God at work behind the scenes – 1 Samuel 19
We all know the story of David and Goliath. It’s recorded for us in 1 Samuel 17. Chapter 18 describes what happened next. David, most likely still a teenage, is suddenly a hero. He is invited (perhaps it would be more accurate to say “required” 1 Sam 18:2) to relocate to King Saul’s headquarters.
As the chapter progresses, David’s popularity and fame steadily increase (cf. verse 5, verse 7, verses 13-16, verses 26-27, verse 30).
At the same time, King Saul’s attitude toward David flip flops from love (verse 1), to irritation, anger and jealousy (verses 8-9), to fear (verses 12, 28-29) and finally to hatred (verse 29).
This is not a simple case of jealousy. There are spiritual forces at work behind the scenes. Saul acts this way, the narrator tells us, because he realizes that “the Lord is with David” (verse 28). God’s empowering Spirit has left King Saul and Saul knows it. He is now at the mercy of an evil spirit that torments him and fans into flames his irrational hatred toward David.
In chapter 19, King Saul’s animosity explodes. He gives up trying to hid his hatred of David and openly orders him killed (1 Samuel 19:1). Chapter 19 records a “whole chain of deliberate plans to wipe out David” (Davis, 1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart, pg. 197).
The reader is led to ask, “How can this teenager survive is such a situation?” The answer is instructive.
David, humanly speaking can’t survive, but God steps in and delivers him. 1 Samuel 19 records four such deliverance episodes (vv 1-7, 8-10, 11-17, 18-24). God counters every attempt of King Saul to destroy his servant David.
The message of chapter 19 should be clear: Yahweh repeatedly protected his servant… Sometimes he uses human instruments (a Jonathan or a Michal) to provide such protection, but sometimes he bypasses them (e.g., Samuel) in order to make clear that “salvation is from the Lord”… As we take in the sweep of the whole chapter note how diverse Yahweh’s protection is. The means and methods of deliverance reflect the imagination of the Deliverer (Davis).
In these episodes, David may not even have known that God was protecting him. That became clear only upon later reflection. Davis, in his wonderful commentary on 1 Samuel, notes,
Sometimes the clearest evidence that God has not deserted you is not that you are successfully past your trial but that you are still on your feet in the middle of it.
I find this narrative wonderfully encouraging. As we walk with God and serve him he takes care of us. Psalm 34, written by David while on the run from Saul, extends this truth to every who “fears God”: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them (Ps 34:7).
The one who watches over us is none other than the One who possess all authority, in heaven and on earth. He has promised to “be with us always, even to the end of the age.”
.
Knowing God as our place of security (Psalm 9)
David’s experience with God, shared in this Psalm, serves as a powerful message even today, 3000 years later. The center of these two verses is the phrase, “those who know your name put their trust in you.” The crucial factor is “knowing God’s name.” Either a person knows God’s name or he doesn’t. Those who do trust him, those who don’t do not trust him. “Knowing” in the context means “knowing through experience.” God’s “name” refers to his character.
Coming to know God’s name in Egypt
Exodus 5-15 vividly displays the difference. Several groups appear – Moses, Pharaoh, the people of Israel, the people of Egypt and by extension, the surrounding “nations.” Moses had come to “know God’s name” through personal experience. This culminated in his experience with God described in Exodus 33, when God showed him his glory (19And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name).
Pharaoh didn’t “know” God’s name. He mockingly asked Moses, 2“Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”). God arranged for Pharaoh to come to “know” by experience just who the Lord was. One by one the ten plagues were sent so that Pharaoh might “know that there is none like me [i.e. the Lord] in all the earth” (Exodus 9:14). In the end he confessed, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods” (Exodus 18:11).
The people of Egypt also came to know about Israel’s God through the plagues and the Exodus (Exodus 7:5). The ten plagues exposed the powerlessness of the gods the Egyptians trusted in. Israel, God’s people, came to know the Lord as their Deliverer, through the same events (Exodus 6:7).
