Thanks—A Sacrifice of Praise

“With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.  For He has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.” –Psalm 54:6-7 (ESV).

In this lament psalm from David, another ‘maskil’ composed for worship, we find much that is autobiographical in nature.  The epigraph (added later by scribes and/or editors) informs us that David wrote this Psalm “when the Ziphites went and told Saul, ‘Is not David hiding among us’?”  Historically, David was fleeing from Saul for his very life and hiding where he could to avoid being killed.  This young man, chosen by God and anointed to be the next king after Saul, was hiding out like a common criminal in order to try to stay alive.  In I Samuel 23:15-24 we find this reference when Jonathan, Saul’s son, and David pledge their support each of the other and the Ziphites, a branch of the tribe of Judah, decide to let Saul the King know that David is hiding out in their territory.  Intrigue and suspicious alliances put David in danger and God’s way for this young chosen future king oftentimes was frought with grave danger.  But despite circumstances, and even his lament about the trying conditions that surrounded him, David seemed to be able to trust God and look optimistically at the situation, trusting God to help him.

The focal verses for today are both a prayer and a testimony.  Verse six uses first person and is a direct prayer to God”  “With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.”  In the midst of people who would give away knowledge of David’s hiding place, this man of God turns to the Lord and thinks about making a “freewill offering”  a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.  It was customary in David’s day to choose a lamb from the flock, one without spot or blemish, and sacrifice it upon an altar, allowing the sweet savor of the roasting lamb from the altar to go upward as a thank offering for God’s goodness.  Can you imagine David taking the time, and coming out of hiding, to openly execute this act of sincere worship before God?  The context indicates that his desire was to honor God despite the fact that such an act might make his whereabouts known to his enemy.  But notice the strong declaration of intent:  “I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.”

In David’s testimony, verse 7, coupled with the prayer, but probably in real life after he had escaped from his situation of hiding among the Zebusites and them letting King Saul know of his whereabouts, David can say with assurance:  “For He has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.”  David speaks in past tense here, and gives his word that indeed God delivered him!  Even if this testimony had been given immediately after David voiced his prayer, he knew without a doubt that God would deliver him and he spoke as if the act of deliverance had already transpired.  Such is the faith we need in the Christian life.  Our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving will be heard and accepted by God and He will do what is necessary to deliver us from circumstances that threaten and confuse us.  When we thus exercise our faith, it is as if God has already accomplished the good He intends for us.  Thank God for confidence in His strength and watch care.