Psalm 34

Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

This psalm was written following a harrowing experience when David was caught between a rock and a hard place. Pursued by Saul, he sought refuge in the last place on earth that Saul would follow him -- into the Philistine city of Gath and into the hands of the Philistine king Abimelech. This really wasn’t a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. David was between two enemies. Saul had already chucked a spear at David’s head and the Philistines had nothing but revenge in mind for David after he had killed their champion Goliath and according to the song that maidens sang, “David had killed his tens of thousands [of Philistines]” While that was no doubt exaggeration, the Philistines must have looked on this as an opportunity avenge the deaths of their fathers and brothers. So David pretends to be insane, the warrior-poet now adds acting to his resume. Abimelech likely determines that their gods have cursed David. Better to have David walk with earth in disgrace and shame than to simply kill him outright. Presumably David stays in the city for some time enduring their ridicule until it was safe to leave and resume the cat and mouse game with Saul. Following this near death experience where David practically walked right into death and came out the other side, he writes this acrostic psalm of praise beginning with this categorical statement: I will bless the LORD at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Many people might be tempted to curse God after going through something like David did. Afterall, he is the anointed king of Israel, the slayer of Goliath, and yet he has to endure this abuse at the hands of his enemies, not knowing if his throat would be slit at any moment by a vengeance-seeking Philistine. In his joy, he doesn’t blame God for his predicament, he praises Him for his presence. This is the perspective that we need to have when facing every day, whether it holds good or ill -- a commitment to bless the LORD at all times, to continually speak His praise. Does worship fall off my tongue throughout the day? Do thoughts of praise fill my mind continually? We have so many thoughts each day and a lot of them have to be about the stuff of life, but this continual connection to the LORD should also be present. David’s declaration here is an echo of Job’s statement of faith following utter personal catastrophe: “The LORD gives and the LORD takes away; May the name of the LORD be praised.” May I be such a man of faith and worship. 

2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!

David’s song moves from the individual to the communal as he invites others to listen in and then to join him. From the deepest part of him, he brags about the LORD. He is not ashamed to tell of what He has done, and when the humble hear it, they are glad. The humble are those who recognize their place in relationship to God, namely, that they are not Him. They are happy to brag on God as well. David invites them to make much of the LORD together with him, lifting high his name. David brags on God because the LORD has just done an amazing thing, delivering him from his enemies in a seemingly miraculous way. He was looking straight at death, and now David is dancing a happy song. He wants others to share in his joy and make much of God with him. These verses are a summons to those who have been rescued by God and understand their lowly position in relation to Him to engage in an unbridled profusion of praise. I have no trouble bragging on others -- my children, my wife, my colleagues, and if I must admit it, yes, I brag on myself in my own ways. I want to be noticed for what I do. But am I regularly observed bragging on God? Not nearly enough. Am I the one who is constantly giving credit to God or do I just occasionally acknowledge him as if he were a silent business partner? Do I magnify Him with my life and my words? Does His presence and influence grow larger day by day  in my life and others around me?  The words of Mary’s prayer come to mind, “My soul magnifies the LORD, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name (Luke 1:47-49). This prayer highlights the wisdom of God which says humble yourself in his sight, and he will lift you up. Recognize the greatness of God, draw attention to it, and you will find yourself blessed in the process. 

4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

David’s personal testimony is simple: “I sought the LORD and he answered. He delivered me from all my fears.”  To seek the LORD certainly implies prayer, a conversation that includes making requests (since the LORD answered him). The result of seeking God is a fearlessness that is rooted in God’s faithfulness. Similar to seeking the LORD is “looking to him”. Again this metaphor for prayer implies trust and a receiving of his blessings, resulting in a glowing face. We have a very literal example of this with Moses whose face reflected the glory of God. According to Paul, the same is true of us who behold the glory of God in Christ with unveiled faces (2 Corinthians 3:18). The reflected glory of God is on the faces of those who place their trust in Him. David had a lot to be afraid of at this point in his life. Many people wanted him dead and/or shamed into irrelevance. Nothing in my love comes close to this experience so why should I be afraid. Make a list of all the things you fear: financial and job security, the health and safety of my family, my children’s future in the both the near and long term, the global economy, a rotting culture, tornadoes, an aging body with greater limitations. None of these rise to the level of fear that David felt every night as he went to sleep. Would he be awakened with a sword at his throat? What would happen to his wife and children? Would they be killed as well? So first, have some perspective on your fears. They are not as bad as you think. It’s all very relative to your context and expectionats. Second, place your trust in the LORD. The one who knows each sparrow that falls is watching over you as well. He won’t allow anything that you cannot handle. Third, don’t worry about tomorrow for it will worry about itself. Learn from Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34 and consider the flowers of the field and the birds of the air. The LORD provides for them and He will for you as well. Deliver me from all my fears that my face may be radiant with hope.  