David’s experience with God
David initially came to know “God’s name” while serving as a shepherd. This gave him the confidence to trust in God when Goliath mocked the people of God. When they met on the field of battle, David told Goliath, “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand… that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” Further experiences with God brought David into a deeper knowledge of God’s name. From this background, David, writing under the inspiration of God, declares to us, “those who know your name put their trust in you.”
A challenge to trust God ourselves
We, who have experienced God’s help in times of trouble and have come to know his name, are encouraged to trust him as new troubles surround us. He is a “stronghold” in times of trouble, verse 9 tells us. The word “stronghold” literally means an inaccessible, secure place high up in the rim-rock of the mountains, a place of safety and security one can go to in times of danger.
We are encouraged to trust God in new times of difficulty because we have experienced his help in the past and have come to know him as a “stronghold,” a place of security and safety in difficult times.
.
When work for God doesn’t go “according to plan”
Four lessons about times when our “work for God doesn’t go according to plan”
The story of David is found in 1st and 2nd Samuel. God selects David to be king over his people in 1 Samuel 16. He doesn’t actually become king till 2 Samuel, some 15 years later. In between, God puts David in his leadership training school.
By the time we get to 1 Samuel 27, David’s training is almost finished. He has passed two of his exams with flying colors (chapters 24, 26). Something unexpected happens, however near the end of his schooling.
David’s experience is the subject of today’s (Part 1) and tomorrow’s posting (Part 2).
David’s experience, recorded in 1 Samuel 27-30 can give us hope when “work for God doesn’t go according to plan.” Paul tells us in Romans 15 that these Old Testament stories are written,
“To teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4)
They give us hope because they point us to the “God of hope” and encourage us to keep on trusting God even when things don’t go “according to plan.”
David’s discouragement
Take a look with me at the context of 1 Samuel 27. When the chapter opens, David is on the run. Saul is “hot on his heels.” He’d been running from King Saul for a long time (probably more than 10 years).
Saul is getting closer and closer. There aren’t many places left to hid. For many years, God has protected David, though often God waited till the last moment to step in and rescue him. David, at this point, is tired of running and tired of hiding.
And David is not alone. His wives and children are with him. He’s leading a small army of 600 men. Many of them have their families with them. It’s not easy to hid with a crowd like that, let alone find food and water for everyone in the wilderness.
David is ready to get away from this pressure. Things haven’t “gone according to plan.” Well, not according to David’s plan. How much easier life would be living in a town. Imagine going down to the local well for water and the local market to buy food. Imagine living in a house, with a yard and a garden, David tells himself. At this point, we break into the story.
David’s actions
In Old Testament literature, we are often left to ourselves to judge whether a person’s actions are good or bad, right or wrong. This is the case in 1 Samuel 27:1-2,
“But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maoch king of Gath.”
Were David’s actions right or wrong?
They worked — the next verse tells us “When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.” But were they right?
The text gives us subtle hints that David’s actions were not pleasing to God. Notice David’s reasoning,
- · “David thought to himself“
- · “I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul”
- · “The best thing I can do is escape”
- · “I will slip out of his hand”
Not a word here about prayer. Even though David had in his group the priest with a means of determining God’s will. In fact, there’s no reference to God at all during this 16 month period of David’s life.
This is David’s plan, not God’s. David has grown discouraged and he’s tired of constantly having to trust God to deliver him from Saul.
Lesson 1 – Discouragement is normal
While the primary intent of this passage is not to teach us about discouragement, it does illustrate lessons we would do well to heed. The first one is staring us right in the face. It can be expressed this way: Work for God that “doesn’t go according to plan” causes discouragement.
That’s normal.
Those who lead God’s people usually begin serving God with plans and hopes. Over time, if things don’t go “according to plan” our hope begins to slip away. Eventually we lose hope altogether, and discouragement sets in.
It appears that happened to David. It happens to us too. That’s normal. Discouragement is not sin.
Proverbs 13:12 tells us, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” The word deferred used in the original means to ” extend, protract, delay, drag out” (NIDOTTE).
Realizing “deferred hope” (= work that doesn’t go according to plan) makes the heart sick (= discouraged) is a normal human emotion can help us not be too hard on ourselves when we are discouraged. Look at some of the “heroes” of Scripture:
- Abraham was discouraged. In Genesis 15:1-2, he told God, “What good are your gifts… you’ve not given me a child!”
- Moses was discouraged. In Exodus 5:22-23, he said, “Why did you send me? You’ve done nothing at all to save your people.”
- Elijah was discouraged, so discouraged he wanted to commit suicide. In 1 Kings 19:3-4, he told God, “I have had enough, Lord, take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.”
If things haven’t gone “according to plan” in your work for God, don’t be too hard on yourself. But pay attention to the second lesson.
.
Lesson 2 – Discouragement makes us vulnerable to temptation
The second lesson David’s experience illustrates is that discouragement makes us vulnerable to temptation.
I think this happened to David. In his discouragement, Satan tempted him to give up and David did.
Leaders of God’s people, in their discouragement, are tempted to forget God’s promises, to lose hope that God will work, and to neglect their calling.
a) Temptation to forget God’s promises
David had been promised by God that he would be king (chapter 16). This promise was confirmed multiple times – by Jonathan (23:16-17), by Abigail (25:28,30) and even by Saul himself (24:21, 26:25). But David lost sight of God’s promises. He stopped believing them. This is unbelief and unbelief is sin.
b) Temptation to lose hope in God
Do you still expect God to work through you as you lead his people? or have you lost that hope? When we are discouraged, Satan tempts us to lose hope in God. David gave in to this temptation. He had given up hope that God would protect him. That much is pretty clear from 1 Samuel 27:1. When we lose hold in God, we take things into our own hands – and end up with even greater problems.
This sense of hopelessness is common in the accounts of Biblical characters. Another example that comes to mind is Sarah, Abraham’s wife. She tells her husband,
The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her (Genesis 16:2)
Her language is amazingly similar to David’s isn’t it? El Shadai, God Almighty, had promised Sarah and Abraham a son. But Sarah had lost hope that God would keep his promise and work on her behalf. She took things into her own hands, like David, and the result was a disaster.
c) Temptation to neglect our calling
When we give in to Satan’s temptation, lose hope in God, and take things into our own hands, almost inevitably we end up neglecting our calling.
David, as God’s anointed one, was supposed to be protecting God’s people from the Philistines (cf. 1 Sam. 9:15 “anoint him leader over my people Israel; he will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines”). David had done this. In Chapter 22 David and his men saved the city of Keilah from the Philistines.
But now, instead of fighting the Philistines, David is living with them. He calls himself the “servant” of the King of Gath (see 1 Sam 27:5, 12, 28:2). Amazing when we remember that Gath was Goliath’s home town!
How different David is in this chapter. No prayers, no zeal for God’s glory, no more Psalms. David is acts like an unbeliever. He depends on lies and deception, even the murder of women and children to protect himself (1 Sam 27:8-12). Satan has used discouragement to lead David away from God and away from his calling.
.
Lesson 3 – God’s work goes forward even when we are paralyzed by discouragement and unbelief
It might be good to pause here, take a step backward and look at the third lesson illustrated by this story. When we do, we begin to see things from God’s perspective. God’s work was not “put on hold” because of David’s fall into sin. God’s work went forward even though David’s was paralyzed by discouragement and unbelief.
In our discouragement, it is easy to begin thinking God’s work depends on us. Remember Elijah? To paraphrase his words, he told God in his discouragement,
“I have been very zealous for God’s work, but now even I have not succeeded. No one’s left. Your project has failed, God.” (1 Kings 19:14-18)
God told him, in effect,
Not so. My work goes forward. What you started will be continued by Elisha, Jehu and Hazael. I know what I’m doing. And you’re not the only one. I have 7000 others you know nothing about that are serving me.
When David fled to Philistine territory God’s work went forward. God used the 16 months David was in Ziklag to continue preparing David to be king.
- David learned lessons about the enemy he would later fight
- David learned new lessons about how to organize a kingdom (from the more advanced civilization and government structures present among the Philistines)
- David, when he lived in enemy territory fought against the Amalekites, enemies of God’s people.
The same thing happens when we are paralyzed by discouragement, doubt and unbelief. God is not taken by surprise. His work goes forward, not because of us, but in spite of us.
