Praise...

David had been anointed to be king over all Israel. He had been brought in from the field where he was looking after his father's sheep and before his father and brothers was anointed by the prophet.
This made him a marked man and Saul, the king, tried his best to 'mark' him.
I wonder what David was thinking as he ran for his life?
It must have been a time of great trial because we find David in Gath.
You can read the story in 1 Samuel 21.
Gath was the hometown of Goliath, the giant, who David took down in the name of the Lord and removed his head with the giant's own sword, and here was David seeking refuge in Gath! To make matters worse the Gathonians (is that a word?) knew who he was, they even knew the song the Israelites sang about David, 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands' (1 Samuel 21: 11). The consequences could have been dire for David and he was afraid and so in an effort to preserve his life David feigns madness and starts scratching on the doorpost and dribbling on his beard.
What a comedown for the anointed of the Lord!
The king in Gath demanded that the madman be thrown out of town and so David escaped and next we find him hiding in a cave called Adullam.

This had to be one of the lowest points of David's life!
I'm pretty certain that you have experienced times like David's, I know I have. And it would be very easy to wallow in self-pity, berating everybody, especially God. And I know that David would have felt justified to look upon his 'anointing' with a large measure of incredulity! Anointing? Bah! If this is the anointing of God then I'm not sure I'm up for it! I've definitely been there!
Now at this point the natural man, the man of flesh, usually wants to give a long and detailed account of the low point and the reasons for it but I'm more interested her in David's response.
He's in the cave.
To add to David's situation a whole bunch of desperados have crawled in there with him!
Four hundred of them!
These dudes were desperados because desperado starts with 'D' as these blokes are described as being 'in distress, in debt and discontented'. What a charming bunch!
David is in the cave in despair, and distress, debt and discontent crawl in there with him!
That would be enough to cause David to embrace despair with a capital 'D'.
But what was David's response?
I think it is worth recording it in full and I pray you will be blessed by it.

'I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the Lord, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you to fear the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit, depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.' Psalm 34 

There is so much I could say about this.
Remember to read this Psalm with Grace glasses on, not law glasses.
For 'fear' read worship and praise.
Remember we are righteous not because of what we do but because of what He has done; We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5: 21).
See, believe and receive the truth that those who fear [worship] the Lord 'shall not want in any good thing'; please don't limit the finished work of our Lord.
And isn't it interesting how the attitude of David to praise, even in despair, rubbed off on the 400 distressed, debt-ridden discontents as he 'encouraged' them to 'exalt His name together' for 'they looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed.' You see these 400 malcontents went on from here to be David's mighty men of valour!

So much to see in this Psalm!
The point is even in despair praise is a key!
As I meditated on this overnight my mind went to a favourite verse.

'Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.' Mark 11: 23

We all have mountains in our lives; David certainly did, Goliath, Saul, despair, a cave experience. As I contemplated this verse for my own life and situation (I face a mountain right at this moment in my life and ministry) the Lord spoke to me and asked me,
"What does it mean to 'believe that what he says is going to happen'?"
I didn't really know so He said to me,
"'Believing that what he says is going to happen' is acting as if it has already happened; what would you do if the mountain in your life was cast into the sea?"
My answer? If my mountain was cast into the sea I would be praising You of course!
Aaah!
That is the key then...living in Mark 11: 23 is praising our God for the great and magnificent provision provided in full 2000 years ago at the cross when Jesus finished the work to RESTORE us, where He became our Provision, our Healer, our Meeting Place, our Bread, our Righteousness, our Life, our Way, our Truth, our Hope, our EVERYTHING...even before we actually see it in the temporal.
We live in the eternal with our minds set 'on the things above, not on things that are on earth' (Colossians 3: 2) for 'we look not at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal' (2 Corinthians 4: 18).

Living in belief in the breakthrough of God is praising Him even when the temporal doesn't support it.

So, what is my response? For me I say, we at WTL say...

WE GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD. 
HALLELUJAH!
HIS LOVE, MERCY AND GRACE ENDURE FOREVER AND EVER; FOR ME, FOR MY FAMILY AND FOR WTL.
AMEN.

Be blessed today. 

Thank you for reading. 

These are just my thoughts which I write because I like to; I do pray that you might also be blessed by them.