Day 105 & 106 —  We have been reading the Bible daily for almost a third of the year. What have you learned about God? About yourself? (Note: SUNDAY’s and MONDAY’s readings are combined.)

Day 105 – Psalms 7, 27, 31, 34, & 52 (Psalms of David as he flees and hides from Saul)

These are wonderful Psalms in themselves, but they are even more understandable in the context of David’s life. As you read these portions, think of yesterday’s reading of King Saul relentlessly pursuing David, David hiding in caves and strongholds, and David sinning but confessing.

Psalm 7:1, 3-5: “O, LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me…” “O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it…”

Psalm 27:1-3 “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yea I will be confident.”

Psalm 31:3-4, 14-15, 21 “For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; and you take me out of the net they have hidden for me; for you are my refuge.” “But I trust in you, O LORD; I say,’ You are my God.’ My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors?” “Blessed be the LORD, for He has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city.”

Psalm 34 (Read all of it!) This psalm is about when David changed his behavior (acted insane) before the Philistine king, Abimelech, so he drove David off and he went away.

Psalm 52:2-5 This Psalm is about Doeg, the Edomite when he told Saul about David & the priest Ahimelech. (bread and the sword) “Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever, He will snatch and tear you from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living.”

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Day 106 – Psalms 56, 120, 140-142 (Psalms of David as he )

Psalm 56 is written after David is seized by the Philistines in Gath. He laments, then affirms his faith in God with these words in verses 9a-11. “This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God, I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

In Psalm 120:2, David again calls to the LORD in his distress. “Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.”

Psalm 140:4 says, “Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip my feet.

Psalm 141: 3-5 shows David also praying for himself. “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds;” And he ends with a very practical prayer — “Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.” Vs. 9.

Psalm 142 was written when David was hiding in a cave. In verses 6-7, he pleads: “Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me! Bring me out of (this) prison, that I may give thanks to your name.”

In these lamenting prayers, it’s good to remember that David is God’s next chosen King. He is the ancestor of the Messiah, Jesus. He is a “man after God’s own heart.” Severe trials and testing do NOT prove that God has forgotten or is angry with us. Often, they are training grounds for what He has planned for us.