6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

David’s understanding of his condition is significant. He identifies himself as “this poor man”, and in verse 2 he referenced “the humble”, implying that he is among their number. Even though David may have been literally poor in this moment of his life (on the run from Saul, hiding in a Philistine city), he is speaking here of a state of mind. The poor man has nothing of his own that he can rely on. He places his full trust in God as he prays for God’s salvation from his troubles. Rather than fearing all the things that might happen to him, the poor man fears God, and understands that the angel of the LORD encamps around him and delivers him. I’ve been afraid while camping, awakened by sounds in the night: A bear? A serial killer with a chainsaw? A tornado? These have all crossed my mind in the darkness, vulnerable and weaponless. How good to know that there is another campsite adjacent to mine where the angel of the LORD has pitched his tent, and he never sleeps. He is awake, watching out for my safety. David laid his head down every night with the very real possibility that he would be awakened by an enemy in his camp. How do you go to sleep in circumstances like that? You envision the spiritual reality of the situation, and it is this. The LORD has angels, ministering spirits that are sent to serve those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14). If you believe in the LORD, you must also believe his word, and you must accept the fact that there are spiritual realities which you cannot discern with your senses, but they are real nonetheless. This text invites us to see the world as it is, not merely as our eyes suggest. No one wants to mess with the angel of the LORD. Whenever this angel is found in scripture, evidence of God’s power is there as well - the plagues in Egypt, overwhelming assistance in battle, and in a very specific case with Elisha, the temporary blinding of one’s enemies. This verse reminds us of the spiritual warfare that we’re engaged in every day, an unseen but very real world that prayer gives us the opportunity to access. There is no reason to fear, no reason to worry or be anxious. God’s angels are camping out next to you and nothing will happen that He will not give you grace to handle. 

8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

This psalm mentions several of the senses (seeing, listening), and this verse contains perhaps the most unique of them all when it pertains to our experience with God -- the sense of taste. “Taste and see that the LORD is good”. At its fundamental level, taste is a survival mechanism, keeping us from eating things that might kill us. Poisonous plants, spoiled meat or milk -- these may be detected by taste (and smell). Certainly this is how it functions on a pure animal level. Try the LORD. He won’t kill you. But at the human experience  level, taste is associated with pleasure. Most of us eat three meals a day with some snacks in between, and while we do this in part to stop the growling in our stomachs and the slight pains of hunger, we primarily do it for pleasure. We prefer things that taste good -- sweet, salty, savory, rich -- there are any number of terms that describe this pleasurable sensation. There are entire industries that produce, package, and distribute tasty food. The restaurant industry depends on the desire of humans to taste food and continually come back for more. The average person spends hours of time every week procuring, preparing and experiencing food not just to meet the nutritional needs of our bodies, but because doing so brings us pleasure. What a rich metaphor for our experience with God. Take those same adjectives that you might apply to food and consider them in relationship to God -- rich, savory, sweet, satisfying, addictive. He is all of those. In evangelical circles is common to speak of a “personal relationship” with the LORD. This phrase is never found in scripture, but certainly the experience is there. Experiencing the LORD in the way that one might experience food is certainly very intimate and personal. Ingesting Him, chewing Him, and deriving pleasure from the experience -- these all feel a bit irreverent but they are implied in the metaphor. Ezekiel was told to “eat this book” (Ez 3:1) and the metaphor of chewing may be applied to meditation, delighting in the law of the LORD (Psalm 1:2). As you eat your three meals today, consider the fulfillment and pleasure that come from living in relationship with God -- the one is even more accessible to us today than in David’s day. The one who came to us in Jesus and now lives in us as the Holy Spirit. Experience his goodness, take refuge in him. Chew on his promises, savor his presence, have your desires satisfied with good things. 

