It’s easy for success to go to your head, isn’t it? It’s easy to pat yourself on the back and take the credit for all your achievements. David certainly could have done that. As a shepherd, he protected his flock from all sorts of wild animals (I Samuel 17:34-36). As a warrior, he slew not only Goliath the giant (I Samuel 17:49-50), but so many other Philistine soldiers that a popular song of the day proclaimed, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (I Samuel 18:7).

Moreover, David was such an accomplished songwriter and harpist that his music was able to repel evil spirits (I Samuel 16:23). And he inspired the love of many women, from King Saul’s daughter Michal (I Samuel 18:20), who risked her own life to help him escape from her murderous father (I Samuel 19:12-17), to Abigail, one of the wisest women in the Bible (I Samuel 25:42).

And yet David insisted that it was the Lord who had given him the ability to fight battles (verse 1) and to subdue his enemies (verse 2). Far from bragging about his military prowess, he looked to God to protect him, to be his rock, his fortress, his stronghold, his shield, and his refuge (verses 1-2).

And instead of boasting about the size of his flocks and herds, he simply asked God to protect them and multiply them (verses 13-14). Instead of bragging about how many children he had, David pleaded with God to let them grow and mature (verse 12). Instead of counting the many psalms he had written, psalms we are still singing some 3000 years after their composition, David insisted that he would write a new song for God, singing His praises (verse 9).

How could David be so humble? Because he not only knew how powerful God is, the God Who sends forth the lightning, and Who makes the mountains smoke at His touch (verses 5 and 6). No, David also knew that even the most powerful, accomplished people are actually weak and feeble, not even having the ability to keep themselves alive all that long: “Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow” (verse 4).

And so David rejoices, not in his own skill or strength, but in the God Who alone can give salvation and deliverance even to the mightiest of kings (verse 10). And those who place the same trust in the same God can have the same confidence. For as David concludes, “How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!”

Psalm 144 (NASB)

A Psalm of David . Blessed be the LORD, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle;
2 My lovingkindness and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer; My shield and He in whom I take refuge; Who subdues my people under me.
3 O LORD, what is man, that Thou dost take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that Thou dost think of him?
4 Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
5 Bow Thy heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
6 Flash forth lightning and scatter them; Send out Thine arrows and confuse them.
7 Stretch forth Thy hand from on high; Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hand of aliens
8 Whose mouths speak deceit, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song to Thee, O God; Upon a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to Thee,
10 Who dost give salvation to kings; Who dost rescue David His servant from the evil sword.
11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hand of aliens, Whose mouth speaks deceit, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12 Let our sons in their youth be as grown-up plants, And our daughters as corner pillars fashioned as for a palace;
13 Let our garners be full, furnishing every kind of produce, And our flocks bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
14 Let our cattle bear, Without mishap and without loss, Let there be no outcry in our streets!
15 How blessed are the people who are so situated; How blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!