Keep Cool

David lays out the steps he takes to keep from becoming a basket case. Any of us in his shoes could certainly come undone.  Much of his life that we read about, he’s either running for his life from Saul or from his son Absalom. These people are hunting him down to kill him, and for what? He didn’t deserve it. He was running from jealous men who wanted to secure themselves as king.

I once had a job that a coworker wanted, and she had me in her crosshairs. She was a scrapper, and I kept my eye on her, fearing a bit that she would pull something to get pieces of my job.

That is only minor compared to what David went through. He uprooted his life and physically ran, taking a group of men with him. And this was after God had already promised David he would be king. God keeps his promises. But for David, not immediately.

How did he reconcile this in his mind? In fact, what went through his mind?

Ps. 119:109  My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.	In other words, David was always in danger. In spite of it, he didn’t forget God’s law. The law requires right behavior. David set his life to behave properly. We see that when he had the opportunity to kill Saul, and he didn’t. He left Saul’s demise up to God.
(110)  The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.	We know that wicked Saul was continuously after David, but David could rest at night knowing he didn’t violate God’s precepts. As long as he was right with God, he knew God would take care of him. Like God’s law, precepts are codes of wisdom or principles to live by. We have more precepts at our disposal than David did. And interestingly, David’s son Solomon wrote many of them. Here’s one: When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him (Prov 16:7).
(111)  Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.	How could David know God’s faithfulness except for his testimonies or stories in the amount of the Bible he had at the time (the first 5 books of the Bible). He had God’s description of himself that served as the rejoicing of his heart. We know because he repeats the description in several of his Psalms. Here’s the original: And the LORD passed by before him [ Moses ], and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; Ex. 34:6-7a These verses are our heritage too. We should take them down off the shelf and use them every day.
(112)  I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.	I think the key to David being a man after God’s own heart was his inclination to know and obey. We have so many other inclinations. Can we at least determine to read God’s word every day and find a verse to set our heart and life on?