Lesson 4 – God knows how to restore a discouraged Christian worker and make him or her useful again!
Finally, David’s experience illustrates what is probably the most important of these four lessons – God knows how to restore a discouraged Christian worker and make him or her useful again.
In David’s case, this involved three specific interventions on God’s part.
a) God kept David from an even greater evil
David’s story continues in 1 Samuel 28. David’s deception has led him into a trap. He is asked to fight against God’s people. A lot more is at stake here than is immediately apparent. David is stuck.
If he refuses to fight against his own people, he is exposed as a traitor. If he enters the battle on the side of the Philistines, he has disqualified himself as future King of Israel. His whole future ministry as king is at stake. And there is no easy way out of the trap.
God, mercifully, rescues David from this situation. From start to finish, this rescue is God’s doing. The story is recorded in 1 Samuel 29:1-10.
God can do the same with his servants today. At this point, the story begins to encourage us. The God of hope can still rescue his servants from difficult situations caused by their unbelief and sin.
b) God woke David up from his spiritual paralysis
Just like an unexpected splash of cold water in the face wakes up a drowsy person, God wakes up David from his spiritual paralysis. He does this by sending an unexpected crisis into his life. This crisis is recorded in 1 Samuel 30:1-6.
The 90 km walk back to Ziklag, after being unexpectedly rescued by God from fighting the Israelites, takes David and his men three days (vs. 1). When they arrive home, they find their city looted and burned and their wives, children and livestock gone.
The shock is devastating. They cry till “they had no strength left to weep” (vs. 4). Then the men in their “great distress” and “bitterness’ turn on David and “talk of stoning him” (vs. 6).
This ends up being a gift from God, for the shock wakes David up from his spiritual stupor. He turns back to God. “David found strength in the Lord his God” (vs. 6).
Suddenly God re-enters the story. David once again starts prays and seeking help from God (vs. 7-8).
c) God turned things around and put David on the throne
Amazingly, God puts the pieces together and in the space of weeks, David not only rescues the captured women and children, but ends up on the throne in Hebron! The training period is over – God’s time for David had finally come.
Conclusion
May David’s example turn our focus to the God who gives endurance and encouragement (Romans 15:5). May the God of hope, fill us “with all joy and peace as we trust in him” (Romans 15:13). May we too “overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
.
Watching Faith in Action (Psalm 3)
David is in tight spot – worse trouble than you or I will likely face in our lifetime.
Listen to Peterson’s paraphrase, “Enemies sprouting like mushrooms, Mobs of them all around me, roaring their mockery: “Hah! No help for him from God!” (vv 1-2).
David’s own son is leading those enemies. To make matters, worse, David knows the cause of his troubles – his own sin.
Yet, and this is even more amazing, David, at the close of that awful day of fleeing from Absalom, is able to “lay down and sleep,” and wake refreshed in the morning (vv 5-6). He credits that to God’s help, “the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me.”
What would you have done? I suspect I would have tossed and turned restlessly all night.
In Psalm 3 David models faith in a faithful God. He had learned, through experience, that “deliverance comes from the LORD” (vs 8). One writer put it like this,
This Psalm teaches a simple lesson: God is both the One who lifts heads and breaks teeth. A powerful, sustaining, defending God like this can remove all fear (Reinke).
The hero here is not David. He’s the one who got himself into this mess. The hero is God – the one David turned to in trouble. Look at David’s own testimony “But you, (an emphatic construction) O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” (vs 3).
Because David, knew from experience, that God delivers (saves) those who trust him, he turned to God when in desperate need. He “cried aloud” and God answered him (vs 4). Think again about the lesson of Psalm 3, God is both the One who lifts heads and breaks teeth. A powerful, sustaining, defending God like this can remove all fear. Deliverance is from the Lord.
.
Who can show us some good? (Psalm 4)
Some commentators link Psalm 4 with the previous Psalm, i.e. David’s prayer as he faces another night on the run from Absalom’s armies. The author clearly faces great trouble.
His enemies are effectively using lies and slander against him and “honor has been turned to shame” (vs 2).
His followers have been demoralized, “There are many who say, ‘Who will show us some good?’”
