View Site Map

Inspiration from Desperation from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

"Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!" David wrote these words after the Lord rescued him from the Philistines. David was anointed, overjoyed, and an amazing songwriter. Yet strangely, his life was in shambles when he wrote these inspiring words.

David worked hard as a soldier in Israel and rose through the ranks. He became the leader of the army. King Saul even gave him his daughter's hand in marriage. But then, later, Saul became jealous of the younger, better-looking, and more anointed David. The new heartthrob in the kingdom.

So King Saul tried to pin his son-in-law David to the wall with a big shiny spear three times, and David had to flee town in the middle of the night. Saul sent a team of assassins after David to kill him. So David had to flee from the nation of Israel and live in the city of Gath, one of the main cities of the Philistines.

There was a slight wrinkle in his new living arrangements. David had killed tens of thousands of Philistines, including Goliath, their giant champion, some years before. Gath was Goliath's hometown, and David was wearing the unique sword he had taken from him, which the Philistines were sure to recognize.

Well, the Philistines did recognize David and reported him to King Achish. David was dragged before the enemy Philistine king and was sure to be executed. Desperate men do desperate things, so David pretended he had lost his mind. As King Achish questioned him, David mindlessly scratched on the doorpost and let saliva drool down his beard. Instead of killing David, Achish pitied him and kicked him out of the city.

David had to breathe a sigh of relief after being set free from Gath. He had been under intense pressure for so long. That is when he wrote this psalm. Let's read it in context:

(Psalm 34:1–10 NKJV)  I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed.

This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

David had to say, "Praise God! I can't believe that worked!" His young life seemed a living hell, but the Lord was preparing a chosen king. Intense pressure means intense refinement. All of that fear, anxiety, pride, and impurities were squeezed to the surface, so David had to face them. I am sure his heart was racing at times, and he had to wonder whether the Lord was with him at all. He certainly was.

The Lord fulfilled His plan in David's life. He became the next king and ruled Israel for forty years. Because David sought the Lord first, all the things he needed were added to him. He prospered. This has been a time-honored tradition throughout Scripture. The Lord has no shortage of resources, but our desires must first line up with His.

(Luke 12:29–31 NKJV)  "And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."

David continues with his song of deliverance:

(Psalm 34:17–19 NKJV)  The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.

David had endured so many hardships, but he never let them turn his heart from God. Sometimes when David knew what he should do but chose the opposite, his sin caught up with him. For example, one day, David saw his neighbor's beautiful wife taking a bath from the roof of his palace. Her husband Uriah was away serving in the army, so David sent for her. When Bathsheba went home the next day, she was pregnant. Whoopsie.

David tried to cover their affair up, but after repeated attempts failed, he arranged to have Uriah killed in action by putting him in the hottest part of the battle and withdrawing from him. His secret plan worked, but the Lord saw it.

The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to tell David a story about a rich man who owned large flocks of sheep. He had a poor neighbor who only had one little lamb that slept in his arms, and he raised it like his child. When a visitor came to the rich man's house, he took the poor man's only sheep and cooked it for his guest. David grew up as a shepherd, so he was furious at hearing this.

(2 Samuel 12:5–12 NKJV)  So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity."

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!

Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.'

Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.' "

Oh, dear. What David had done in secret, God would do in front of the sun and all of Israel. This promise was fulfilled in 2 Samuel 16:22 when his son Absalom tried to take the kingship from David, and he slept with David's lovers on the roof of the royal palace in full view of all of Israel.

Even after all that, the Lord didn't discard His servant David. Scripture states that the sons of the high priest Eli were worthless men who didn't know the Lord (1 Samuel 2:12). Though David was guilty of adultery and murder, he loved the Lord, and it's amazing the bond between them.

(Jeremiah 33:19–21 NKJV)  And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD: 'If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.

About three hundred years after David passed, the king of Assyria planned to lay siege to Jerusalem, and the prophet Isaiah wrote this:

(Isaiah 37:33–35 NKJV)  "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: 'He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,' Says the LORD. 'For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David's sake.' "

That night, an angel of the Lord executed 185,000 men in the Assyrian army. The Israelites walked out, and the ground was covered with dead bodies, so they spent three days collecting treasure. They went from terrified to well-supplied.

I find it incredible that we can have such a powerful relationship with the Lord that it shapes the world hundreds of years later. That our desperation can bring incredible inspiration. Let us have a heart like David and become the generation that sought God like no other.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but YOU deliver them from them all! I am Yours, Lord. Break up my hard heart, stir up the gifts You have put in my life. Help me get in tune with what You are doing on Earth today. Please make what is important to You important to me! In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!