Psalm 51:1-4
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.” Psalm 51 is a Psalm of repentance and confession when David was confronted by Nathan the prophet about his affair with Bathsheba. David was confronted with his sinful nature and he didn;t try to run from it, but rather he came broken and repentant before the Lord to ask for forgiveness and to be cleansed from his sin. The weight of his sin as a result of his adulterous affair weighed heavily upon him, and would crush him if he didn’t confess it and bring it out in front of the Lord. His admission of the sin he had committed was the first step in his healing. David rightly recognized that he had sinned against God only, and therefore he needed to confess to God and be cleansed by God. David was aware that his sins could be forgiven by God alone, but that there would be consequences that also came as a result of his transgressions. That’s the problem with sin: the consequences often stay longer than we want them to stay, and cost more than we wanted to pay. In this case, in 2 Samuel 12:15-16 we read about the severe consequences of David’s sin in that it led to the death of his first child that was conceived as a result of his adulterous affair. David had to confront this fact and it left him in a deep deep mourning. The price of sin is always greater than the temporary joy of it. David learned this lesson in a very hard manner, and he was ready to run to the Lord instead of running away from the Lord.We should react the same way when we are convicted in our soul of any sinful acts we may be involved with. God is our only way out, so we should run to him and not away from him.
Psalm 52:3
“You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.” David was constantly on the run from Saul and from many of his enemies who were jealous of his anointing by God as King of Israel. That’s how life works manytimes. When you gain success, especially when you are walking close to God, you may find that not everyone is on your side. Many will not have your best interests at heart, but rather because of their jealousy will seek to destroy you. David always turned to God to find his protection as he knew that God alone could ultimately protect him, and so he often fervently went to God in prayer. We should learn a lot from this lesson of David. God has written our names in the Book of Life if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior and therefore, we know that our loyalty and entire life is to Him. People will not always be out to help us, in fact some will try to destroy us. When that is true, God is our refuge and our strength ( Jeremiah 16:19 ) to get us through the storms of life.
Psalm 53:2-3
“God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” David often pondered man’s fate and it sincerely bothered him that so many had turned away from God. I wonder what he would say about the world today, when so many have turned away from God to chase some media contrived fantasy. God watches over the entire earth to see if any seek Him. Like David, I want to be one that God can look at and say he does! He trusts in the Lord above all else! Lord, I am a sinner but I am so glad that you sent Jesus to die for my sins. Rescue us Lord from the pollution of our sin and may many come to the end of their rope and turn to you for salvation.
Psalm 54:1-2
“Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might. Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth.”- David spent lots of time running from Saul when he was anointed future King of Israel by Samuel and after he had defeated the Giant Goliath. Saul grew jealous of David’s popularity and military success and wanted to have David killed. This must have been such a confusing and tough time for David. But during this time, David learned to rely on the Lord all the more. He knew that his protection came from the Lord alone. This is true for us as well. When we have success there may be some who will be jealous of our success and not have our best interest at heart. That is a direct result of living in a fallen world. Some people will be opposed to our success and God will be the only One we can truly rely on for our protection and strength.
Psalm 55:22
“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” We can all see that David wasn’t confused about who his commander- in-chief was. David was on earth to serve the Lord and he knew all of his time and purpose was in the Lord’s hands, therefore he relied fully on God and not on his own reasoning or understanding. This is a tough battle we all face. The world tells us it is all up to us, but God’s word tells us it is all up to Him, and how much we surrender our life to Him. We still have a huge role to play. The best analogy I have heard when it comes to our working relationship with the Lord to accomplish that for which we were created is this: God provides the wind, but we must hoist the sails. We are active participants and partners in God’s plan and our stitch in the eternal tapestry He is creating is a vital one. Our destiny is found in seeking God. Alignment matters and David knew this full well. He knew he couldn’t survive without God’s hand of provision and protection. Each day we should run to the Lord as if nothing had ever happened before. We need His favor and protection to survive.
Psalm 56:10-11
“In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?” David was well aware that his life was in constant peril from his numerous enemies, the biggest of which was King Saul. David had gone from a hero in Saul’s eyes to a villain, because Saul burned with jealousy at David’s popularity and successes ( See 1 Samuel 18 ) Saul knew the Lord was with David and not with him any longer, and it ate him up. But David was always reliant upon the Lord for his protection. He knew God alone was his safe haven. We would be wise to also put our faith and trust in God above all else. God’s promises in the Bible can sustain us even in the midst of huge struggles and storms. David had ultimate confidence that his destiny was in God’s hands and until it had been fulfilled, God would protect David from all evil.
