Praising the LORD

II Samuel 22:1 David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

David had his struggles in life, early on.
There was the jealousy of his brothers, after he, the youngest was annointed by Samuel.
There was the jealous rage of Saul, which after the victory over Goliath, drove the King mad. Jealousy is never justifiable. In these cases even more so because David was a humble person.
There was the battles with all the surrounding nations to bring peace to the land of Israel.
David was at war in some form or another for about 20 years.

David never forgot, never got away from the fact that it was the LORD Who gave him all these victories.
His mantra his whole life was rooted in his early days of the conversation with Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:45-47 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”
The Battle is the LORD's. Victory comes from Him.

David expresses this even more fully in Psalm 124, no doubt after the victories spoken about in our scripture this morning.


1. Believers Should Sing To The LORD.

Ephesians 5:18-20 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

Singing is the language of the heart. The times when I am among brothers and sisters of a language other than English, when they sing, I can join in with them in English with the songs I know. To the ones I do know the words to I can enter into the praise of God in my spirit as they sing.

I sing little ditties to my grandkids, make up words to well known tunes or tune that I make up.

David had a relationship with the LORD where he would take up his heart, let loose of praise within and worship. Probably Psalm 23 was composed this way.

God looks at the heart, not the voice quality. Where does music come from? from your heart!

This was a song of praise to God for the victories He had given David.
We can sing to the LORD and we should all the time, in all circumstances.

David sang this when he was on the run from Saul:
Psalm 34:1-3 I will extol the Lord at all times;his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord;let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.

Our music heritage is deep and wide. As believers we have the Psalms, we have the hymns of the church, we have worship choruses and it continues to this day. God gives a song!

Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lordand put their trust in Him.

He even gives us songs in the night to sing to Him.
Job 35:9-10 “People cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful. But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night..."



2. When God Answers Prayer We Ought To Praise Him

Always but especially at these times.

I have to confess. Sometimes I need the LORD to remind me. He has interesting ways of doing that in my life. As I was going over my notes Saturday.

David was doing that here. The Psalms are full of requests from David.
But they are equally full of full of thanksgiving. The Psalms reflect what should be in our prayer life. They are the prayer book of the Bible.

So often we do a little praising then rush right to our requests. It shows our faith but lacks gratitude! We have to be obey the promptings to thank God much the way children need to be by their parents. He prompts us in many ways. Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

This Psalm, this chapter of II Samuel, is a response to God answering prayer in the life of David particularly when it came to his enemies.

He wrote out this Psalm. We ought to write down the blessings. Speak of them often. Not just in church but always! I was taking my kids to the airport the other night and the sky was gorgeous with the clouds and sun. I took a few pictures, then we began to talk about God being with us. The grandkids were listening. We talked about moments when the LORD put on these displays in the heavens. It was so good.

Psalm 92:1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High.

No wonder David wrote
Psalm 7:17 I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.

Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

3. When God Delivers Us We Should Express Gratitude.

David prayed over Saul more than any other person.
Saul was the king but David was God's anointed.
Saul was rejected and David was God's chosen.
There was no way this was going to end well.
It went on for 10 years. A decade of nightmarish hell for David.
He lived like a dog, being hunted like an animal.

Then God brought him to the place of being king over all Israel.
Then he led the army of Israel in battles.

2 Samuel 7:1 After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he wanted to build the temple.

God told David through Nathan it would be his son but that God would build a house for David and there would never cease to be one of His descendants on the throne!

God gave him some wonderful promises. He wrote this Psalm in that time. A Psalm could be written from each one of our lives concerning what the LORD has done for us!

Many have done that in the hymns they have written.
Like this on Fanny Crosby wrote.
Blessed Assurance