I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.  Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

Psalm 34:4 – 7

David, bless him, shares his life with us.  He was passing through difficult days, with plenty of reasons to doubt that God cares for him at all.  He was dashing about the land – ever aware that King Saul wanted him dead!  This was not a happy moment for David, but trying beyond measure.

It is in this precarious situation that David clings to his Deliverer.  His testimony rings in our ears for our encouragement.  He writes about his own troubles, “This poor man called, and the Lord heard him.”  He is indeed “poor.”  He has no official office.  He is hated by the present king.  He is hiding in caves, etc., as King Saul pursues him.  He is in the hands of God.

As I ponder the life of David in the years that followed in which he was crowned King, time and again he was brought low, like in the past when he was running from the wrath of Saul.  I think especially of how he was brought to his knees by the realization that his very own son, Absalom, was prepared to kill his father, the King, to inherit the throne for himself.   Those hot, melancholy tears that he shed as his son wanted to take the throne by force melts my heart.  All his life, David was learning to depend entirely on God, always.  Is this not the story of all who follow God?