Day 7: The Decision To Praise

In the previous days, we have seen that David asked his soul to make two very important decisions. The first one was to bless the Lord. The second one was not to forget the Lord’s benefits. I suggested that we could make that positive and say to focus his mind on the Lord’s benefits. So there’s the two vitally important decisions of which David is a pattern for all of us. A decision which in each case our soul must make. The first decision: to bless the Lord; the second decision: to focus on the Lord’s benefits.

We are now going to speak about another important decision that David made. This is recorded in Psalm 34, but in order to understand fully the nature of David’s decision, we have to read the introduction to this psalm. Because  in this particular case it gives us the background, the situation in which David found himself when he wrote this psalm. It says this in the introduction.

“A psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.”

During this time David was a fugitive, running for his life from his own land and his own people because he was being unjustly persecuted by the then king of Israel, King Saul. In order to escape the persecution of Saul, David ran away to the court of a Gentile king, Abimelech. But Abimelech was pretty suspicious of David. He wasn’t quite sure what David’s motives were in coming and he could easily have had David killed. So, in order to disarm Abimelech, David had to come to the point where he feigned madness. And, in another passage of Scripture, it says he slobbered on his beard and scratched on the doors with his fingernails. In other words, he was behaving like a lunatic in order to save his life, to take away the suspicions of Abimelech.

So, how would you behave if you were in that situation—when behaving exactly like a lunatic? What would be your response? Would you say, “God, how did you ever let me get into this situation? I really don’t think it pays to serve you. I’ve done my best and here is where I end up!” Or, would you make the decision that David made?

Now, I want you to understand David didn’t make this decision because he felt like it. He must have felt exactly the opposite. But he made this decision because it was a right decision and his soul made it, not his emotions. Listen to what he says:

“I will bless the Lord at all times [including this time]; His praise shall continually be in my mouth [even now]. My soul shall makes its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

You need to notice the contrast between David’s situation and his decision. In the situation everything was against him. There was nothing visible to cause him to praise the Lord. But his decision was not based on his situation, it didn’t arise from his emotions, it was based on his will. Praise arises from a decision, not from a situation.