to say about it, but he cried out to God, in desperate need. When there are no words, we have these as a starting point: “Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name.”

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Day 103 — Psalms 7, 27, 31, 34, 52

Aren’t the psalms more powerful when read in the context of their history?

Psalm 7 contains more examples of why Hebrew poetry can be tricky for us. The paragraph starting in verse 12 begins by talking about God, and in verse 14 changes the subject to the man to whom verse 12 referred, who doesn’t repent. The subject change is not always evident, but certainly what the text says about the subject in verse 14 is not true of God. Thus, realizing whom it is talking about might take a little consideration.

Another tricky issue with Hebrew poetry is that it takes liberties with time. Verses 14 and 15 start by talking about what the one who does not repent has done. Verse 15 says that he has fallen into the pit he has dug, when he probably hasn’t yet, or David wouldn’t be asking God to deliver him. Often Hebrew poetry talks about future events as if they had already happened. I believe one reason this is so is that the poet trusts in God’s justice so much that it isn’t a matter of if, but when. Another reason is that he is likely fantasizing about it. Can you relate to that? Have you ever longed so much for a situation to come to pass that you imagine what it would be like? In this case, the one about whom David speaks likely won’t literally fall into a pit he has dug, but that is one scenario that gives David satisfaction in imagining.

Rather than share with you my insights in the psalms, I want to guide you in gleaning your own insights from them. God has much more meaningful insights for you than I do! Since some of you may be new at this, I won’t set you loose on your own the first day, but give you some examples to follow. So as you read these psalms, consider the following:

Psalm 27:

When David says that God is his light and salvation, he isn’t just making a pious-sounding statement; he explains how that has come to be and what it looks like practically. Note what he says about that – make a list.

1) He will not fear. (v.3) This doesn’t mean that he foolishly doesn’t feel fear, but that he chooses not to be afraid and instead chooses to be confident. Recall that “feeling follows faith.”

2) He seeks (remember the importance of seeking) to live in intimacy with God and to know Him as the wonderful being that He is. (v.4) This means that when life gets messy or trials come (recall that David knew a lot about that), He has that refuge established.

3) He is prepared (he has made up his mind while he is in his right mind, before the trials come) to sing with joy in the day of trial because, since he enjoys that intimate relationship with Him, he is hidden by God and lifted to a firm place.

4) He will be quick to cry out to God for help in a time of crisis; he wouldn’t take God’s help for granted.

5) He was teachable, sought to continue being taught by God.

6) He sought leading from God and intended to follow it.

7) He chose to believe in the goodness of the Lord. Again, choosing implies that faith is employed even when the feeling isn’t there, because faith doesn’t follow feeling or else it’s not faith. “Feeling follows faith.”

8) He refused to give way to despair.

9) He intended to wait on God’s timing for deliverance. That meant not impatiently taking matters into his own hands. Isn’t it interesting that he saw the way of strength would be to wait on God, and the way of courage would be to wait on God? That is counter-intuitive to our culture.

Psalm 31:

Note the practical steps David has taken to make God his refuge. You should be able to identify steps that you could put into practice as well, since these things happened to the man after God’s own heart as an example to us. As in the previous psalm, these may look like choices he makes while he is in his right mind.

Note that beginning in verse 9 he talks about his distress. Here’s that parallelism that is such a feature of Hebrew poetry. Let each line enlarge your understanding of how distressed David was, and why. That makes his praise for God beginning in verse 19 all the more amazing to the reader. He can offer that sacrifice of praise in the midst of distress because he has taken these practical steps to make God his refuge, and that praise is actually part of his steps to make God his refuge.

Psalm 34:

The reference to Abimelech in the introduction may actually be intended to mean the incident recorded in I Samuel 21:10-15. That was a dangerous situation in which David greatly feared the king. David sought God’s help in his crisis, and possibly the idea to feign madness came from God! The king’s reaction was probably also from God.

David then would be looking desperately for a place to find refuge, but in his desperation he was so full of praise to God that he wrote this psalm. I’m sorry to say that praising God is not a strength of mine; I definitely need to practice it more. Praising Him in desperate times comes even less naturally to me. This psalm gives a great example of how to praise God. I use psalms like this as a starting point for offering God praise when I can’t come up with something on my own. The circumstances in which it was written leave me with a compelling reason not to give way to weak human reactions in desperate times as an excuse not to choose to praise God. The praise David offers here is both worship to God and balm for one’s soul. Isn’t it lovely that God works worship that way? Why not make a note to reference Psalm 34 when you need some help getting started in praising God?

Psalm 52 – I’m leaving you on your own here, because this post is already too long. What is one insight that God has especially for you in this psalm? Ask Him, expect Him to answer, and spend time considering. Please feel free to share with me your insights!

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Day 102 – I Samuel 21 – 24

David certainly suffered, didn’t he? Could God have delayed Samuel’s anointing him as king until Saul was close to death? Could he have spared David all the wonderful success that brought him to Saul’s attention? Could God have kept the people who were faithful to Saul from knowing where David was, so that there would be no one to tell Saul where to find him? He could have done any of that or all of it to spare David the suffering; that He didn’t means that He had a use for the suffering. David must have understood that; remember in the psalm we read yesterday, he wrote, “The Lord tests the righteous.”

