Praising from inside the cave

In verses seven through eleven of our psalm, it appears that David is still in the cave. His circumstances haven't changed much. Things may not have changed at all! But instead of wringing his hands, or whining, or having a good ol' pity party, David breaks forth in praise to God.

My heart, O God, is steadfast,
    my heart is steadfast;
    I will sing and make music.

Awake, my soul!
    Awake, harp and lyre!
    I will awaken the dawn.

 I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
    I will sing of you among the peoples.
 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
    let your glory be over all the earth.

We've mentioned that God is glorified as we praise Him in our trials. In other psalms, David has been seen praising God in spite of some pretty scary situations.

Praise is not easy in times like that. It's a matter of deliberate focus. 

What does that mean?

Well, praise is not our natural response to trouble. Am I right? When we are faced with obstacles, we humans have all kinds of responses . . . do you remember learning about the effect of adrenaline in our bodies? In schoolwork, did you study "fight or flight"? 

Whenever David heard a twig snap or a rock tumble outside his cave, the adrenaline level in his body probably skyrocketed. This would cause his pupils to become more dilated to allow more light in; he would be able to see a threat more clearly. The hormone would cause his heart rate to increase and his breathing, too, so that his muscles would be oxygenated and ready to respond.

When we are faced with a trial, we may respond this way, too. We might be watchful and alert, our heart may be pounding.

We humans are a curious lot, though, and our response might instead be to complain. To whine and be angry with God. To question His plan and His authority. 
Some of us may simply withdraw into ourselves and become depressed. It's easy to allow our thoughts to grow dark and to become truly sad; we can even find it difficult to leave our bed or to turn on a light.

Verse six told us that David's enemy had "fixed a net" to catch him, but that David had fixed his heart. Yep, it's the same root word in the Hebrew. Fixed. Prepared. Established.

The scholars tell us that the way David repeats the words, "I will sing, yes, I will sing praises" is a clue for us - it was a matter of deliberate choice.

We have other examples in the Bible of people making a deliberate choice to praise God in the middle of their trials. Let's look at just one:

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. (Acts 16:25)

This chapter in Acts details the plight of Paul and Silas. They'd been preaching and teaching and now look at them . . . their clothes had been torn and pulled from them; they'd been beaten and whipped; they were now in prison, with their feet secured so that they could not move; it was the middle of the night and they didn't know for sure what would happen in the morning . . . . and they were singing! 

I don't really think that if they sat and ticked off their problems on the fingers of each hand that they would have been grinning or giggling. Their bodies were tired and sore and bleeding. Their future was dim. But they made the deliberate choice to praise God - they prayed and they sang hymns of praise to God.

Sometimes we do need to praise God when we don't feel like it. And that is NOT hypocrisy. It's obedience. You see, the definition of hypocrisy is not that I do things I don't feel like doing. (If that were the case, I'd be a hypocrite whenever I climb out of bed when I don't feel like it!) Hypocrisy is presenting a false impression to others so that we look better than we really are. Praising God, though, is a matter of obedience - and the true test of our obedience is that we obey God even when we don't feel like doing it!

Let's make a commitment that the next time we are going through a difficult trial (or maybe we are going through trials right now) we will respond rightly. If we are starting to feel overwhelmed or depressed, we will follow David's example. We will make the deliberate choice to praise God, even if we are still "inside the cave."  Let's focus on the Lord and praise Him!