Talk:Psalm 34
Seek the Lord
Seeking the Context
I do not know about you,
but I have done some really foolish things
trying to get myself out a mess usually of my own making.
Instead of backing up,
repenting and seeking God's help,
I plow forward in disobedience in my efforts to get out of the mess.
This is the condition I think David was in
when he wrote Psalm 34.
According to the title description,
David wrote Psalm 34 shortly after the events of 1 Samuel 21.10-15
While David was fleeing from King Saul,
he went to the Philistine city of Gath ruled by King Achish
(Abimelech was his royai title).
The servants of King Achish discovered who David was
and that he was an archenemy of the Philistines.
David, fearful that King Achish might kll him,
pretended to be a madman in hopes that the king would send him away.
The plan worked, and David fled the city.
This was obviously not David's finest hour.
Why would David depend upon his ability to deceive
instead of depending on God who had protected him all along?
When we are faithless,
we can always depend on God's faithfulness
God often lets us wallow around in our disobedience and unfaithfulness,
and then when we have had enough and turn to God,
He is always there to deliver us.
- 22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed,
- because his compassions fail not.
- 23 They are new every morning:
- great is thy faithfulness.
What we have in Psalm 34 is David's confession
after repenting of his embarrassing and faithless behavior at Gath.
What then was attributed to David's cunningness
is here attributed to God's deliverance.
David gave thanks to the Lord for saving him from his own mistakes and his enemies.
Let us follow along with David and express our thanks to the Lord for being faithful to us.
How has the Lord been faithful to you?
1. Bless the Lord
Searching the Text
A Psalm of David,
when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech;
who drove him away, and he departed.
- 1 I will bless the LORD at all times:
- his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
- 2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD:
- the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
- 3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
I understand what it means for the Lord to bless me
but what does it mean for me to bless the Lord?
When God blesses me
He shows me favor
makes me prosper
makes my life better
and answers my prayers.
I can do none of that for the Lord
but the Bible often speaks of people blessing the Lord
and we are commanded to bless the Lord 1 Chronicles 29.20
So what does it mean to bless the Lord?
The primary meaning of the word is to kneel
and comes from the important activity among Jews of pronouncing a blessing.
See Genesis 48 Genesis 49
The father would kneel and express a prayer of benefit and blessing
for his children or the high priest for the people Numbers 6.22-27)
It was a desire to convey the best for and about the one being blessed.
This is where we can understand how to bless the Lord.
To bless the Lord is to convey the best for and about Him.
Yes, it means to praise, but it means to give Him the best praise.
David said that he would bless the Lord at all times and praise Him continually.
While it might be easy to praise the Lord on Sundays,
how well do we do when we return to work on Mondays?
While we might praise the Lord when life is good,
what do we say about Him when things are really bad?
Can we be like Job who after losing almost everything said,
- "Naked came l out of my mother's womb,
- and naked shall l return thither:
- the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away:;
- blessed be the name of the LORD" Job 1.21?
Do we give the Lord our best praise when we suffer our worst losses?
David found his boast only in the Lord,
and the humble were glad to hear it Psalm 34.2
See the word play here.
To boast is the opposite of being humble.
But the humble always boasts in the Lord and not in self.
The humble will be quick to brag on Jesus and never on self.
The apostle Paul was very clear by twice referring to Jeremiah 9.24 and saying,
- "He that glorieth,
- let him glory in the Lord" 1 Corinthians 1.31; 2 Corinthians 10.17
People who aspire to do great things for the Lord
will be humble and give all the credit for any accomplishment to the Lord.
Moses was a very meek and humble man,
the most humble of his time Numbers 12.3
and yet no man ever did more for the Lord.
Even King Saul was a humble man at first,
but his downfall came when he became arrogant in his own ideas 1 Samuel 15.17-19
Of course, the epitome of humility is Jesus who "humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross" Philippians 2.8
The Lord completely gave up any thoughts of self-preservation or self-promotion
and gave Himself completely away to obey His Father and save you and me.
David invited all to join him in magnifying the Lord and exalting His name Psalm 34.3
The meaning is as it sounds-to enlarge and lift up.
There is no way for us to enlarge the Lord,
but we can enlarge our understanding of the Lord.
We can also enlarge other people's understanding of the Lord
by telling them about Him.
As our understanding of the Lord grows,
we will lift Him up in praise.
How would you explain to someone how to bless the Lord?
2. Seek the Lord
- 4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
- 5 They looked unto him, and were lightened:
- and their faces were not ashamed.
- 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
- 7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
- 8 O taste and see that the LORD is good:
- blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
After David spent time praising the Lord,
he then explained how he sought the Lord.
David was no stranger to trouble,
and the time David wrote this psalm
was the worst he had faced up to this point in his life.
Sometimes we gloss over the humanity of the Bible,
but David was literally running for his life.
If King Saul had caught David, he would have killed him.
Then David ran right into more trouble.
He feared that King Achish of Gath would kill himn.
So David sought the Lord, and the Lord delivered him.
I really do not understand how it would feel to run for my life,
but I know of a missionary who ran for his life
with his would-be murderers within sight.
l asked him about his fears and how he dealt with them.
