“. . . the sweet psalmist of Israel.” 2 Samuel 23:1
Among all the saints whose lives are recorded in Holy Writ, David possesses an experience of the most striking, varied, and instructive nature. In his history we meet with trials and temptations not to be discovered, as a whole, in other saints of ancient times, and therefore he is all the more suggestive a type of our Lord.
David knew the trials of all ranks and conditions of men. Kings have their troubles, and David wore a crown. The peasant has his cares, and David handled a shepherd’s crook. The wanderer has many hardships, and David lived in the caves of Engedi. The captain has his difficulties, and David found the sons of Zeruiah too hard for him. The psalmist was also tried in his friends, his counselor Ahithophel abandoned him, “He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.” His worst foes were of his own household: his children were his greatest affliction.
The temptations of poverty and wealth, of honor and reproach, of health and weakness, all tried their power on him. He had temptations from without to disturb his peace, and from within to mar his joy. David no sooner escaped from one trial than he fell into another. No sooner did he emerge from one season of despondency and alarm, than he was again brought to the lowest depths, and all God’s waves and billows rolled over him. It is probably because of this that David’s psalms are so universally the delight of experienced Christians.
Whatever our frame of mind, whether ecstasy or depression, David has exactly described our emotions. He was an able master of the human heart, because he had been tutored in all the best schools—the school of heart-felt, personal experience. As we are instructed in the same school, as we grow matured in grace and in years, we increasingly appreciate David’s psalms, and find them to be “green pastures.” My soul, let David’s experience cheer and counsel you this day.
Adapted from Morning and Evening.
