Don't You Know?
David had his own set of problems. We all do. Mine aren’t like yours, and yours aren’t like mine. Neither of us has the same problems David experienced. Yet, while they are different regarding the specifics, they are similar regarding the general nature of problems.
David had enemies – people who didn’t like him. They wanted to do him harm.
David had family problems. Many of them self-inflicted.
David had people who were saying bad things about him unfairly.
David had people who were plotting to do him harm.
Maybe you can relate to one or all of these kinds of problems life throws at us. What David does, what I highly recommend we all do, is pray. He prays for justice and deliverance. He prays for mercy and protection. He prays for deliverance and perseverance.
Those are all good ways to pray when we face difficulties, especially when those trials come about because of what other people do or plan to do to us. What we need to pay attention to is the way David prayed. He prayed in faith.
In this Psalm, David doesn’t use the kind of faith language we often read in the Psalms. He doesn’t refer to God as a refuge or a hiding place. He doesn’t talk about trust or reliance. Nevertheless, the idea of faith is here.
We see it in verse 12. There, David says, “I know that the LORD will…”
David knows. How does he know? He knows by faith. He believes what God has revealed about Himself is true. He relies on the character and nature of God. He knows God, and therefore he knows that God will.
Knowing God is doing more than knowing a set of theological propositions about God. It is more than being able to give a satisfactory list of God’s attributes if asked. Knowing God is knowing the nature of God and then applying that to life in faith. It is being able to say during the most trying circumstances of life that “I know God will because I know God.”