Psalm 57:10-11
“For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.”- You can see in David’s prayers in the Book of Psalms that David yearned for others to see the greatness and majesty of God in the same way he did. He knew of God’s great love and faithfulness in an intimate way and he wanted others to share in that. He also wanted to see God’s glory expressed in a powerful and tangible way all over the earth. I think when we are filled with the Holy Spirit of God, it is a natural expression that pours out of us to wish that others would be blessed in the same manner. The Holy Spirit produces good fruit in us, and we know we have been changed into a new creation as 2 Corinthians 5:17 proclaims “therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” The Holy Spirit does powerful work in us, and the output of that is seen in the fruits of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23 “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” David knew God’s goodness and he wanted others to experience that. It is a natural expression of wanting others to share in the joy of knowing something that is way greater than yourself.
Psalm 58:1-2
“Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge people with equity? No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.”- King David was a man who was deeply troubled by all the corruption he saw in those people who had power to rule on the earth. He saw how they used it to foment violence and turmoil, and to enslave their constituents in bondage to their power. David was a sinner, just like all of us, but he was a righteous man whose heart burned with anger at all the injustice and corruption that was all over the earth. If we are followers of Jesus, the same should be true for us as well. It should sear our souls with anguish at all the corruption of the Politicians and world leaders that use their positions of power with evil intent. A few have good intentions and want the best for their people and for the world, but many are being used by satan to create chaos and sow evil on the earth. They are generally Godless people who are opposed to the authority of God and want to make their own rules as they go. 2 Timothy 2:25-26 instructs us as believers to be praying for those that are in bondage to the enemy of their souls and most likely are not even aware that they are being led into the abyss when it says “Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” The enemy has taken them captive and is using them to reap destruction, but God takes what the enemy means for evil and he turns it for good. In one of my favorite Bible verses, Genesis 50:20 it says “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” God can take any circumstance or situation, no matter how bleak or awful it looks and turn it for good. His ultimate goal is always the “saving of many souls,” and sometimes that clashes with our agenda or our goals. But God’s goals are eternal and He has all the power and time He needs to make situations work out, many times in supernatural ways that we could have never imagined.
Psalm 59:17
“You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.” David spent a lot of time on the run from Saul and his men who were trying to kill David for no good reason other than Saul had become very jealous of David King David because of his military success and popularity. Saul often sent his men to David’s house to try to kill him or capture him when he came home at night, so many times David couldn’t even go home, but had to spend his life on the run. During such hard times, David turned to the Lord for his strength and protection as Psalm 59:17 alludes to above. MAny times in life things happen that are very unfair. During those times our sense of stability can become wobbly, and we can be overwhelmed by fear. But David knew that his strength and protection were from the Lord and that made him unshakeable. Nothing else in the world can offer us that solid foundation. Only God, who Hebrews 13:8 says never changes and is “the same yesterday, today and forever,” can offer us the stability we need in times of peril. Whether it be a jealous person trying to harm us, a global pandemic rocking our security, or a myriad of other problems, nothing is ever really stable for very long. In fact the only constant in the world seems to be change. But when we put our trust in Jesus, He alone becomes the rock upon which we can build our firm foundation. Everything else is shifting sand.( Matthew 7:24-25 )
Psalm 60:11-12
“Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless. With God we will gain victory, and he will trample down our enemies.” King David achieved great military success in his life because he knew that ultimately the battlers were not his, but God’s. It started with the battle against Goliath when David proclaimed in 1 Samuel 17:45 “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” But David’s acknowledgement of and reliance upon God for all of his military battles continued throughout his reign as King of Israel.Many times David’s forces seemed overmatched and outnumbered, but David knew one simple truth: With God, all things are possible. We would be wise to have this same mindset that David had when we fight whatever battles lie in front of us. One saying I like to think about when I feel too weak for a task or not up to speed is You + God= A majority! God is bigger than our weaknesses and tougher than our fears. He is a huge God, and He makes our problems seem very small when we acknowledge just how big and powerful He is.
Psalm 61:4-5
“I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.” David yearned for God’s presence. He wanted to be with Him more than anything else in the world. He couldn’t do life without him. Are you like that? Do you long for the Lord? Do you seek Him above all else as Jeremiah 29:13 encourages us to do? God can fulfill us in ways that nothing else can. Only He can truly satisfy the longings of our soul. Will you let Him? That is the only question. David knew the answer and He sought God and His Kingdom above all else.