In this “psalm of confidence,” David’s trust in God shines through. He tells his followers not to give way to the rage they feel (vs 4-5). Craigie paraphrases it like this,
You can tremble with anger and rage, but don’t sin by doing anything! You can speak your evil words within your hearts, but don’t speak them out loud! Lie still and silent upon your beds, where you can do no harm (Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 1-50).
Better still, he continues, put your trust in the LORD! In Psalm 3, the focus is on “knowing” who God is (”the one who lifts heads and breaks teeth”). Here in Psalm 4 the focus is on “trusting” that same God.
We too have difficult days. David’s testimony speaks to us:
- Fellowship with LORD fills our hearts with greater joy than when “grain and new wine abound” (vs 7)
- The LORD provides peace in the middle of trouble, peace that enables us to ” lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me ?dwell in safety” (vs 8).
And this comes in the midst of the difficulties.
LORD, you are faithful to your people. You have “set apart the godly for yourself.” You will not let me down in time of need. You tell me not to “give way to fear”. Fear that grips and paralyzes. Father, create in me a quiet confidence and trust in you, confidence that enables me to lie down and sleep in peace.
.
God our refuge (Psalm 5)
Psalm 5, in the view of some commentators, continues in poetic form the description of David’s flight from his son Absalom. If this is correct, he’s now spent two nights in the desert.
David is awake and ready to begin another day. He’s still on the run and still in danger. The Psalm alternates between paragraphs about those who seek God, morning by morning, and those who reject God. It’s almost an application of Psalm 1 (the “two ways”) to David’s situation.
The Psalm can be diagrammed like this:
| Confidence in the Lord (vv 1-3) | The Lord’s rejection of the wicked (vv 4-7) |
| Commitment to the Lord’s righteous way (vv 7-8) | The Lord’s response to the wicked (vv 9-10) |
| Joy in the Lord’s protective care (vv 11-12) |
David, in his “groaning” (lit. sighing), cries out to God in prayer at the start of the day (vs 1-2). Then he waits and watches, expectantly, to see how God will answer his prayer (vs 3).
I love the vivid, descriptive way David prays at the end of the Psalm (vv 11-12). He speaks of God as our “refuge” (Ps 5:11) or “place of shelter.” The term “take refuge” used here occurs 35x in Scripture and refers to:
A place where one will find safety, rest, or comfort, implying the place of refuge is a place to be trusted to keep one safe (Jdg 9:15; 2Sa 22:3) (Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages).
As we enter another day, not knowing what is ahead, we begin the day with prayer, crying out to him. David’s “morning prayer” is a great pattern for us.
- We begin the day knowing that God “hears our cry.
- We pray, laying our needs before him.
- We watch, and wait, as we begin the day, looking to see what God will do.
- As we go through the day, we continually ask God to “lead us and “make our paths straight.”
- We turn to God during the day our refuge, our shelter and our trusted place of rest.
- Experiences of God’s favor and blessing during the day cause us to respond with joyful praise and singing
.
David’s story (Psalm 13)
How long, O Lord! This is a cry of anguish to God. David is on the verge of despair. He feels like he can’t hold on any longer.
Have you been there? Crushed. Struggling to find words for prayer.
Psalm 13 teaches us how prayer in the middle of the those times. This is why some call the Psalms a “Prayerbook.”
Learning these prayers helps us pray when we’re in similar situations. In this and other Psalms we find words for those times of pain and despair.
.
Psalm 13, a Psalm of individual lament, divides into three parts:
David is hurting (1-2)
How long, O Lord, How long is this going to last? He asks this four times in verses 1 and 2. He’s pretty blunt. We could almost say he’s mad at God. He charges God with forgetting about him: God, you’re not doing anything about my problem! He goes a step further and charges God with deliberately hiding from him. God, you’ve deliberately abandoned me!
“The questions move from God’s apparent indifference (v. 1) to the singer’s circumstances of anguish” (ESV Study Bible). David is honest with God about what he is feeling.
David asks God to act (3-4)
After expressing his frustration of God’s seeming inactivity, David makes his request. He asks God to act (verses 3-4). Do something, Lord. Do something before I end up in the grave!
