David's Praise - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) June 24, 2022

King David's life is very educational for Christian believers. One of many reasons is His ability to praise the Lord in the midst of his greatest trials. It is impressive how he wrote and inspired such great poetry to the Lord that people use thousands of years later.

He wrote Psalm 145 which outlines several reasons to praise the Lord. He speaks about God's excellence and how incredible He is. King David talks of God's "majesty" in verse 5 and celebrates His "abundant goodness" in verse 7. He goes on to use several more adjectives to describe Him and His works, including, Gracious, Compassionate, Trustworthy, Faithful, Righteous, Greatness, Mighty, Wonderful, Awesome, Glorious.

A quick look at King David's story, and it's amazing he could praise the Lord after all he'd been through. He was despised by his family members, and relegated to caring for sheep which meant defending them from wild beasts. He was anointed to be king as a teenager and instead of rolling into the palace, he spent years (some say decades!) living in caves and away from his family because the current king wanted him dead. At one point, his wife and kids were kidnapped alongside all the people of the town he eventually settled in. When he finally made it to the throne, he lusted after a woman, killed her husband and was called out by God's prophet. The child from that affair fell ill and a chastened David didn't eat, he barely spoke, until the boy died.

David's woes didn't end there. Some of David's children rebelled against him. His oldest son slept with a sister and was killed by his younger brother - Absalom. Though exiled, Absalom was granted a safe return and he repaid his father by stealing the throne from him. Then, he sent his father running for his life. Absalom even gathered an army to kill David. This sad tragedy ended with Absalom being killed and David weeping at the loss of his child. And the betrayal didn't end there, as another son - Adonijah - also tried to snatch the throne when David's health was declining.

How many of us could endure what David went through - the waiting, the weeping, the betrayal - and still offer our praises to the Lord?

And yet, King David shows us that we need to focus on God and what makes Him great. No matter how we are feeling, we must find strength in the Lord and lift up praises to Him. Fortunately, there are several Psalms of praise as well as other scripture that gives God glory. They are all available for us. Do you have any go-to verses that you use to honor God when you praise Him? How about some adjectives to describe Him? I hope so. And if not, open Psalm 145 and get some. Use the adjectives David mentioned. He doesn't mind! Also, join us for Praise & Pray (for others) at 12 Noon EST where we'll share our praise - from the Bible and from the top of our heads - to the great God Almighty!

See you then!

To read more posts on praising God, take a look at - Topic: Praise.