Most scholars reckon that contrary to popular belief, David did not write all of the Psalms.
I hope I haven’t shocked you too much with that revelation! David did not write all of the Psalms – the Songbook of Jewish worship - in the same way that Watts and Wesley did not write all of the hymns in Rejoice & Sing – the Songbook of URC worship.
But in just the same way that so many of the hymn-writers in R&S were inspired by Watts and Wesley, so the Psalm-writers were inspired by David.
Recognising that not all the Psalms were written by David gives a special significance to those which we DO believe he wrote. And we can ask ourselves, how his words tie up with the stories we know of his life. For instance, most people think David wrote Psalm 23. And we can see that, can’t we? David was a shepherd-boy, and the imagery of God as our Shepherd guiding us and keeping us would have been natural for him.
Some of the Psalms where thanksgiving is offered to God for great military triumphs – we can see David’s hand there too. He was famous for his great military campaigns and victories – especially against the Philistines.
Psalms of great faith, and boys-own Psalms about great military victories we naturally Associate with David, and that’s all well and good. But we must also be aware of another tone in David’s Psalms, another aspect of his character and life entirely.
Read some of Psalm 56…
We’ve come to the part of David’s life which is less familiar to most people. We all know how David was chosen from obscurity as the future King, how the lowly shepherd boy slew Goliath, how he became musician to the King, how he became famous for his military exploits, how he was close friends with Jonathan…
But for most people the next bit is very hazy.
In this brief chapter between glorious beginning and glorious ending, David is hunted down by Saul like a wild animal. He is banished from Saul’s kingdom and is forced to hide among the rocks and caves making alliances with former enemies and with a rag-bag of disaffected mercenaries. David is literally in fear of his life.
Read bits of Psalm 56 again…
The bit we heard read for us earlier on is a remarkable passage. David runs away to the City of Gath. Which famous person came from Gath?
It seems that Gath was a place famous for its giants! If you look in the second book of Samuel, chapter 21, you will find that David and his men fight several giants from Gath – Ishbibenob (who carried a bronze spear weighing three and a half kg), Saph, another one called Goliath, and an un-named giant who had 12 fingers and twelve toes. There must have been something in the water!
Gath was an important Philistine city, and you might imagine that they were pretty upset after David had killed Goliath and their Army had been routed. David must have been very desperate to have fled to Gath. He was, he was terrified. David’s story ceases to be like a Boy’s Own adventure . From now on, his story is drenched in real blood and real fear.
David is afraid of Saul and he is also afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. He was recognised, and soon he was being taunted in the streets – isn’t this the great warrior the Israelite women used to sing about – isn’t this David the giant-slayer? Look at him he’s being hunted down like a dog by his own people.
David was worried so he adopted a disguise. Whenever he was out and about he pretended to be mad. He acted like a mad-man, scribbled on the city walls and dribbled down his beard – perhaps then the king wouldn’t see him as a threat.
This is David the golden-boy, the boy-wonder, the glamour-king; This is David the giant-slayer, the chosen-one, the one the women used to parade through the streets. And he is reduced to dribbling in his beard, and pretending he is insane. What has done this to him? FEAR!
Fear is crippling, fear is paralysing. Fear destroys lives, fear takes away all the dignity and joy of life.
Forget David for a moment and think about your own life. What are your fears? Maybe you have life-threatening fears like David did – your life, or the life of a loved one. Or maybe your fears are different - Fears about what the future will bring; Will I still have a job? Will I still be able to pay the mortgage? How will the kids turn out? Can I cope with the responsibilities Heaped on me?
If we just read the Psalms, we might get entirely the wrong idea. Listen to David’s words from Psalm 34, written at the same time: I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the LORD is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!
If we just read the Psalms we might get entirely the wrong idea. We might imagine that David endured all of his fears with blissful piety – floating above all of his worries on a fluffy cloud of trust in God.
But we know that’s not true. We know that David was so frightened that he pretended to be mad and dribbled into his beard. We also know that David was so frightened when he went to Ahimelech the Priest of Nob for shelter and food, he lied, saying that he was on the king’s business. Ahimelech didn’t know he was harbouring a fugitive, but Saul wasn’t very understanding and had Ahimelech and all the priests of Nob killed – all 85 of them.
David did not float above his fear in a pious haze. David’s fear saw him in the gutter and saw others put to the sword. Fear is real and it ruins lives. Fear stops you from living a fruitful life; fear chases away joy, peace, hope and love. So don’t listen if people tell you that fear is easy to overcome, that all you need to do is trust in God and everything will be fine, because fear is real and fear is destructive.
So how is David able to say the words of Psalm 34 – words of such confident faith even at the moment he is scared out of his wits?
I think it’s because David has another fear – fear of the Lord. This is a different kind of fear altogether. It’s not an experience of being afraid, it’s an experience of awe-struck wonder. David has a deep reverence for God. It’s not something he’s read in a book. It’s not something his parents have taught him, it is a deep-rooted personal experience of the living God. God is real to David. God isn’t just a nice idea or an interesting theory, God is really real when it really matters.
So David can do what he always does when he is in trouble, he can look back and remember a lifetime’s experience of being with God, a lifetime’s experience of trusting God, a lifetime’s experience of God being there through thick and thin. And whilst it doesn’t take away his fear (he still goes for the dribbling in his beard trick!) it does help him face it and walk through it confident that God is before him and behind him, within him and around him.
Years later, John caught hold of the same truth – the idea that as you live your life in Christ, in God, then your faith ceases to be a theory or a fair-weather fantasy and God becomes really real when it really matters. This is how John put it in chapter 4 of his first letter:
So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
Let us pray:
Come let us approach the Lord God together, you and I: Tell him what you are afraid of… Feel at liberty to be honest about your fear… Take time to feel God’s presence, for he is very close, and his love for you is very dear… In time the obstacle to trusting God will not be so high, The jump that must be made will not be so dismaying, The fear will be less because the Lord is next to you, So be strong and very courageous… The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, And he delivers them, So taste and see and you will find the Lord is good. Amen.