9 Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

There is one fear that we should never be delivered from: the fear of God. Those who reverence God, set him apart as the one true God in their lives will never want for anything. Even apex predators like lions, strong and agile hunters will go hungry before those who put their trust in the LORD. Categorical promises like these are easy to believe when all is well and your stomach is full, but I have to believe that throughout history and even in the present day, there are believers who are hungry and who are experiencing deprivation of life’s essentials. David writes out of his experience of having nothing, running from Saul with nothing but the clothes on his back, and perhaps even stripping them off in his feign of insanity. With absolutely nothing in his possession he throws himself at the mercy of his enemies and wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles - he survives! You can’t blame him for saying, “this poor man had nothing, and God took care of all my needs”. His number one need was survival, and this is what he received. This is not a health and wealth promise that you’ll have everything you want, it’s a promise for the hard times, when you have nothing but the clothes on your back and still every day you’re able to find something to eat. They say this pandemic will lead to greater world hunger, and that will no doubt include believing populations, praying for their daily bread. May those of us who have bread share it freely with our brothers and sisters throughout the world, that God would use his people to answer the prayer of the hungry poor. And for goodness sake, stop worrying about your own financial security. It really is a matter of perspective. 

11 Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

12 What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?

13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

The “fear of the LORD” is a major theme in this psalm. Here it is something to be taught and therefore chosen. David puts on the hat of a teacher or a parent and addresses us as children. “Come listen to me and I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” If you want to have a long and good life, this is the key framed in things not to do and things that you must do. First , guard your words and your actions when it comes to evil. Resist the temptation to deceive, to be anything other than honest. There is polite deceit of course, “the meatloaf was delicious” and there is the outright fraud of pretending something is true when it is clearly not and doing so in a way that you are not technically lying. There is truly an art to this and some master it quite well and find themselves on an island. Relating to the speaking of evil is the doing of evil or participating in any aspect of it. Perhaps watching evil, enjoying it, remaining uncritical of evil is just as bad as participating in it. (I’m thinking of the moral evil of pornography here, or its slightly less odorous but still insidious forms on television). There are cultural and moral lies that we go along with, and the psalmist says if you want to live a good life, these must be resisted; turn away from them. In the positive direction, do good, seek peace; chase after them both. If you want to live a long, peaceful, good life then be a good, peace-loving person. It’s not rocket science. It is the law of the harvest: you reap what you sow. Healthy things grow, unhealthy things die. Feeding on a diet of deceit and evil is unhealthy personally and societally. The God-worshiper is called to be countercultural. The way of wisdom is to do good and seek to be at peace with all. These verses are quoted by Peter in 1 Peter 3 in the context of suffering for doing good. The early church was countercultural and this was her strength. It will be ours today as well. The simple daily acts of guarding your tongue, doing good and seeking peace with others can change the world. 

15 The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.

16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

This psalm is rich in the use of body parts, and here they are found in the portrayal of the LORD in human terms (anthropomorphism). His eyes are toward the righteous (He is always watching them). His ears are toward their cry (He’s always listening to them, particularly when they are crying and praying). His face is against those who do evil. This face of resistance stands in antithesis to his posture toward the righteous. To set one’s face against someone is to express determination that they will fail, to oppose them at every turn, frustrating their plans. The result is that they will be forgotten by history. When a good person dies, their memory is cherished, and their stories are told by the generations that follow. When a truly evil person dies, everyone just says “good riddance.” These two verses are set in contrast in typical wisdom literature style, illuminating the truth through the use of contrast. Which type of person do you desire to be -- one that has the full focus and assistance of the LORD or one that experiences the full resistance of the LORD in every way? The choice is meant to be obvious and it is. The good life is found in doing what is right. You’ll be supported by the LORD in this way. It’s not a promise of ease, but it is one of blessing. The skeptic might ask, “if the LORD is against those who do evil, why do the evil seem to be doing so well in this world?” Is God really against them (is he truly good) or is he really powerful enough to do anything about evil (is he truly sovereign)? The answer is simply, I do not know the mind of the LORD. If I understood God, he would not be God. And while evil and evil people may appear to prosper for a time, there will be a reckoning. And the reward of doing what is right is intrinsic. It is a self-contained blessing, the goodness of being in a right relationship with one’s creator. 

