When David fled from Saul he was completely unprepared and initially made mistakes in his decision making. In spite of his youth and inexperience in dealing with adversity, David managed to safely escape and established a small army to handle the threat to his life.

In the psalms that David wrote during this period of his life, are what could be called his secrets to success. Many of David’s psalms open in a similar way to Psalm 34 in which David says, “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1). Many people might think that praise is something you are to do when you are happy to thank the LORD for his blessings, but praise can simply mean singing a song to the LORD.

When I was younger, I used to sing along to the songs I heard on the radio. I’ve noticed lately that I don’t sing very much. I have to make a conscious effort to let the words flow out of my mouth. David’s declaration that “his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1) was a commitment to sing to the LORD even when he didn’t feel like it because things were not always going to go David’s way.

The harsh cold reality of what Saul was capable of became evident to David when he found out that Saul was responsible for the slaughter of 85 priests because Ahimelech had assisted David in escaping. I’m sure David felt that Saul was out of control and there was no telling what he would do to capture and kill him. The hope that David held on to was that even if Saul killed him, David would go to Heaven and be with the LORD. Therefore, David said, “I  will praise thee for ever” (Psalm 52:9).

The word we use today to talk about eternity, forever is a compound word that has taken away some of the meaning of what the words for and ever were originally intended to describe. Looking at the word ever from both the Hebrew and Greek perspective, it is clear that it is not intended to describe eternity from a time perspective, but to differentiate between time and no time or being in a state where time exists and a state where time does not exist.

A characteristic of being human is that we are aware of time. Because we are aware of time, we use it to control our behavior and to predict when certain things will happen. One of the most difficult aspects of letting God control my life is I don’t know when things are going to happen. When I pray for God to do something, if it is his will, I have the assurance that he will do what I have asked him to, but I have no idea when he will do it.

When we are with the LORD, whether it is walking with him in this world or being with him in Heaven, time does not exist. We enter into a state of timelessness and live in the moment, meaning that we are no longer controlled by time. David’s statement in Psalm 52:9, “I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it.” is spoken out of time. Another way of saying it is , I know you are going to take care of this LORD, and from your perspective it is already completed, so I am going to praise you in this moment as a way of seeing things from your perspective.