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I was struck by David’s enthusiasm for God in Psalm 16.5, 6:

You are my prize, my pleasure, and my portion. I leave my destiny and its timing in your hands. Your pleasant path leads me to pleasant places. I’m overwhelmed by the privileges that come with following you, for you have given me the best! (The Passion Translation)

My question is, when in David’s life was this written: pre-Bathsheba or post? (You can read about David’s shameful behavior with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11.) If post, then the Psalm speaks to reflecting over his life and deciding that following God was the best thing to do–not following God didn’t work out so well. That’s fine.

But if it’s pre-Bathsheba, then we have a warning. How I feel about God today is no guarantee I’ll feel that way tomorrow. We know that Psalm 57 was written pre-Bathsheba. It was pre-everything since he was still running from Saul and hiding in caves! Here’s the official (part of the text) introduction to the Psalm:

A Miktam of David when he fled from Saul, in the cave. 

And David writes glowing things about God here also:

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. (Psalm 57.7 – 9, ESV)

Yet after that, well after that, when the kingdom is established, and David is wealthy and at ease, he commits adultery and murder. It gives one pause. The Christian life is daily, and as C.S. Lewis wrote in an excellent essay, “The Sermon and the Lunch:” 

There is nowhere this side of heaven where one can safely lay the reins on the horse’s neck. It will never be lawful simply to ‘be ourselves’ until ‘ourselves’ have become sons of God. It is all there in the hymn–‘Christian, seek not yet repose.’

Yet repose is precisely what David was practicing:

…David dispatched Joab and his fighting men of Israel in full force to destroy the Ammonites for good…but David stayed in Jerusalem. One late afternoon, David got up from taking his nap and was strolling on the roof of the palace. From his vantage point on the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was stunningly beautiful. (2 Samuel 11.1, 2, MSG, emphasis mine)

I’m 72, and I want to finish strong. So I tell myself, keep up the disciplines, don’t let anything come between me and God.

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10.12, NIV)