Week 15 1 Samuel
Last week I focused on David’s on-the-run psalms.
I wanted to see what David was thinking & feeling when he was under serious pressure. What was his reaction to actual life-and-death threats?
Coming at it from the front end I wished-hoped I’d find out if there was a pattern of interaction with the Lord (maybe even a formula I could plug-in). What did Duress Praying look like?
So anyway I only looked at four psalms. I was uncertain about 34 & 63. And 52 – the Doeg psalm – wasn’t really an on-the-run psalm. That left: 59 56 54 & 57.
One thing that showed up in all four cases – the pretty obvious thing – was that David more-or-less just blurted out: “HELP!”:
Rescue me from my enemies, O God
O God, have mercy on me
Come with great power, O God, and rescue me
Have mercy on me, O God. I look to you for protection.
The second thing – an unexpected thing – that came out each time was an assured confidence in the Lord:
You are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you
God is my helper. The Lord is the one who keeps me alive
The Lord will send help from heaven to save me.
Asking for help was predictable. No surprise there.
What wasn’t predictable was David’s solid confidence in the outcome. I’m left thinking about how he arrived there. Wondering how long it took for him to arrive.
Note: quotes from 59:1 56:1 54:1 57:1 59:9 56:3 54:4 57:3 (NLT)