Why Do You Want to Live?

“Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see the good?” (Psalm 34: 12)

When David was a fugitive from King Saul many other fugitives joined him hiding out in caves.  About 400 who were in debt, in distress and discontent joined David (1 Samuel 22:2).  Psalm 34 gives us little summaries of sermons David preached to those fugitives and failures that turned them into the mighty men of David.

He began by challenging them with questions like: “How many of you want to live?  How long do you want to live?  Do you want to live so you may see the good?”  When we are asked how long we want to live we almost never give a precise answer like a specific number of years, months, weeks and days.  We just answer, “Many!”

In that culture “seeing the good” was an expression that meant a person was convinced there was something good in this life and they were going to find it.  David preached that the Lord was the good thing they were seeking.

After telling them about the most humiliating and frightening experience of his life, his great battle cry to them was: “Magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together!”  (v. 3)

David identified with the weakness of these failures.  He then preached that the greater their weakness the more they exalted the name of the God they served when He used them.  Finding the strength of God in their weakness made them the mighty men God used in mighty ways.

Have you learned how to find God’s strength in your weakness?  Have you discovered how the greater your weaknesses – the more you can magnify the Lord?

2 Responses to Why Do You Want to Live?

  1. Art Jensen says:

    Thanks, Dick! Thoughtful words for our journey, especially when we tend to hide out from the world!

  2. Remarkable issues here. I’m very satisfied to see your post. Thank you a lot and I am taking a look ahead to touch you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?

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