David’s Heart-Psalms 59

Psalms 59

Today I want to talk about psalms 59, I have been recently going through Psalms. I have to admit in all my Christian life, I have never really gotten a whole lot out of Psalms. So I’ve decided to start going through the Psalms to see what I could get out of it. I really wanted to dig deep and learn something from the Psalms. As I am going through the Psalms, I am really amazed at King David. I started to notice how authentic and honest David is. He holds nothing back, when praying to the Lord, He is totally transparent. I have to admit, I am not sure I could pray some of the prayers that David prayed. David was a man of war, and it came across in some of his prayers. He will ask the Lord to crush the bones of his enemies, to break your teeth grind them in the dust. I’m like wow, he is very honest with the Lord.

 Here in Psalms 59, David is crying his heart out to the Lord. At the beginning of the Psalms, sometimes there is a little commentary at the beginning of each psalm, and this is when Saul had sent soldiers to watch David’s house in order to kill him. This is one David was probably in his 20s, and King Saul gave his daughter Michal to David. David was growing in popularity, and his military campaigns were very successful. 

King Saul, was growing very jealous of David. So he gave his daughter to David as a strategic ploy to hopefully control him more. You can read in first Samuel chapter 20 the integrity of David and how he handled this situation. As time went on Saul’s jealousy and rage grew towards David.  David kept going out on military campaigns and his popularity was still growing. Saul was hoping that David, after marrying his daughter, with settle down in his palace, become part of the family stop the military campaigns, and his popularity would diminish. But that did not happen, David continued his campaigns. This made Saul’s rage grow immensely within him, Saul sends some soldiers to kill David in his sleep. Michal warns her husband, and David escaped in the night. And from this point on David was running for his life. This is where the psalm comes into play, David must have written this shortly after the incident.

I love how David starts this Psalm out.

 “Deliver me from my enemies, O God be my fortress against those who are attacking me. Deliver me from evildoers and save me from those who are after my blood.”

 David starts out, trusting and praise for God. Then he goes into his complaint. But I love how he starts off praising God and trusting the Lord for deliverance. I also like how he does not name his enemies, notice how he doesn’t directly name the soldiers that were sent from Saul, as a matter of fact, he doesn’t even name Saul. That tells me a lot about the integrity of David, and how he talks to the Lord. The Lord knows who his enemies are, he does not have to name them. As David cries his heart out to the Lord, I love how several times he praises the Lord. 

 v5 You Lord God Almighty, you who are the God of Israel.

 V9 You are my strength I watch for you, you God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.

 v16-17 but I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. You are my strength, I will sing praises to; my God on whom I can rely.

 Even in the midst of running for his life, David relies on God that he is his refuge, that the Lord is the one David relies on. In the mist of these trials, he realizes who he can really trust and where his strength comes from. He also prays that the Lord will not kill his enemies, in verse 11. He knows that the soldiers are God’s people, Israelites.

This is teaching me that in times of trouble when we’re crying out to God, we can be totally open and honest with him. Like David, we can tell him of our troubles. We can let it all come out on the shoulders of God. But let us also remember, to sing praises to our God in the middle of our troubles. Like David, tell him how much we trust him, for he knows what we are going through. Remember that he is our strength and life. And we don’t have to call out by naming the people who are causing the problems if there are people involved.

 The more I am going through the Psalms, the more I realize how much I like David and why he was called a man after God’s heart. There are a few people who seem to stand out among the many, and like Paul of the New Testament, I believe David is one of those of the old testament.

 Franko~