David and the Psalms

Proverbs 17:28 "Even a fool is thought wise, if he holds his tongue."

I talk too much. This is why I will never be thought wise. I'm regularly revealing my foolishness with my mouth.

I process through writing. I don't lay in bed at night and ponder. I can't follow my own thoughts. I write to ponder. I write to think through my faith. I write my doubts. I write my questions. I write my prayers. My foolishness is most often revealed to me through my writings. This is why I would never wish to be published. My words are not trustworthy.

I was thinking about David after church today and how I portrayed him in my last post. "Emotionally crazy" and "David" should probably not be in the same sentence. David was emotional. Period. Psalms is an emotional book of the Bible. Period. Every emotion you could possibly have is poured out before the Lord in Psalms. I should have left it at that.

But I'm a fool...and I keep talking...

I can't help but read through the Psalms and feel like I'm taking a secret peek at someone's prayer journal. Psalms is intimate. David's relationship with the Lord screams intimacy.

In David's words:

Psalm 3 "Arise O Lord! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked."

Psalm 4 "Answer me when I call you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress."

Psalm 6 "I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears."

Psalm 7 "O Lord my God, I take refuge in you."

Psalm 8 "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth."

Psalm 13 "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?"

Psalm 18 "The Lord is my Rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. He is my shield."

Psalm 22 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?"

I think David and I connected the first time on these two verses. Psalm 30: 6-7 "When I felt secure, I said, 'I will never be shaken.' O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed."

I totally get that. I have journal entries overflowing with trust in the Lord. Times when I felt like I would never be shaken. Yet, one entry later I'm on my bed in dismay over why the Lord has hidden His face from me. Shaken to the core. I'm so thankful David wrote that Psalm.

The Psalms go on and on for 150 Psalms with outpouring of emotion. Praise. Despair. Fear. Hope. Anger. Joy. Every Psalm points out who God is IN SPITE of our emotions. Each Psalm brings us back. Back to the Lord. David constantly reminds us the faithfulness of the Lord in the midst of any trial we could possibly be facing. David's honesty before the Lord leads to a great intimacy. David doesn't pretend to be strong. He desperately clings to the Lord.

David's constantly preaching himself a sermon. Reminding his weary soul of the attributes of the Lord. Perhaps our prayers and praises should look more like David's. The laying down of our emotions and the aligning of them with the truth about who the Lord is.

We are not trustworthy. Our emotions will betray us.

God is always trustworthy. He will never betray us.

We are weak. He is strong.

Read the Psalms. They are refreshing to a weary soul.