Today we begin a series of three studies on David at prayer. King David was a man of prayer and many of his prayers are recorded in Scripture. Many of the psalms are examples of David at prayer. But our study this evening is a study with a difference. This evening I want us to look together at part of Psalm 34, particularly verses 4-8. In all of our previous studies we have looked at a prayer as it is recorded for us in Scripture. These verses are different. They are not a prayer but rather David's testimony as he reflects upon his prayer when he was in trouble and how God answered him. The lesson that we need to learn from these verses is this: prayer born of helplessness opens the door to liberty, peace and joy.
The heading to this psalm tells us when it was written. We read that David wrote the psalm "when he feigned insanity before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left." We find the story recorded for us in 1 Samuel 21. You remember how Saul was king of Israel but that he had been disobedient to God. God had promised that David was going to be king in Saul's place. Saul was jealous of David and had sought to kill him. David had been forced to flee for his life. Now read 1 Samuel 21:10-22:2.
In fleeing for his life from the presence of Saul David sought refuge with Achish king of Gath. Gath was one of the Philistine cities, indeed it had been the home city of Goliath, the giant whom David had killed. Why did David go there? The Philistines were still at war with Israel. David probably thought to himself that since the Philistines were the enemies of Saul, and since Saul was trying to kill him, the Philistines would now treat him as a friend.
But whatever David might have thought, his plan did not work. The servants of the king knew that David was the rightful king over Israel, note their words in 1 Samuel 21:11. They wanted Achish to realise that here was the king and captain of the army that they had been fighting against for several years. Here he was in their city and at their mercy. David knew what was going on, he knew what was being said of him and he knew that he was defenceless. We read that David was very much afraid.
Let's think about this for a moment. David wasn't the kind of character who frightened easily. While he was a shepherd boy a lion had once carried off a sheep from the flock. David had run after the lion and had struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth! When the lion had turned on David he seized it by the hair and struck and killed it (1 Samuel 17:34,35). In a similar way he had fought bears. More than that, he had gone out single handed and armed only with a sling and stones against Goliath, the armoured giant of Gath. In all of this he had not been afraid. But now he is very much afraid. He knows himself to be without any strength and without any defence.
David tells us what was his first reaction to this situation; he pretended to be mad. He behaved in a strange way, making meaningless marks on the doors and dribbling down his beard. Think for a moment what this man had been reduced to. God had taken him from following the sheep and had promised to make him king over his people. God had been with him and had given him wonderful victories in battle. But here is David reduced to a slobbering idiot through fear.
David's device works, at least in the sense that he is saved from death. David is not harmed but is thrown out of the royal palace. We are not told when it was that he prayed the prayer he speaks of in Psalm 34, but perhaps it was at this time, after he had been cast out of the palace, or perhaps it was only later when he had left the city altogether to live in a cave in the desert. Whatever the case we do know that David did turn at last to God in prayer and that he viewed his deliverance from the king of Gath not as the result of his cleverness in pretending to be mad but as an answer to prayer.
Note what he says in Psalm 34 beginning at verse 4. "I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears." When David did at last turn to the Lord he was delivered not only from danger but also from his fear. What was it that had driven David to despair? It was not simply that Saul was pursing him and trying to kill him, that was still true when David wrote this psalm. It was not that the king of Gath viewed him with suspicion and was reluctant to treat him as an ally, this also remained true. What had driven David to despair was not the threats from outside but the fear within him which made those threats seem insurmountable. Here he is now in a cave in the desert, still pursued by Saul and unable to return to the Philistines. Maybe you would think that his situation is not really any better, but in fact it is completely different. He has been set free from a prison of fear. Once he had been very much afraid, now he is delivered from all his fears. He had been afraid when he had looked within himself for the ability to cope with a difficult situation and had known that he simply did not have the resources. When he turned to the Lord his fears were removed for he knew now that he did not have to find resources from within for he had all that he needed in the presence and the promise of God. In exile in the desert he is at peace.
In verse 5 he speaks of the change in his situation: "Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." Here was a change indeed: a change from a face covered in the shame of his own dribble to a face radiating a peace of mind that all can see.
Verse 6: "This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles." He acknowledges his own situation, "this poor man": he was without any resource in himself. He was utterly helpless and destitute. But when he called to the Lord the Lord heard him. His helplessness made him look for help in God and so his helplessness became his strength and opened the door to deliverance. He speaks of the way in which God had rescued him from all his troubles. This seems a little strange when he is still in exile in the desert and being hunted for his life. This is the language of faith and of hope. David now knows that the Lord has saved him and will continue to save him.
And this is why he is so confident, verse 7: "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them." Like Elisha, and later Elisha's servant, David now has eyes open to see that God is with him and that there are invisible helpers all around him. He need not fear Saul neither need he fear the Philistines for the Lord is with him and the hosts of the Lord are around him.
These verses conclude with an exhortation to others, verse 8: "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." David wants others to learn from his experience. He wants all who hear him to realise that what the Lord has done for him he will do for others also. He wants others to taste and see that the Lord is good. And this exhortation seems to have had some effect. We read that, "All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him." (1 Samuel 22:2). What a motley bunch these were. They too were outcasts, people who had come to the end of their resources and who turned for refuge to David and to the God of David. Here were a people who were going to taste and see the goodness of the Lord in the days ahead.
