It’s easy to praise God when everything is going right and when the sun shines. However, when we’ve messed up, or when bad things happen how do we praise God?
David had messed up. Psalm 34 was written after God had delivered him from King Achish the king of Gath, one of the Philistine kings. David had pretended to be insane infront of the king, in an attempt to save his own life.
The Philistines had recognised him and were ready to kill him, but King Achish simply dismisses him as a madman. Here was David in the centre of enemy territory yet he escapes with his life. David then recognises that it was not his own ingenuity, or the king’s naivety or generosity that saved him, rather it was God who delivered him from his enemies.
Bad things happen to good people, following Jesus is not a guarantee to an easy life. David lied, he pretended to be mad. He put himself in a dangerous position.
We often wish we could escape awkward situations, difficult meetings, people who bring out the worst in us, those daily things that grind us down. God doesn’t promise those things won’t happen, “the righteous person may have many troubles but the Lord delivers him/her from them all.” He promises to be “close to the brokenhearted,” to be our source of power, courage and wisdom helping us through our problems.
When life is hard we can praise God for his mercy and goodness, admitting that we need his help and thanking him for being there alongside us.
TFTD: Based on Spring Harvest 2021 Bible study series “Worshipping the God of all in all of life” Edited by Mark Greene from licc which looks at the topic of worship in the Psalms.