Lessons from the Life of David - Chapter 6
The Songwriter
King David of Israel has often been called the "Sweet Psalmist". As we follow the life of this great Bible character, we gather that he was unusually gifted. In 1 Samuel chapter 16 we read that King Saul said to his attendants, "Find someone who plays the harp well and bring him to me". One of his servants answered, "I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem, who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine looking man and the Lord is with him". As a result, David was brought before the King and became one of his armour bearers and Saul liked him very much. We are told that Saul was clearly often disturbed in his mind and David was asked to play the harp in his presence to soothe him. We read that he would feel better as he listened to the music.
Much later when David became king, he recognised the place of music in the worship of God. Praise to David was a celebration and included various elements in spiritual experience. David made himself responsible for choosing and establishing the various groups of singers and musicians for the temple services described in 1 Chronicles chapter 15. He arranged them into three groups under the leadership of three men from the tribe of Levi: Asaph, Hemen and Ethan. These men also wrote several Psalms. David himself wrote many songs, which often arose out of specific experiences in his life; in particular of his relationship with his God, who was always very real to him. We know many of them in our day thousands of years later, and as we study them we are greatly blessed. David's psalms allow us to understand his very heart-breathings and they portray to us his growing relationship with his heavenly father, also his obvious and intense love for God's name and honour.
These were the deep things that gripped and enriched David's spirit, which he sought to teach his followers. David's example in relation to praising God is perhaps one that all believers should seek to follow. Someone has said, "One characteristic of the life of God's people is that they constantly praise Him." Praise is an expression of homage, adoration and thanksgiving to God, either in prayer or in song and may be accompanied by various expressions of joy. Psalm 145 is entitled, "A psalm of praise of David." In verse 1 he says, "I will praise your name forever and ever"; and in verse 2, "Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever." In verse 4, David says, "Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise." Then as the psalm closes at verse 21, David concludes his meditation by stating, "My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord forever and ever."
I read recently, that praise is the overflow of a joyful heart and was reminded that the Christian does not have to wait for the day when he will see the Lord to praise Him. He is worthy of our praise every day as we eagerly await His promised return. David's many songs have softened, melted and purified many hearts. They are inspired poems that show him not only to be an eminent prophet of the Lord, but a guide to the devotions of the people of God in every generation. The great Victorian preacher and Bible teacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon says in his wonderful commentary on the Psalms of David, "Only those who have meditated profoundly upon the Psalms can have an adequate conception of the wealth they contain." Said Spurgeon further, 'After spending twenty years on this study, a tinge of sadness is on my spirit as I quit the Treasury of David - never to find on Earth a richer storehouse.
Blessed have been the days spent in morning, hoping, believing and exulting with David."
In summary then, we recognise that David's psalms clearly convey to us the relationship that existed between him and his God. They bear out the meaning and validity of God's description of this former shepherd lad who became king of Israel. Said God; "I have found David a man after mine own heart."