Faced with a situation which was beyond his resources, David discovered that there are two possible reactions. On the one hand you can look only within and so become overwhelmed with fear to the point of losing your senses. On the other hand you can turn to the Lord and find your fears take wings as you realise the inexhaustible resources that are yours in him. Prayer born of helplessness opens the door to liberty, peace and joy. Listen now to David in Psalm 34 verses 1-3: "I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be upon my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. . ." One can almost hear David singing these words in cave Adullam, and his voice then being drowned in the raised voices of four hundred others as they join in the hymn of praise.
The lesson we need to learn from this psalm is quite simply this: a correct realisation of our own helplessness is the doorway into liberty of spirit and a sense of peace and joy.
Let me apply this first of all to the matter of our salvation. Before a person can be saved they need to come to a realisation of their own helplessness. Each one of us must one day stand before God to answer for the things we have done. How can we be right with God? Many people seem to think that they will be able somehow to persuade God that they have lived a life good enough for him. But God's standard is perfection. We need to realise that we can never be good enough for God. We need to realise that any attempt to make ourselves good enough for God is doomed to failure. We need to realise our own helplessness. Such a realisation is not the doorway to despair but the doorway into liberty, peace and joy. For when we realise that we can never make ourselves good enough for God we then are able to turn to God and plead with him to forgive us and save us and to make us right with him. Read Luke 18:9-14. Here is a living illustration of how one poor man called and the Lord answered him, while the man with no sense of his own need went away unsaved. Have you come to a realisation of your own helplessness, that you can never be good enough for God or make yourself right with God? This should not lead you to despair. This is a most precious discovery on your part. Your helplessness is your hope and can be your boast and joy, for God is a God who comes to the aid of every helpless soul who calls upon him. Do not despair, but thank God for teaching you your helplessness and call upon him for salvation.
But let me apply this also to the Christian life in general. I have found the message of these verses a great joy to my spirit this week. I have found it a liberating message. I am sure that there are many times for all of us when we feel that we are out of our depth. We are facing a situation which presents us with many problems and difficulties and we just do not seem able to see any way through them all. We feel that we cannot cope. How do we react? It is all too easy in such circumstances to become a prisoner to fear and to worry, maybe even to the point of despair which may verge upon mental unbalance. This is a human reaction to finding ourselves in situations to which we just cannot see any answer. Have you not known yourself in a situation like that?
This psalm reminds us that a knowledge of our own helplessness need not lead us to despair but can be the doorway into a liberty of spirit and a sense of peace and of joy. It is good when the Lord brings us to an end of ourselves and of our human resources because only then do we learn to turn to the Lord and to trust wholly in him. When we find ourselves in situations beyond our ability to resolve we should not despair: like David, out of our helplessness we should cry to the Lord knowing that he will answer us. Peter tells the Christians to whom he wrote his first letter, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7). Anxiety and fear are sinful in the Christian. We all fall into these sins, perhaps even every day, but that does not make them any the more acceptable. They are sins which stem from lack of faith and lack of prayer. We do not cast all our cares on him who cares for us and who is able to deliver us from all our fears. And when we do come to the Lord with our fears and anxiety, all too often we leave the presence of the Lord dragging our fears away again with us. We have not learnt to trust God and to take him at his word. It is not the situations we face day by day which defeat us, but the worries and fears which are the result of us seeking to face those circumstances in the poverty of our own resources.
In closing, let me suggest to you that there are three kinds of Christians – or three different ways in which the Christian may seek to face difficulties. Firstly there is the brash and unbroken character who is quite confident that they can manage any situation and resolve any problem. They have a boundless confidence in their own resources and in their ability to see themselves through. Such persons may seem to cope well for a while. But be sure of this, the day will come when they face a situation that they cannot resolve and circumstances which they just cannot cope with. When such a day comes, their confidence will be shattered.
Secondly there is the downcast and defeated character. They know that they cannot cope with many of the situations which life throws their way and they react as the world reacts, they give way to defeat and sometimes even despair. Both of these types of character are simply human groups, for the world in general is made up of those who generally seem to cope well with life and those who don't.
But thirdly there are those whose character is not simply a matter of inborn tendencies and characteristics, but has been moulded by grace. These are those who have learnt something of their own helplessness and for whom this has become their strength. They know that apart from Christ they can do nothing (John 15:5) but also that they can do everything through Christ who gives them strength (Philippians 4:13). They have discovered a truly liberating secret that it is when they are weak that they are strong – read what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. This is the secret which David learned in Gath. This is the secret which Paul learned through his 'thorn in the flesh'. Have we learned this precious truth? Is it written upon our own hearts? This is one of the most liberating of all discoveries in the Christian life. A sense of our helplessness need not be the doorway to despair, but through prayer it can be the doorway into liberty of spirit and a deep sense of joy and peace.
I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be upon my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Peter Misselbrook