Whenever You Need It, Cry Out For God's Mercy

# 312 - Today's Du-votional comes from 1Sa 21:10-15, “Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying: 'Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands'?" 12 Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them, feigned madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? 15 "Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?" ( Ps 21:10-15) What in the world was David thinking? He flees to Goliath's hometown, wearing Goliath's sword. That's like tipping over all the motorcycles in a bikers bar parking lot and walking in to the bar and saying. “Look what I did!” Then realizing the danger he is in, he feigns madness in order to get out of the situation. I admit, I have a lot of unanswered questions about this incident, but one thing I do know, this incident prompted the writing of two Psalms that have become near and dear to God's people ever since. Namely the 34th and 56th Psalm. It is in these Psalms that we are more apt to find answers to these questions. Let's start by looking at the 56th Psalm.: Ps 56:1 <> Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; Fighting all day he oppresses me. We read that David is captured by the Philistines. This tells us that he was likely dragged before the king, where the charges were laid against him. As he stands before the king, fear rightly grips him and he prays: “Be merciful to me O God.” First lesson for all of us? Prayer doesn't have to be long with a lot of fancy words. Just cry out to Him asking for His mercy. Whatever fearful situation we may find ourselves in, even if our own foolishness has brought it upon us, cry out to God, asking for His mercy. Father, there are those hearing this, reading this today who are in fearful circumstances. I plead for Your mercy in their situation.