Seven times a day do I praise Thee.
David, the model of praise
David was a model of praise--
I. For temporal blessings. We do not praise God, as much as we ought, for our temporal blessings.
II. For spiritual blessings. This is what he means in one place, when he says that God’s statutes “are more to be desired than gold,” etc. (Psalms 19:10). This is what he means again, when he says, “Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life,” etc.
III. Of growing praise. When he had learned to praise God for His mercies, he went on praising Him more and more. When he first began to praise God, he only speaks of doing it once a day (Psalms 59:16). Then it seemed as if he thought that once a day was not often enough to praise God; and so (Psalms 141:2). Then he speaks of (Psa 57:17). That was three times a day. And then, here, in the text, he says: “Seven times a day will I praise Thee.” This shows how the spirit of praise was growing in David.
IV. Of universal praise. He says in one place, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth” (Psalms 25:10). He meant to say that whatever God does to His people He does in mercy and in love, and therefore we ought to praise Him for it. And so we see that David had learned to thank God for everything; and in this way he became the model of universal praise (Psalms 119:39; Psalms 119:62; Psalms 119:71; Psalms 34:19). He had learned to thank and praise God for everything that He did for him. And we should try to follow the model that David has set us in this respect. (R. Newton, D. D.)