As I’ve been reading through the first few Psalms (1-5), I’ve noticed a theme- David’s confidence in His God. One can see while reading through these Psalms that David was going through a lot. He was being attacked from outside enemies as well as enemies within his own ranks, even his own family. David was on the run from his enemies for long stretches of his life. He had every reason to be depressed and discouraged and he oftentimes was, but he was also very confident in the Lord. He was confident that the Lord would protect him, fight for him and keep His promises.
“But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
I cried aloud to the Lord,
and he answered me from his <sup class=”crossreference” value=”(AX)”>holy hill. Selah
I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.” Psalm 3:3-6 (ESV)
David, in these few verses, describes God as his shield, his glory and the lifter of His head. He rejoices in the fact that he can cry out to God and God hears him and answers him. He says the Lord will sustain him and that even though many are against him, he has no reason to fear.
Again in Psalm 4:8 he says, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Even while David was running from his enemies, He had enough confidence in the Lord to be able to sleep peacefully at night and know that God would keep him safe.
When I first noticed David’s confidence in the Lord, I thought well of course David is confident in God. God had helped David to defeat Goliath, God had sent Samuel specifically to anoint David as king of Israel, God had saved him from the hands of Saul and David had watch numerous foreign armies fall before him through God’s intervention. He had seen and experienced numerous miracles of God.
Then I think, “Well if I’d seen God act in such big ways in my life of course I would be nothing but confident in Him even in the darkest times.” But, the New Testament tells us that as Christians we can have the same confidence David had in God through Jesus.
We can be confident that through Jesus, God will give us victory and He will protect His own.
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37 (ESV)
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NASV)
But not only can we be confident that God loves us and protects us and gives us victory through Jesus. We can also confidently come before God in worship, praise and prayer knowing that through Christ we have constant access to our Father.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” 1 John 5:14 (ESV)
Extraordinary Treasure, Ordinary Girl 