I don't know about you all but OH my goodness - I adore the Psalms so SO so much.
Somehow they feel very... personal, like I'm seeing into someone's thoughts and fears, their life, and how they responded to it, and it's so encouraging. I especially love putting what I know about David's life with the Psalm - this morning I was reading Psalm 57 and it was during the time in David's life when Saul was trying to kill him.
And even in that, even as he was running from a man he used to look up to and serve, who's trying to kill him because he hates him, David is praising God.
He is worshipping Him, honoring Him, and trusting Him.
So often I think we forget to trust God first. When bad things happen, and trials fill our lives our first response is not trusting our King; it's not praising Him, or thanking Him, or worshiping Him.
Not many of us have people trying to kill us. Not many of us are running through the wilderness, trying to escape a man bent on destroying everything about us. And yet, we can relate to David feeling unsafe, insecure, scared.
We can relate to running from something, being scared of unknowns, the future, our pasts - scared for our children, afraid of certain outcomes, terrified of something.
And when David was scared - when he was running for his life, escaping from brutal enemies, feeling like his foes were surrounding him - he trusted in his Savior right away.
His first response was not turning to the world, or his own strength, or his own salvation - he didn't try to find answers in himself, or in his own limited power, or in people around him. He turned to God, and trusted His goodness, even when his life didn't seem very good.
He's afraid, pleading with God to take care of him, rescue him, hide him under the shadow of his wings, and then he's praising God. And worshiping God. And honoring God. And completely, whole-heartedly trusting in his good King, his good Father, and his good Friend.
A Good King In A Broken World
One of the things that stuck out to me most in David's psalms is that, in the midst of trials, death, pain, and fear, he constantly calls God good.
We so often see our troubles, feel the pain, and instantly blame it on God. We immediately doubt His goodness.
How could a good God allow this to happen? How could a good, loving God look down on this earth and let such terrible, awful things go unpunished?
Is He even up there? Does He even care?
If this world is so bad... how can He be good?
This is something that I have struggled with a lot. I've asked these questions, cried these tears, and wondered how a good God could let these things happen.
I think David struggled with that too - it's a question we all ask. But even in that, He trusted. He trusted God's goodness, called Him good, even when maybe... it wasn't so good.
He said his God was good not because he saw good things, or because he had an easy, safe life; not because he wasn't scared, and wasn't in danger - no, he called his God good because he trusted that He was.
And David knew that if God wasn't good, he would have no one to turn to.
If we don't trust that our God is good and kind and loving, we have no one to put our trust in, and nothing to trust. If God isn't good... who is? And who would we turn to when everything else is falling apart?
No, we as Christians have to trust and believe that He is good. We, like David, must have faith that He is good, He is in control, He loves us, even when the world around us is out to get us.
And When We Trust That He Is Good...
We can trust that He is protecting us, keeping us safe. When we know He is good and He loves us, and we, like David, don't have to be afraid.
We can praise Him.
We can praise Him for being good, for taking care of us, for being a God that we can put our complete and absolute faith in - isn't that something to worship Him for?
All around us, every day, there are going to be enemies trying to get us. There are going to be people after us, trials trying to weigh us down, exhaustion grabbing at our households, sin breaking apart our families.
This world is so full of troubles and pain, grief and sorrow, heartache and loss, but He is still our good, good Father. In the darkness, He is our light, and we can praise Him.
Like David, we can bring our sorrows to Him, lay them down at His feet, and then bow and worship. Like David, we can trust that He will be with us, protecting us and keeping us safe.
Like David we can glorify out God, love His children, and shine in this world of sin.
It's not easy to trust. Not easy to turn our tears into praise, our doubts into worship, or our pain into trust. But He is with us. He loves us.
And He is good.