This is the heart of the Psalm. It is highlighted by its central position right in the middle of the Psalm.
David declares his faith and trust in God (5-6)
But the prayer doesn’t end with his plea for help. David goes one step further. He declares his faith and trust in God (verses 5-6). This expression of trust begins with the little hinge word “But”.
I’m hurting, you’re not doing anything, “But…” In spite of all that, I still trust in your faithfulness.
The word here translated faithfulness is hesed – loyal, faithful steadfast lovingkindness based on a previous covenant promise.
Because of God’s faithful, steadfast love toward David, David’s “heart rejoices” in the midst of his troubles. He sings out to God, in faith, “You have dealt bountifully with me!”
God’s faithfulness to us is seen most vividly in his provision of Jesus. David’s pattern of prayer is paralleled in song of praise that ends Romans 8. Even in the worst circumstances, writes Paul,
We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God has dealt bountifully with us in Jesus!
.
Walking with God (Psalm 16)
Having “Yahweh” as our God and belonging to his people is the heart of the covenant God makes with humans. Some have called this the “master metaphor” of the Bible.
God has proved his people with a “path” along which they walk. We “walk with God” or “walk in his ways.” This path leads to an eventual goal – “rest in the presence of God” himself. Life in God’s presence (where we see his “face”) is the final goal of the covenant.
Psalm 16 characterizes the “path of life” as “delightful” (vs 2) and “pleasant” (vs 6). Its goal, being in the presence of God, is even better: “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” (vs 11).
David, as he writes this, is facing a time of crisis (perhaps sickness?). He cries out to God, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge” (vs 1). People around him are whispering.. Yahweh hasn’t done much to help you. Look around for other options. Try other gods. Maybe they can help.
David’s answer is a model expression of confidence to Yahweh. Listen to what he says,
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply…
I will… take their names on my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup…
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
David made his choice – Yahweh. He will walk in his “way.” He will find his identity with God’s people. He has placed his hope in the promise of one day being in God’s presence, where there is fullness of joy.
He’s content that he’s made a good choice. This has brought him stability and pleasure during the here and now, and hope for what’s ahead.
The apostle Peter informs us that David in Psalm 16 “foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ” (Acts 2:25-33). As his disciples, we follow him, i.e. walk in his “path.” We find our identity with his followers. We place our hope in his return in glory. One day we will see him. In his presence is fullness of joy!
.
Mid-life reflections of King David (Psalm 18)
Mid-life gives us an opportunity to look back, draw conclusions and think about the remaining years that lie ahead of us. Such reflection should have at least two results – growth in wisdom and the praise of God.
David in mid-life did just that. His reflections are recorded in 2 Samuel 22. One writer observes, “Its setting in 2 Samuel indicates that it is intended as a crowning celebration of David’s exploits” that looks back across his life.
David’s ” personal expression of gratitude to the Lord” is adapted almost word for word in Psalm 18 for the people of God to use, perhaps
Because their well-being is now tied to the offspring of David (2 Sam. 7:4–17). When God’s people sang this, then, they were to give thanks for the Davidic line and to pray that its heirs would be faithful to the Lord and would be valiant military leaders, so that Israel might carry out its God-given purpose of bringing light to the Gentiles (ESV Study Bible)
The Psalm is quoted once in the New Testament, giving it a,
Latent messianic meaning, and the deliverance of God’s anointed from ‘the cords of death’ (vv. 5–6) finds deeper significance in the deliverance of Jesus from death itself (Psalms 1-50, Craigie).
The Psalm is amazingly God-centered. David realized that whatever success he’d had in life had been due to God. God was the one who had delivered him time and again from death, God was the one who gave him the gifts and abilities he had, God was the one who trained him for his life work, God was the one who gave him success, God’s favor (”right hand”) supported him and his “gentleness” made David great (vs 35).
1) Reflection on all of this made David humble.
He came to realize that God “saves the humble and brings low those who are haughty” (vs 27).
2) Reflection on all of this led David to praise God
He did this through his Psalm. Notice his desire for the “hallowing” of God’s name among the nations of the world, The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation (vs 45)….For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing to your name (vs 49)
