We are engulfed with an avalanche of Self-Help, Mindfulness, Reach Your Maximum Potential books. Some of them are very good. Most are only a rehash of what they heard someone else say. — But the most read Self Help book ever written, and the All-Time Best Seller is the Bible, especially the Psalms of David.
David was not a perfect person by any means. He was guilty of making the same errors as all the rest of humanity. He was susceptible to the same temptations, trials, and tribulations that we all experience. However, he was referred to as “a man after God’s own heart.” (1 Samuel 13:14)
In David’s Psalms, we hear his intimate conversations with our Maker. As he brings his worries, failings, anxieties, and fears before God’s throne, we listen in and hear the Lord’s replies. We find answers to our life’s dilemmas and struggles. We discover how to live a godly life. Our fears are overcome. Our trials are endured. A secure peace floods our inner being. And we experience a daily sense of confidence and joy.
In these we read of the emotions, struggles, fears, defeats, and victories of all humanity; and, we are inspired by an extraordinary faith in God. This same faith and strength are still available for us to possess today. Helping you to have that same confidence and peace is my primary purpose in writing my most recent book. God’s greatest desire is to be the most important person in our lives. He delights in those who have developed a total dependence upon Him.
David was a man who knew God, and sought Him with all his heart; yet, he also struggled with sin. David suffered betrayals, grief, trials, temptations, and sometimes made horrible errors in judgement and sinned greatly, just like you and I do. Even though, God called David his “friend.” God’s desire is for us to cleave to Him, despite our difficulties and tribulations. Our Creator is not seeking to judge us. The God of heaven and earth has one paramount desire: to take pleasure in having eternal fellowship with the people for whom He made the earth.
David is a marvelous example of resilient faith. His faith may sometimes bend, but it never breaks. Just as the keelson of a ship (the main beam that runs from stem to stern) holds a boat together, so David’s trust in God and His promises were his strength that kept him from destruction. David pursued the Lord throughout his life. David was angered and grieved by enemies and the betrayal of friends, and weighed down by life’s difficulties and tribulations, just as we have known too. When David sinned, he confessed and bore God’s correction patiently. God raised David like a loving father does his beloved son. He delighted in David because throughout his life David clung to the Lord. Therefore, God forgave his back sliding and failures.
We may not always identify with the particular trials that David experiences and writes about in the Psalms, but we can certainly feel what David felt: fear, anxiety, heartbreak, anger, revenge, joy, peace, and exultation. The Psalms helps us to gain victory over our struggles and trials, as we read how David overcomes the same obstacles to happiness and success. The theme running through all the Psalms is how David overcomes every dilemma he encounters through his unwavering faith in God’s love for him and all humanity.
I hope that as you read this book you will also be nourished and your souls fed. I pray that your faith in God will grow into a source of life for you and yours that will never end. My purpose in writing this explanation of the Psalms is to revive and strengthen the faith of Believers, and to enlighten the minds and hearts of those who are seeking to know the true God.
God’ words are a “lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.” (Psalm 119:105)
Mark Baird