Job knew that suffering refined him. The New Testament gives us many references to the value of suffering. Check out Romans 5:3-5, II Corinthians 4:17, Hebrews 12:7-13, James 1:2-4, and I Peter 1:6-7. Suffering means that the lovely character qualities it produces are enjoyed by those who are worthy for having endured. James tells us to “count it all joy” when we suffer trials, and the reason we can do that is because we value what it produces in us. Do you value suffering so, or do you seek to avoid it?

Jonathan came and encouraged David in God. Talk about a handsome character; Jonathan was on the same plane as David. He loved David, and he must have loved God also . I base that conclusion on his actions in inciting a panic in the Philistine camp at Micmash and thus inciting Saul to action for a victory over them, and his helping David to find strength in God. He obviously had submitted to God’s rejection of Saul, even though he as Saul’s son seemed worthy of leading God’s people after his father. Further, he held no grudge against David, but encouraged him in God. What a friend. What a human being. What an encourager. He presents us with a worthy example.

David would not take vengeance on Saul, because God revealed in the Law that vengeance was for Him to take. He waited a long time for God to take it! In the meantime, he had to protect Saul’s life from his men. He passed up an apparently God-given opportunity to kill Saul; how did he know this wasn’t God’s vengeance? Although his men said that it was, he refused to harm God’s anointed. What a contrast to Saul, who always was persuaded by the people to do wrong. Think about what he did: he passed up a chance to have his sufferings ended and to take the throne God had designated for him. But if he had taken that easy way out of suffering, if he had sought only to make life easier for himself, he wouldn’t have been a man after God’s own heart. Being like God is not easy. Do you expect it to be?

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Day 101 — I Samuel 18 – 20, Psalms 11 & 59

These events don’t seem to take place in the chronology as they are presented. My guess is that what is presented as separate events were unfolding all together.

God had an interesting way of saving David from Saul’s henchmen, didn’t He? What can God not do to keep us safe? Further, who would ever think of that except God? So why do we tell God what to do when we pray?

God had told Saul that He was taking the kingdom from him and giving it to a man after His own heart. He reiterated that description of David after he was dead. So we can believe that David truly was a man after God’s own heart. The writings of the man after God’s own heart should reveal to us something about God’s heart, don’t you think? Let’s keep this in mind as we read the psalms of David.

Having said that, David was also a man. It isn’t always easy to discern how much of what he wrote was his thoughts and feelings, and how much revealed God’s heart. The difference won’t always be clear.

The fact that the psalms are poetry also affects our understanding of what they actually teach. Poetry conveys feelings, not facts, and sometimes the two are different. For example, the poem, “Charge of the Light Brigade” gives a much different account of the battle it described than a newspaper article would give. Or the song about September 11th that asks, “Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?” The world didn’t actually stop turning; it is figurative language that conveys much about what the people affected by those events were feeling. It is the same with the psalms. They convey the writer’s deep feelings, which we know are not always consistent with fact.

So how do we reliably gain anything from the psalms? Some guidelines I use:

  • We don’t use psalms to teach doctrine; there are other types of literature in the Bible that are more useful for that, and we will plant our standard in that ground and not in the soft ground of the emotion-laden psalms.
  • Looking at “the whole counsel of Scripture” will help us sort through what is feeling and what is fact.
  • We will seek to understand the psalmist’s feelings and glean what insights we can from those.

With that, let’s dive into these first psalms of David. Here are some lessons I see:

  • David took refuge in the Lord. This valiant warrior, leader of a thousand men who succeeded in everything he did, needed a refuge. If he did, who doesn’t need a refuge? Further, he did not rely on his own resources, but took refuge in the Lord. If the Lord made him valiant and a capable fighter and leader and gave him success in everything he did, doesn’t the Lord seem like a good place to take refuge?
  • The one whose refuge is the Lord doesn’t always respond to situations as others think wise.
  • The Lord tests or examines the righteous, as contrasted to hating the wicked. Apparently David views the testing as showing love.
  • Does God really hate the wicked? In Psalm 145 David wrote twice that God is “loving toward all he has made.” Hate is offered here as a contrast to the feelings God has for the righteous. He may not actually hate the wicked, but He doesn’t have the same feelings for them that He has for the righteous.
  • David wanted to see God rain coals on the wicked, fire and sulfur…. Sounds like hell. Hell is a place God made, and intends it for His creatures who continue in their rebellion. For God is, after all, righteous, and cannot tolerate sin in His presence.

There are likely other observations that stand out to you. Why do they stand out to you? What insights can you glean from them? Ask God for insight and trust Him to reveal to you what He wants you to understand. This is a sure way for you to grow in your love for His word, to be taught by it directly. If you have questions, I am available for guidance as you learn to understand what Scripture is saying and to apply its truth to your life.