The Depths of David’s Emotion

June 15, 2026June 13, 2026Todd R Leave a comment

One of my favorite things about the Psalms is the honesty and outpouring of emotions from the authors. Even King David is very transparent in the many Psalms he wrote as prayers to God, making him more relatable to us. We can see he’s not perfect, we can empathize with his pain, and we can often see ourselves mirrored in David’s experiences.

Since David is known as a man after God’s own heart, we often see the depth of his concern for others. One such passage is Psalm 35:13-14, where David cries out:

“But I, when they were sick—
            I wore sackcloth;
            I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
            as one who laments his mother,
            I bowed down in mourning.”

How often do any of us put this much effort into crying out to God for someone else’s well-being? But who are the “they” at the beginning of the verses? Who is David so concerned about? We can see that it is someone who was sick, but it wasn’t a brother or his mother, so probably not a family member.

^{David. Photo by Jack Hunter on Unsplash}

The depth of David’s pleading to God for the “they” in Psalm 35 is even more striking because the “they”…are his enemies! The Psalm begins with:

“Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!”

The rest of the Psalm suggests there are many people making false accusations about David, “malicious witnesses” out to destroy him. David cries out to God in verse 8:

“Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his destruction!”

David vents a lot of negative emotions before getting to verses 13 and 14, but he does get to the point of concern for these enemies. He lets off a lot of steam begging God for justice, but never writes about taking justice into his own hands. This is the honesty I love about the Psalms – if you’re angry, it’s ok to vent to God! But it’s not ok to pray to God so you can take vengeance on your enemies yourself.

It’s only natural to be angry at our enemies, but in Christ we are more than natural, so we don’t have to do what comes naturally. Here is what Christ expects of His people, as written in Matthew 5:43-46:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”

David’s venting in Psalm 35 is the part that anyone can do, but what really stands out is the depth of David’s love for his enemies! As I wrote earlier, how often do we put this much effort into crying out to God for someone else’s well-being? Even if they are our friends?

Jesus enables us to be supernatural, which is sometimes what we need to love unconditionally and pray as David did.

Faithful Affliction

June 10, 2026June 9, 2026Todd R 2 Comments

Sometimes the Bible surprises us by explaining things differently than how our natural instincts would like. In the case of Psalm 119:75, there are two words that we might not think of together:

“I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”

How often do we associate God’s faithfulness with affliction? Don’t we usually associate it with our blessings? Yet there it is: “in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”

Earlier, in verse 71, David wrote:

“It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I might learn your statutes.”

Then he says the benefit he gets from learning this is more than “thousands of gold and silver pieces”. Since we benefit from discipline, would God be unfaithful if He did not discipline us? Or do we only consider Him faithful when things seem to go well?

“My son, do not despise the LORD’S discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.” – Proverbs 3:11-12

He is faithful, always. Even in affliction. Perhaps especially.

Mercy for Mephibosheth

May 18, 2026May 17, 2026Todd R 2 Comments

The English writer Samuel Johnson noted that “the true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” There is a great example of this in the story of King David and Mephibosheth in the book of 2 Samuel.

Before becoming king, David had a deep friendship with Jonathan, the son of King Saul who despised David and persistently tried to kill him. In response, David did not try to kill Saul, but relied on God to keep his promise that David would become king and eventually Saul was killed in battle against the Philistines. Soon after, David was anointed king and surprisingly asked: “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”[1] Mephibosheth, a lame son of Jonathan, was found, given Saul’s land and servants to work it, and also given a place at David’s table.

^{Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash}

There are at least 3 ways David’s treatment of Mephibosheth did David no good from a worldly perspective:

It was typical for kings to wipe out the entire family of political rivals to remove any threats from claims to the crown. David, showing mercy to Mephibosheth instead, took a risk by keeping a descendant of Saul alive.
Mephibosheth, lame in both feet, was limited in what service he could offer to David. He was not a great warrior and otherwise had little to offer David. However, David had mercy on him because of his love for Mephibosheth’s father Jonathan, not because of what he could get in return.
David restored Saul’s land to Mephibosheth, land that David could have kept for himself. Instead, David fed Mephibosheth from his own possessions for the rest of his life. Mercy for Mephibosheth had an economic cost to David.

While from this worldly perspective David might seem foolish, from an eternal perspective he was wise, foreshadowing the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:43-45 –

Are there Mephibosheths in our lives who could be shown mercy, regardless of the worldly impact on us?

[1] 2 Samuel 9:1

The Lord is Not Looking For “The Good Face”

March 23, 2026March 22, 2026Todd R 5 Comments

One of my favorite books is Moneyball, which is about Billy Beane’s career as General Manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Beane ran a winning team on a shoestring budget by pioneering the use of precise measurement, data, and analytics, in contrast to sometimes-arbitrary eyewitness reports from talent scouts. Author Michael Lewis notes that in the late 1990s, “Some of the scouts still believed they could tell by the structure of a young man’s face not only his character but his future in pro ball. They had a phrase they used: ‘the Good Face.’”[1] Billy Beane himself had “the Good Face” when he was a prospect and yet had a mediocre career as a player; therefore, his own career arc suggested that there might be a better way to find good players.

