By Dennis Pollock
When I was in the fifth grade, at the age of 11 or so, someone came to our school classroom from the Gideon’s Bible Society. They passed out little pocket-sized New Testaments to all the students, something that would never be allowed in our public schools today. Although I was not a Bible reader in those days, I liked the idea of getting this gift, took it home, and kept it for many years. When I gave my life to Jesus at the age of nineteen, I would read in that small New Testament at times, although my main Bible reading was in a larger, full Bible.
In that New Testament, at the very end, someone had decided to include two Old Testament books: Psalms and Proverbs. Proverbs is considered a book of wisdom, but why Psalms? Why, in the printing of that red, Gideon, New Testament, did someone decide to include Psalms? The answer is simple: everybody loves the Book of Psalms. It is one of the popular books of the Old Testament, among Jews and Christians. But why is Psalms so popular? Again, the answer is simple: we see ourselves in this book; we identify with all the struggles and desperate prayers of David and the other psalmists. And somehow, we find comfort and encouragement, knowing that these men struggled, suffered, cried, and prayed, just as we do.
In this devo I want to talk about the struggles David faced throughout his life. And he struggled a lot. Some of his struggles and crises we know very well, but there is much of his life and his many challenges that we do not know. At least we don’t know all the details. But we can tell that this famous king lived a hard and difficult life most of his days, and he frequently faced life and death challenges. We know this because we read his psalms.
Don’t Forget His Benefits!
It would be impossible for me to share all the Davidic passages that describe his sufferings, struggles, prayers, and victories, but let me share a few of them. First, we’ll start with a declaration of praise by David. He writes:
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases… (Psalm 103:2-3)
When we read the life story of David, we learn about his sins, especially in the case of Bathsheba. But we never read about David being sick in his life story. Yet in the Psalms, we read several references to David’s illnesses. And when he praises the Lord for healing all his diseases, it sounds like he was not entirely healthy throughout his life.
Foul & Festering
In Psalm 38 David is particularly graphic about his sickness. He writes:
There is no soundness in my flesh
Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones
Because of my sin.
For my iniquities have gone over my head;
Like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
My wounds are foul and festering
Because of my foolishness. (Psalm 38:3-5)
David believed that his terrible sickness was due to his sins and foolishness. Was this immediately after the Bathsheba scandal? Maybe, but we cannot say for sure. But one thing we can say is that when David became seriously ill, he knew where to go. He prayed to God, and he prayed intensely, and apparently he experienced numerous dramatic divine healings. Thus, he says of God: “Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases.”
Later in this chapter, David writes: “My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague, and my relatives stand afar off.” (Psalm 38:11). Nowhere in the narrative of David’s life do we read about any kind of sickness like this, but keep in mind that what we do know about David, even though it is extensive, is only a fraction of his life. In the Biblical narrative, we learn a lot about his early life and his final days, but not nearly so much about his middle-aged years.
“Let Them Be Ashamed”
But most of David’s psalms deal with attacks and wicked schemes coming from men. In Psalm 86 he writes: “O God, the proud have risen against me, and a mob of violent men have sought my life…” (Psalm 86:14). And in Psalm 70 he prays: “Let them be ashamed and confounded who seek my life; let them be turned back and confused who desire my hurt.” (Psalm 70:2).
It seems that throughout much of David’s life, he was under severe pressure and struggle, sometimes from sickness, but more often from ungodly men who schemed against him. David did not have an easy life, by any means. And when he went through yet another challenge and crisis, he did two things: he prayed about his situation, and he wrote about it in what we now call the Psalms.
In one Psalm we get an insight as to why his life was this way. David writes:
I waited patiently for the LORD;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
He has put a new song in my mouth–
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40:1-3)
David is rejoicing here. He had been cast in a horrible pit of some kind (not literally but figuratively). But God has delivered him and set his feet on solid rock. David has been given a “new song” and is praising God for yet another answered prayer, another mighty deliverance. But it is the last part of this passage that tells us the why, why it was that he must go through all these crises, challenges, and life-threatening scenarios. David says: “Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD.” David’s challenges and deliverances will be seen and learned of by many, and it will cause men and women to put their trust in the God that David loved and trusted. David’s son, Solomon, would not have been the right man to write all these psalms. His life was too easy and stress-free; he never faced the constant struggles and fearful situations that his dad, David, lived with.
God’s Purpose in It
In those days David did not know, nor could he have imagined in his wildest dreams, just how many would learn from his struggles and victories. These events in the life of a Jewish king reigning over a tiny nation, have been read by millions upon millions of people and have been a tremendous source of encouragement and faith to them. Who of all Christians everywhere, has not turned to the Psalms when they went through their crises and challenges? My wife spent almost an entire year when her health was so bad and she was so sick, it looked as though she would never survive the year. She read the Psalms constantly during that year, as she identified with David and prayed to the God of David in the name of His Son Jesus Christ. And of course, she did survive and was lifted out of her pit and placed upon solid rock.
And so, we see that when God allowed and even directed David to go through these terrible struggles, and then provided him amazing victories, He wasn’t just concerned about David alone. He was providing all His children with a divine blueprint for challenges, and a source of encouragement and faith, so that we, too, can give praise to God, and recognize that God is the ultimate deliverer from pits of all kinds.
Jesus Christ provided the perfect example of this principle. He died on the cross for the sins of the world and then was placed in a tomb while His spirit descended to Hades. But three days later, God delivered Him from that miry clay and terrible pit, raising Him from the dead. And the purpose was exactly what David described: that many might see it and fear and put their trust in the Lord. For “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord, (the Lord Jesus Christ), shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
