MERCY and GRATITUDE

Two themes that dominate David's Psalms:
Mercy and Gratitude.
But the two are directly connected to one another.
David speaks continually about the mercy of God, and GRATITUDE is his RESPONSE!
Grateful people tend to talk about what it is for which they are grateful.
David is grateful for the mercy of God! Therefore, the idea of mercy dominated his thinking and, consequently, his songs and prayers.

A quick count of the word "mercy" from the Strong's concordance will show that the word is used roughly 43 times total in the scriptures pre-David. But once David arrives on the scene it is used more than 100 times in the Davidic segments of scripture (1Sam, 2Sam, 1Chronicles, 2chronicles, 1 kings, psalms). And the majority of the time it is spoken directly from David's mouth. AMAZING! There really wasn't much talk about the mercy of God before David. And his talk of mercy is no cliche. He rejoices in it, he relies upon it, and he declares it even when he feels that the whole world is caving in upon him. The mercy of God makes him sing, shout, and create new metaphors.