Apologetics

---

From the Psalms of King David

Hi people I am back, still talking of my Old Testament, as that is what I am still reading. I have been overwhelmed by the book of Psalms. I have noticed that most of the Psalms are by King David & do you know what is it that God has said about King David? It is written that God referred to King David as a man after His own heart. I’ll quote some supporting scripture. I’ll just give you some background of where the verse is coming from. Samuel, the last of the great judges of Israel is speaking to the then King of Israel Saul telling him that God has chosen David to be the new King of Israel.

1 Samuel 13:14
But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

As you may have already noticed, I’ll be talking of King David in this post & by the way “David” means “Beloved” & God commanded his prophet Nathan to name the son of King David through Bathsheba as “Jedidiah” which mean “Beloved of God”. Jedidiah grew up to be King Solomon.

Coming back to the reason I am writing this post is because I always took this statement very casually that King David was known to God as a man after His own heart but when I read Psalm 142 & Psalm 143 which is just a fraction of the Psalms written by King David, I then knew why God said that about him. I have been left dazed by King David’s compositions.

Let me start with Psalm 142, which was written by King David when he was hiding in a cave with his men when King Saul wanted David killed to save his own kingship.

1 I call to the LORD for help;
I plead with him.
2 I bring him all my complaints;
I tell him all my troubles.
3 When I am ready to give up,
he knows what I should do.
In the path where I walk,
my enemies have hidden a trap for me.
4 When I look beside me,
I see that there is no one to help me,
no one to protect me.
No one cares for me.
5 LORD, I cry to you for help;
you, LORD, are my protector;
you are all I want in this life.
6 Listen to my cry for help,
for I am sunk in despair.
Save me from my enemies;
they are too strong for me.
7 Set me free from my distress;
then in the assembly of your people I will praise you
because of your goodness to me.

As you can see from verse 1 to 4, David felt all alone with no one to help him in his state of despair. He knew that everything that he did was a hair thickness away from falling into a trap. From verse 5, you can see that even in this state, he did not take matters in his own hand. In fact even when he got a chance to kill King Saul, he did not do it (1Samuel 24:1-10). What he did was put his trust in God & the best thing is that in all this despair he tells God that the Lord is all he wants in this life (verse 5). David also humbles himself before the Lord in verse 6, he ask God to save him from his enemies & humbly admits that his enemies are too strong for him. Verse 7 confirms David’s humility when he talks to God for here he tells Gods that he wants to praise Him in the assembly of God’s people but he cannot do it in this state of distress.

Now for Psalm 143,

1 LORD, hear my prayer!
In your righteousness listen to my plea;
answer me in your faithfulness!
2 Don't put me, your servant, on trial;
no one is innocent in your sight.

3 My enemies have hunted me down
and completely defeated me.
They have put me in a dark prison,
and I am like those who died long ago.
4 So I am ready to give up;
I am in deep despair.

5 I remember the days gone by;
I think about all that you have done,
I bring to mind all your deeds.
6 I lift up my hands to you in prayer;
like dry ground my soul is thirsty for you.

7 Answer me now, LORD!
I have lost all hope.
Don't hide yourself from me,
or I will be among those who go down to the world of the dead.
8 Remind me each morning of your constant love,
for I put my trust in you.
My prayers go up to you;
show me the way I should go.

9 I go to you for protection, LORD;
rescue me from my enemies.
10 You are my God;
teach me to do your will.
Be good to me, and guide me on a safe path.

11 Rescue me, LORD, as you have promised;
in your goodness save me from my troubles!
12 Because of your love for me, kill my enemies
and destroy all my oppressors,
for I am your servant.

From verse 1 we can see that David knows that God will help him not because of how good David is but because God himself is righteous and faithful. So you see David knew that he would be saved purely through grace. Verse 2 is like a piece of a jig-saw puzzle that perfectly fits the prayer that Jesus taught us in Matthew 6:13

13 Do not bring us to hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.’

Verses 3 & 4 shows King David humbly admitting to God the hopelessness of his situation, from verses 5 & 6 you can see that David even though is in such despair, he makes an effort to remember all the good things that God did for the Israelites & in doing so he prays to his only hope that is God and tells God that his soul is like dry ground thirsting for God. Verse 7 also shows David’s desperate hunger for God, for David acknowledges that God is his only hope.

Verses 8 to 10 show that David trust God tremendously for here he gives God the steering wheel of his life and ask God to (guide him) / (show him the way).

Verse 11 shows that David puts his trust in God’s promised Salvation. David also acknowledges that that God will save him because of how good God is and not because how good David himself was. This one verse 11 shows David trusted in Jesus for his Salvation for David understood God’s Grace & in doing so was put right with God just as Abraham was.

Genesis 15:6
Abram put his trust in the LORD, and because of this the LORD was pleased with him and accepted him.

I say that David trusted Jesus because Jesus existed from the beginning of time. Here is some supporting scripture form my New Testament. Here Jesus prays (talks- talking to God is a prayer) to his Father.

John 17:5
Father! Give me glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was made.

So you see King David’s trust in God’s promise that God would rescue him, was the very statement of faith that put his trust in the Salvation of the Messiah (Jesus) to come & this is the very thing that made him acceptable to God just as Abraham was.

Now coming to verse 12, it reminds me of when I was small. There were some kids who I could bully but when I got too far they would call their parents to take the same action against me as I did with their kids. The point to note from this is the kids subconsciously knew that they were their parent treasured children & that their parent would do anything to protect them. This was the same case with King David; he subconsciously knew he was a child of God because of his faith in the Savior to come (as I have shown from the explanation of verse 11). You know, it was blasphemous for the people in the times of the Old Testament to call God as Father because that was to say that you were of the same substance as God. However, we can be called God’s children only through faith in Jesus for Jesus was God’s own begotten Son. Here is some supporting scripture from my New Testament.

Galatians 3:26
It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus.

So my friend using the support of verse 11, I can safely say that King David spoke to God like a child does to its parent because King David believed in Jesus who was yet to come.

I would like to close this post quoting Luke 20:42-43, which is with reference to Psalm 110:1, where King David himself testifies and confesses that His Messaih / chosen King is Lord & so he was saved (Romans 10:9).

Luke 20:42-43
42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
43 until I make your enemies your footstool.’

& Psalm110:1
The Lord and his Chosen King The Lord said to my lord, “Sit here at my right until I put your enemies under your feet.”

Romans 10:9
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE