PSALM 34

Ps 34:1 ¶ <<A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. (1 Samuel 21:10-15)>>

• This was the worst place to which he could have gone: it was the very city of Goliath, whom he had slain, and whose sword he now wore; and he soon found, from the conversation of the servants of Achish, that his life was in the most imminent danger in this place.

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

• David, the man after God’s own heart wrote many of his Psalms during times in his life to record how God rescued him from his enemies and troubles. In light of God’s faithfulness towards him, David purposed to praise His God continually.
• At all times. At this point in time in his life, David is living from cave to cave, being hunted down by the king of Israel. He writes this Psalm when he is in Gath and the entire city is suspicious of him.
• How much more should you and I praise The Lord in light of the fact that we have been delivered not only temporarily but eternally from the power of darkness through Jesus Christ.
• After Jesus ascended up into heaven, the Bible tells us Lu 24:53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
• Spurgeon once wrote: he who praises God for blessings will always have blessings for which to praise God.

2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

• Ps 44:8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
• Have we not cause to boast in the Lord?  Let us not rob him of glory. Spurgeon. 1Co 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

• Ps 69:30 ¶ I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
• The Blessed Mary declared, Lu 1:46 My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit does rejoice in God my Savior.
• Ps 99:5 Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.
• Heaven will be a place of rejoicing ad praise. Rev 19:6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

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

• When David heard what the servants of Achish said concerning him, he laid up the words in his heart, and was greatly afraid. 1Sa 21:13. But The Lord heard his cry and delivered him from his fears.
• This shall be our experience as well if we diligently seek The Lord.

5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

• Looking unto God, we are enlightened. The Hebrew word could be translated radiant. You remember when Moses came down from the mountain, his face was radiant. His face was glowing.

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

• David tells us in this Psalm that The Lord saved him out of all his troubles (see vs.17) and fears (see vs 4).
• 2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
• 1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
• The answer for fear and trouble is the love of God. When we know and believe how much God loves us, our fears and troubles diminish.

7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

• The word angel literally means messenger and many times in the Old Testament, the phrase, the angel of the Lord, is a phase that is used of the theophanies of Jesus Christ, which are pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.
• Ex 23:20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Here, we read that the Angel of The Lord encamps, or dwells around those who fear Him.
• In Hebrews chapter one, in speaking of the angels, it said, “Are they not all ministering or serving spirits, who have been sent forth to minister or to serve those who are heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14)? Remember, that in the rebellion of Lucifer, only 1/3^rd of the angels defected....2/3rds are assigned to minister unto The Lord and His people at His command.

8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

• David here is saying that we must experience The Lord for ourselves. The goodness of God is a reality that can be seen and tasted.
• Blessed is the man that trusts in Him. The word blessed means to be happy. What does it mean to trust The Lord? Trust is an assured reliance on the character, ability, strength and promises of God.  To know The Lord and trust Him is the blessed life.
• Ps 84:12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
• Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

Who else is blessed, according to Scripture?

• Psa 32.1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

• The word fear is to have that proper respect for, the reverential awe of. Stand in a reverential awe of God. One of the almost forgotten treasures of the modern Christian life is taking time to meditate upon The Lord. How we need to take the time to watch the sun rise....look up at the stars and see the vastness of the universe...saints, you and I are living in very hard times....perilous times....more than ever do we need to be close to The Lord and meditate on His greatness.

·      Jesus said, “If you will just seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all the other things will be added” (Matthew 6:33). They’ll be taken care of. Get your priorities right. Really just begin to seek the Lord, fear the Lord. “There is no want to those that fear Him.” God will take care of you if you’ll take care of your relationship with Him, God will take care of you. Ps 23:1 ¶ <<A Psalm of David.>> The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

·      He who truly fears God loves him; and he who loves God obeys him, and to him who fears, loves, and obeys God, there can be no want of things essential to his happiness.

10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

• Others that are wiser than I may want. Others that are stronger than I, like a lion, may want. But because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want any good thing. I love that.
• Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

11 ¶ Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

• The book of Proverbs is a book that tells us how to fear The Lord practically. We read in chapter 1 that there were individuals that hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD (Prov 1.29).
• Some people sit on their Bibles and commentaries and wait for God to blast them with the fear of Him. But the Scriptures paint quite a different kind of a picture. The fear of The Lord is not some passive kind of a life…it is a deliberate choice that must be made daily.
• Pr 2:1 ¶ My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
• Pr 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
• Pr 16.6 by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
• The fear of The Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, it is also the conclusion of the matter. Eccl 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?

• I believe that everybody here tonight would say that they desire a long life and good things. What is the secret to this kind of a life? Listen....

13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

• James has quite a bit to say about our tongue. It’s not a very big part of my body but, oh my, it can sure get me in a lot of trouble. Small as it is, it can really get me in a heap big trouble. Behold the tongue, it can stir up the fires of hell. It can be used as an instrument to destroy. James said, “If any man among you seem to be really religious if he doesn’t bridle his own tongue, that man’s religion is vain” (James 1:26).
• Guile is deceit....it is cunningly crafting your words with the intention of deceiving people.  So one key to a good life comes by yielding our mouth to The Holy Spirit.

o   Ps 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

• The Scripture tells us that we are to abstain from all appearance of evil, which is even taking avoiding evil itself a step farther. So, a second element of a blessed life comes as we get our life in harmony with the will of God by fleeing from evil, doing good, seeking peace and pursuing it.   “God has told thee, O man, what is good; and what God requires of you, that you do justly, and you love mercy, and you walk humbly with the Lord your God” (Micah 6:8).

15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

·      God is watching over you. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.” “The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect with His or in harmony with His.”

·      Ge 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

• God is listening to you, His ears are open unto our cries. Verses 12-15 are quoted by Peter in 1 Peter 3.10-12.

16 The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

• Whenever a person rebels in their heart against what The Lord says is right, that is evil. The face of The Lord is against them that do evil. It was written about Sodom and Gomorrah, Ge 19:13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD.

17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

• Through faith in The Lord Jesus Christ we are righteous. Because of the imputed righteousness that we have in Christ, we have access to The Father. Beloved, The Lord hears our prayers.
• Ps 62:8 ¶ Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

·      In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” That’s a contrite spirit. The Lord saves those that are of a contrite spirit. And then, Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:3,4).

·      The Lord is near to those of a broken heart. Is your heart broken today because of poor decisions that have been made that you have repented of? Maybe your heart is broken over the loss of a loved one....a broken relationship. As you sincerely turn to the Lord, as you just pour out your heart to Him, with your grief, your sorrows, your pain, the Lord is near to you.

• When is the time that we are most likely to wonder where The Lord is? When our heart is broken. But here, David says that’s exactly when He is the nearest.
  
  

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

• John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
• It is worth mentioning that many are the afflictions of the wicked as well. Both the believer and unbeliever has problems, but there is one huge difference. It is only the believer that has access to the Problem Solver, The Lord Jesus Christ.
• Beloved, please remember that you will never need to experience a trial or disappointment alone. Jesus is there with you. His promise is that He will never leave you not forsake you.

20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

·      Verse 20 is a prophecy concerning Jesus Christ when He was crucified, that they would not break any of His bones.

·      If you go back and read the study of the sacrifices, the lamb that was to be sacrificed could not have a broken bone (Exodus 12:46). One of the requirements of the sacrificial lamb is that it could not have any broken bones. And thus for Jesus to fulfill that type, He could not have a broken bone. The sacrifice had to be perfect and Jesus was perfect.

o   John 19:36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.

21 Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.

• Every sin has a destructive element in it. Sin, which is evil, destroys. It destroys relationships. It destroys your body. It destroys your mind. It destroys your sense of values. It destroys nations, ministries. The gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s invitation to be set free from a life of sin and destruction.

22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

• As we have already learned, The Lord not only redeems His servants from trouble and affliction, He also delivers us from the power of sin as well. Nobody that truly trusts in Him will be desolate, forsaken or left alone.  
• The righteous are delivered and will never be desolate. The wicked are will suffer for all eternity and will be desolate. The choice is yours.

I think that we could capsulate this all that this Psalm is saying by turning to the final verses of Romans chapter 8 tonight. 

Romans 8:31-39 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Did you note that Christ’s intercession for us does not stop the hardships of life that are mentioned in verses 35 and 36? Christians die…..but nothing in the universe can or will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, beloved, nothing!
• Why? Because as Jude writes we are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called (Jude 1).

So let me end our study tonight with an exhortation and a promise….First the exhortation:

• Jude 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Now the promise from The Father:

• Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.