Psalm 62:5-6
“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.” We all experience things in this life that shake us to the core, things that reveal just how unstable our world is like a global pandemic that comes out of nowhere and turns the world upside down. But King David knew one truth that could help us all to not feel so unstable, and that is that the Lord is our mighty fortress. He is our firm foundation and if we put our trust in Him, we will not be shaken. We need to seek God’s strength through the reading of His word, and seeking Him in prayerful meditation and active listening. Then we will find the strength we need to endure life’s difficulties. Then we can stand strong during the storms of life, knowing that God is in control and He will protect us until it is our day to return home to Him for all of eternity.
Psalm 63:11
“But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.”- David knew that his ultimate victory was in the Lord so he didn’t spend much time seeking fulfillment from lesser things. He knew only God could fully satisfy him so he sought the Lord with a dervent determination and commitment. David knew how he spent his time mattered and you can”t fake your relationship with God. David put God first and found his glory through him. The same can be true for us.
Psalm 64:9
“All people will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done.” - We live in a time where people are rejecting God and trying to create their own “rules' ' for how this life operates. But that is no different from how people lived back in King David’s day. They still rejected God back then and tried to master their own domain, plotting evil and treacherous plans to lash out against God and His people. The only difference today is we have social media to bring into the light the evil and wicked plans of many who have set themselves up against the authority of God. But like those back in King David’s day, they won;t get very far. God will show up and bring them to their knees in awe of his awesome power. His will is all to come to a saving faith in Him, as 2 Peter 3:9 says “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” But for those who reject Him and insist on doing evil, they will bring destruction upon themselves. The choice is the exact same today as it was then. We alone get to decide whether we will choose life, or choose destruction.
Psalm 65:12-13
“The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.” King David was keenly aware that one of the ways that God speaks to His people is through the beauty and glory of His Creation. This can be found in the beauty of the landscape itself, or in the animals that are flourishing while living in it. Psalm 65:12-13 above speaks to both of those things. David saw how perfectly the Universe operated, from the tides going in and out in perfect rhythm each day, to the stars hanging in place in the galaxy, keeping the celestial order in perfect harmony, tp the flocks of sheep always having enough to eat on the hillsides and in the valleys of Israel. David saw this as an opportunity to further worship the majesty and power of his God, and it filled him with great joy and reverence to notice and take account of all God had done in His Creation.
Psalm 68:28
“Summon your power, God; show us your strength, our God, as you have done before.”- King David cried out to God for Him to reveal His great power in times of need. He recalled the movements of God’s power in the past to keep him hopeful that God could once again move Mountains. We all long for God to do mighty works of His hands throughout our lifetimes when situations seem hopeless, or when we recognize our strength is simply insufficient. At those times, which happen to all of us, we must move our focus from our weakness to His strength to keep from losing our minds. When circumstances overwhelm us, when the pain is too great, we only have one hope and that is to trust in God, who alone has the power to sustain us and rescue us from seemingly insurmountable odds. David understood this better than most, and he earnestly cried out to God, for Him to show His power in a practical manner that whatever the situation David found himself in called for. We should ask as well for God to show us His strength when we are weak.
Psalm 69:27-29
“Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous. But as for me, afflicted and in pain— may your salvation, God, protect me.” King David had many enemies because of his lofty position as King. He many times poured out his frustration to the Lord because of all of those who wanted to see him fail, suffer or perish. He was aware of their wrath and unsavory thoughts towards him, and so he shared those feelings openly with God. He many times was fearful and weighed down by the forces of his enemies weighed against him, but he wisely turned to the Lord for his strength and endurance. This is a good lesson for all of us as well. If our lives are not rooted deep into the firm foundation of God, then we will easily topple when adversity strikes. If our lives take on new responsibilities, power or prestige, we can assume many forces will come against us. Our only hope to survive and thrive when faced with immense opposition will be to trust in the Lord and in His mighty strength and righteousness.
Psalm 70:1
“Hasten, O God, to save me; come quickly, Lord, to help me.” Many times we need the Lord to rescue us quickly. Threats can come upon us seemingly out of the blue and we need the Lord to intervene on our behalf. David prayed fervently and with a sense of urgency in Psalm 70:1 above. Have you ever needed the Lord to move quickly? In those cases, it’s imperative that you already know God and where to find Him. Your urgency demands a pre- existing relationship. Therefore, it is necessary to have a firm foundation built and established between yourself and God before you may need to call on it. Many times our prayers can take shape over long periods of time, and have a long term focus. But other times, we need God to move urgently to intervene and protect us. David experienced this many times in his life, and chances are we all will need to call on the Lord to come quickly to help us at one time or another in our lives. Do you know the Lord in such an intimate way that you can call on Him in an instant? David did, and it helped rescue him time and time out of the throws of despair.