17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

The previous verses promised that the LORD would be watching and listening attentively to the cry of the righteous, and this verse expresses the result of that action. He hears and delivers them out of all of their troubles. Furthermore, he is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. These verses make it clear that even though the righteous person has a favored relationship with God, they are not immune from pain. They cry for help, they have multiple troubles (“all their troubles”), they are brokenhearted and crushed in spirit. That doesn’t sound like the life of uninterrupted health and wealth that the prosperity gospel sells. David is writing this psalm following a near-death experience so we can’t think that good people will never experience pain. In fact, the following verse, David says that “many are the afflictions of the righteous.” This is the genius of the Christian faith, not that God places us in a protective bubble like The Truman Show where everything is controlled and ideal. No, we suffer right along with the rest of the world. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. We all experience God’s common grace as well as the brokenness that arises out of humanity’s free will. The good news here is that God is near and he saves us out of our trouble. Verse 20 will hint at how God does this through Jesus, but suffice to say that no other religion offers the promise that God himself enters into our suffering and pain and bears it with us. Every time the psalmist cries in pain, God feels it; I mean really feels it. Jesus died of a broken heart, literally. His body was literally crushed by the blows of the lash and the piercing of the nails. Yes, never doubt that God is near to the broken hearted. Never doubt that He hears you crying. There is no one that can comfort like our suffering savior. The gods of this world stand aloof and oblivious to our pain. Money, sex, power -- these gods couldn’t care less and offer us no true comfort in our grief. Jesus wept with his friends Mary and Martha at the death of their brother Lazarus, knowing that he would raise him in a matter of minutes. God weeps with us when we grieve, knowing that he will raise the dead sooner than we think.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

Verse 19 reminds us that the good life is not one that is trouble free. In fact, “many are the afflictions of the righteous.” Good people will suffer any number of afflictions, some of them because they are good. There are injustices in this world and sometimes good people suffer disproportionately because of the moral choices that they make. Taking a stand for what is right may cost you something dearly while taking the easy path of compromise will pretend to reward you in the short term. The promise is that the LORD will deliver the good person out of them all. He doesn’t deliver us from affliction immediately, he delivers us through affliction because he is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who have had their spirits crushed. The metaphor of breaking bones suggests that God will preserve our innermost being. I’m sure good people have had broken bones (I’ve had two), so this is not meant to be taken literally. Elsewhere in the psalms, the “bones” of a person refer to their innermost being, the deepest part of their body. The psalmist is suggesting that even though he is afflicted, who he is will not be broken. He may be brokenhearted and crushed in spirit, but the deepest part of him will not be shattered. The fact that the gospel writer John draws on this verse as a point of prophecy fulfilled by Jesus on the cross is significant. Surely Jesus was afflicted, brokenhearted and crushed in spirit, but none of his bones were broken on the cross. This was literally true in his case as his body was dead before it became necessary to hasten his death through the breaking of his legs as was customary. The crushing of spirit and breaking of heart that good people experience in this life is in fact part of life. The good news here is that it is not the full story. No bones will be broken. God will not allow you to be tested beyond that which you can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). And we know that he is with us heart and soul in the midst of our trials because Jesus has suffered with us already.

21 Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Again, the psalmist states two contrasting truths: 1) the wicked will be defeated by afflictions and those who actively oppose the righteous will be condemned and 2) the LORD redeems the life of his servants and those who refuge in him will not be condemned. This statement of truth underscores the reality of justice, a constant thread throughout the Psalms. According to verse 19 (and basic observations of life), good people will experience suffering, but the LORD will deliver them through those same sufferings. He will redeem those sufferings for our good and his glory. But in verse 21 tells us that affliction will be the end of the wicked. There is no redemption of suffering for them, no good that comes out of it -- it ultimately destroys them. They have no hope, no future, and the promise that they will be condemned who hate the righteous. That’s pretty bleak. I think of the many people who have rejected faith in God and have made themselves the lord of their own lives. When they face affliction there is no real comfort. Perhaps there are psychological tricks they can play on themselves, but at the end of the day, if there is no God, and no purpose or meaning to life, there is nothing left but despair. If they feel any love, regret, or guilt it is merely leftovers of some evolutionary survival technique and there is no ultimate truth to anything. It is in moments of affliction that we realize how bankrupt or rich our worldview actually is. The opposite is true of the servants of the LORD. They are redeemed, repurchased, bought back and set free by their new owner. And if they put their trust in the LORD, they will not be condemned. The word “condemned” is meant to be in contrast with the state of the wicked in the previous verse, but in the New Testament context the meaning is richer still. Romans 8:1 tells us that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This refers to both the present and the future. There is redemption and justification offered freely through Jesus who was condemned for our sake. There is also meaning and purpose to affliction. It doesn’t have to end in despair.