He explained that the Lord gave him what he needed to remain calm
and not be overcome by fear.
I thought of him when I read verse 4.
The Lord delivered him from his fears.
David also promised us that if we look to God for help,
we will be lightened or will shine with radiant joy (verse 5).
We will not be ashamed as if the Lord would ignore our plea-
but the Lord will also deliver us.
David said the Lord saved the poor man or oppressed man out of his troubles (verse 6)
Indeed,
David was a poor man during this time
because he had just previously begged for bread from Ahimelech the priest at Nod
God gave him bread then. and He delivered him from his trouble at Gath.
"The angel of the LORD" Psalm 34.7
is a special expression of the Old Testament.
More often than not, it indicates the Lord Himself
and is often understood to be a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.
When Hagar was Visited by the angel of the Lord,
she later called him "LORD,"
the proper name for God in the Old Testament Genesis 16.7-13
When Samson's parents were visited by the same angel,
Samson's father, Manoah, said to his wife,
- "We shall surely die, because we have seen God" Judges 13.22
What a wonderful truth it is to know
that the Lord Himself surrounds us with his protection,
We have the promise that Jesus is always with us
and will never leave us nor forsake us Matthew 28.20; Hebrews 13.5
The beauty of Psalm 34.8 is often captured in decorative art,
but the true beauty of this verse is its meaning.
We are told to taste or personally experience
what it means to trust the Lord.
It is not enough to give lip service to trusting the Lord.
Often, God must put us through trials that test our trust.
If we have never been to a place where we had no other recourse
but to trust the Lord to protect us,
then we will never really experience just how good God {is}.
Often, we find our greatest blessings when we trust the Lord
to deliver us from the worst of trials.
This is where David was and how he learned just how good God {is}
and just hovw much he could trust Him.
Can you describe a time when you experienced the goodness of God
when He delivered you from your troubles?
Psalm 34.9-10
- 9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints:
- for there is no want to them that fear him.
- 10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
- but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
David commanded us as saints or believers to fear the Lord,
and this is commanded of us many times in the Bible 1 Samuel 12.24; Proverbs 3.7
The quality of fearing the Lord seems all too lost today,
and many Christians do not take God seriously.
Fearing the Lord means to have a respectful reverence for Him.
It is to recognize who He is,
that He is much higher than we are,
and that He has complete authority over us.
Not that we should be terrified of God,
so much so that we avoid His presence,
but we also should not take a flippant attitude toward our relationship with Him.
Today, we talk about having a "healthy fear"
such as taking necessary precautions to avoid injury or death.
It is out of fear of being burned that we wear oven mitts
when taking a dish out of the oven.
Fearing God is a healthy fear of avoiding things that God says will harm us.
We avoid the things God hates and pursue the things He loves.
- "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil:
- pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way,
- and the froward mouth, do I hate"
This is what David meant when he said that those who fear the Lord will have no want.
Psalm 34.11-14 is David's description of those who fear the Lord
by avoiding things that do not please God.
Our love for God and fear of Him go perfectly together.
Moses told the children of Israel that the Lord required them to fear Him
and walk in all His ways and to love Him and serve Him with all their heart and soul.
He ends this exhortation
by saying that doing so is for their good Deuteronomy 10.12-13)
I wish I could say that I always obey God because I love Him,
but often! obey God because I fear Him.
Those who have been raised by godly parents understand this clearly.
Growing up, I loved my parents because of their love for me.
But I also feared them and often obeyed them out of fear
because I knew they would not allow me to do things
displeasing to God and them.
Yes, God is love,
and we love Him because He first loved us 1 John 4.8, 16 19
But God is also a consuming fire,
and we are to serve Him acceptably with reverence and godly fear Hebrews 12.28-29
The lion is still considered the king of the animals and the best of hunters,
yet, even lions go hungry because their power and skill are not always enough
to provide them with a meal.
Hear the message:
our power and skill are not enough to provide for ourselves either.
David learned this lesson.
We are promised here and elsewhere
that those who seek the Lord { will never lack any good thing}.
Jesus promised that if we will seek first the kingdom of God,
then all our necessities will be met Matthew 6.31-33
What does it mean to fear the Lord?
Setting the Application
The message of Psalm 34 is that God will take care of us.
Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread" Matthew 6.11
as a reminder of from where our bread comes.
It is also to be a daily prayer because we are praying for "daily bread."
We would all do well to realize that we are at the mercy of God
and to remember that the Lord's mercies are new every morning Lamentations 3.22-23
We serve a God who wants to help us and provide for us,
and if we are honest, we know He does.
But how many of us refuse God's care?
Stubbornly, we think that we must make our own way,
butter our own bread and live by our own cunningness.
David thought so and pretended to be a madman to get out of trouble.
This was nothing but a strategic ruse.
And all the while, as David confessed here,
it was God who delivered him.
Many people have arrived at their wits' end
trying to survive the struggles of life alone.
But God has always been there waiting for us to seek Him.
Seek the Lord in your day of trouble and even in your triumph.
Find true happiness when you trust the Lord Proverbs 16.20