Reliance on “The Good Face” isn’t just a baseball phenomenon. Many politicians, celebrities, businesspeople, news personalities, and others succeed by having “The Good Face,” but the Bible warns us not to rely on “The Good Face.” One such warning is the story of King Saul, who was “a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.”[2]

Samuel, the LORD’s prophet, was impressed by Saul and was led to anoint him Israel’s king. However, when Samuel called the people together to announce Saul’s rule, something strange happened: “So they inquired again of the LORD, ‘Is there a man still to come?’ and the LORD said, ‘Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.’”[3] Saul should have responded “Here am I”, but instead shamefully hid. Being so large, it must have taken some effort to find a place to hide, but he managed it in an attempt to avoid God’s call. This became a pattern with Saul, because when Israel’s army was challenged by the giant Goliath, “Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”[4] Saul, while having “The Good Face,” was unwilling to trust God when He called. He was faithless and a coward. Perhaps “tall, dark, and handsome” but not useful to God, and not a good leader for God’s people.

When looking for Saul’s successor, Samuel, as God’s talent scout, almost repeated the mistake of picking “The Good Face.” Samuel was to pick as king one of the sons of Jesse, and he wanted to pick Eliab after he “looked on” him. “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”[5] After this warning, David, the youngest son of Jesse, is chosen as the next king. David also had many admirable qualities, being not only handsome, but also “skillful in playing [the lyre], a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence,” but most importantly, others reported that “the LORD is with him”[6] and it was true. David knew that everything that really mattered about him came from God (see Psalm 139:13-16 for example) and he could only succeed by relying on Him. If God called, he would come, and if the world challenged God, David would defend Him. David slew Goliath without hesitation.

Today, the power of Christ living through us is what matters, not having “The Good Face.” Therefore, be concerned about having “The Good Heart.” Be not concerned about whether you are photogenic, or handsome, or tall, or well-dressed, or anything else the world may value. According to the prophet Isaiah, even Jesus didn’t have “The Good Face”: “He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.” – Isaiah 53:2b

When God calls, come, and you will have “The Good Heart.” When you fail, God, whose heart is perfect, will create in you a new clean heart[7], as David learned time and time again.

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:31-33

[1] Lewis, Michael. Moneyball (2003). P. 7.
[2] 1 Samuel 9:2
[3] 1 Samuel 10:22
[4] 1 Samuel 17:11
[5] 1 Samuel 16:7
[6] 1 Samuel 16:18
[7] Psalm 51:10

Perfecting Faith Through Struggle

February 13, 2026February 12, 2026Todd R Leave a comment

King David wrote many Psalms during the difficult times in his life. Psalm 18, written “on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul,”[1] is a song David wrote to praise God for His deliverance from difficulties in the past. David describes the depths of the troubles he faced in verses 4 and 5:

“The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.”

There were many moments where David faced enemies seeking to kill him, a situation we may never face. But, like David we all face struggles and, while not literally life-threatening, some of them may feel like what David describes. Our enemies may be external or internal, physical or spiritual, and Psalm 18 can be applied to them all. David magnifies the powers that assailed him, which John Calvin wrote, “enhances and magnifies so much the more the glory of his deliverance. As David had been reduced to a condition so desperate that no hope of relief or deliverance from it was apparent, it is certain that he was delivered by the hand of God, and that it was not a thing effected by the power of man.” David was truly in a desperate situation and sometimes we are too.

So, how can this Psalm help us in our struggles? I’m going to focus on only a few of the Psalm’s 50 verses, including verses 1 to 3:

“I love you, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
            my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
            my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
            and I am saved from my enemies.”

Note that these verses come before the ones quoted earlier because before coming to God with his problems, David contemplated who God is and what he has learned about Him from experience. When we’re struggling, we should also take the time to contemplate the nature of our God so we can get the right perspective.

David uses some military metaphors to tell us about God. David says God is a rock, a fortress, a shield, a horn, and a stronghold. These tell us that God:

^{Photo by Mario La Pergola on Unsplash}

is a rock, immovable by our enemies and our problems.
is a fortress and stronghold, a secure place to flee from our enemies, where they cannot get in.
is a shield that protects us from harm. Our enemies’ weapons can’t pierce God’s protection.
is a horn, with all the power we need to defeat our enemies. A horn was a symbol of might in the Bible.

God is all these things for us too!

In verse 7, David added that when God answered his call for help, “the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry.” God’s power, His “horn”, is so powerful that even the earth fears it, but we need to learn to trust in it, and it alone.

There is no sure way to learn to trust a fortress or shield, other than to test them in battle. C.S. Lewis wrote that “God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.” When we’re fighting an external battle against an enemy or against painful circumstances. When we’re fighting an internal battle against temptation, a bad habit, an addiction, or maybe an unattractive character trait, God can teach us about who He is through the pain of those battles, and we can learn to trust Him more.

Although we will not defeat all of our enemies while we live in this world, and we may be frustrated knowing God is powerful enough to win, but we still fail anyway, we know that:

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”[2]

He is faithfully by our side in every struggle, and eager to restore us when we fall, even if it’s every day (or more!). But most importantly, we know that He is working in all things – even our fiercest battles – to perfect us and that He will not fail. Even if we are unfaithful at times, He remains faithful always, and it’s His faithfulness that makes the difference.

If you’re fighting something today, remember that God is your rock, fortress, shield, horn, and stronghold, and you can trust Him.

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:6

[1] Psalm 18:0 (title)
[2] Lamentations 3:22-23

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