What made David so confident that God would really hear his prayers? That God would pay attention to his groaning, to his problems? That God would surround him with His shield of love? It seems to me there are 2 clues in these Psalms. The first is that he thought of God in a very personal way. He often referred to God as “MY God”, “MY Shepherd”, or “MY King”. In fact, that personal pronoun is used nearly 450 times in the book of Psalms.* He was also convinced that God’s love for him was unfailing and steadfast. In the hard times and discouraging days, when circumstances were bleak and his enemies were in charge, he held on to that reality. He visualized God’s smile on him as he drifted off to sleep. He reminded himself of it as he awoke in the morning. He talked about it with his friends and he wrote about it so that not only the Israelites as they worshipped together could encourage each other to wait with confidence for God to answer their prayers but that you and I could do the very same thing. It’s the way I want to live today. How about you?
*One Year Book of Psalms, William Petersen
