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Psalm 34 is one of the nine acrostic Psalms in the Bible. That means each verse begins with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. More importantly though, Psalm 34 is about God’s great deliverances in David’s life. As we’ll see, David was fearful and God delivered him from all his fears. Every believer experiences God’s deliverances in various ways. God delivers us from sin, its penalty, power, eventually its presence. God delivers us from fear and anxiety, from doubt and uncertainty, from a wasted life, from a failed marriage, from false teaching. The greatest deliverance is from the wrath to come through His Son. God’s deliverances are loving, great, and powerful. God delivered Israel out of slavery in Egypt and then later from many enemies in the promised land. What has God delivered you from? David wrote this Psalm in the wake of a great deliverance from the Philistines and from King Saul.
THE SETTING FOR PSALM 34
David was in a heap of trouble. You see it in the Psalm’s title before verse 1. He had trouble even though he had done his best – including killing the giant, taking his sword, cutting off his head, and bringing it to King Saul. God performed a great deliverance that day from the hands of the Philistines. David began serving Saul with music and he so excelled on the battlefield that someone wrote a song that became a great hit and all the girls were dancing and singing it, “Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). Saul became extremely jealous and suspicious and dreaded David. To make matters worse, Saul’s own son Jonathan was David’s best friend. So Saul, like any middle eastern terrorist, was bent on killing David. He tried several times to pin him to the wall with his spear but David escaped each time.
At one point David fled to Philistine country but stopped to see the priest Ahimelech at Nob to get some bread and pick up Goliath’s sword. “There is none like it,” David said. He headed for Gath, about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem, the main Philistine city and hometown of Goliath. But that popular song had made its way to these Gathites and King Achish was warned about David. This scared David so he acted like a crazy man by scribbling on the gate doors and letting his saliva drool down on his beard. King Achish told his servants, “I’ve already got enough madmen around here. I don’t need another one!” So David and his men scrammed to the cave of Adullam, and then over to Moab. Now Saul took 3000 men and went looking for David in the wilderness. That’s when Saul went into a cave to relieve himself and guess what. David and his men were hiding out in that very cave. David sneaked up behind Saul and cut off a piece of his robe, then later held up the piece of robe for Saul to see and called out, “Look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Why are you hunting me like a dead dog or a single flea.”
This is the setting of Psalm 34. Like I said, David was in a heap of trouble with Saul hunting him. Samuel had anointed David as king back in 1 Samuel 16. But now he has to run for his life from this madman, Saul. He was scared. Plus, what did he do to deserve this treatment? Nothing! He had done only good to Saul. God could have easily taken Saul out but He didn’t. Didn’t David have every right to be angry with God? That’s what some counselors today say: “It’s okay to vent and be angry with God. He can take it.” Last week we said we never ever ever need to forgive God. Now we’ll add to that, it is never ever ever right to be angry with God. What does your expressing anger toward God say about God? It says God didn’t do what you thought He should, when He should, or how He should. There are a number of people in the Bible got angry at God – Cain, Jonah, even Job’s wife when she told Job, “Curse God and die.” That was the one thing Job didn’t need to hear from his wife! To be angry with God or blame Him for the trouble in your life is blasphemy. Such an attitude shows profound disrespect, contempt, and reproach for God.
Psalm 34 wonderfully gives us the proper response to all the trials and heaps of trouble you may have. Rather than being angry, David praised God and treasured God for His great and mighty deliverances. Verse 4, “You delivered me from all my fears.” Verse 6, “You saved me from all my troubles.” Verse 7, “You rescue Your people.” Then jump down to verse 17, “When we cry the Lord hears and delivers His people from all their troubles.” Verse 19, “The Lord delivers His people out of all their troubles. And verse 22, “the Lord redeems the soul of His servants who take refuge in Him.” When we are in trouble or face fears or afflictions, Psalm 34 beautifully draws us to look to the Lord to bring us through, like verse 5, “They looked to Him and were radiant.” Let’s follow David as he teaches us how to face our troubles.
YOU CAN’T PRAISE GOD ENOUGH FOR HIS MIGHTY DELIVERANCES
Psalm 34:1-3, I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. [2] My soul will make its boast in the LORD; The humble will hear it and rejoice. [3] O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.
Here is David’s heart. He struggled with his own sin but in his heart he loved God. David determines to speak well of God all the time. Not just occasionally or when everything is going well. When is his mouth full of praise to God? Continually! And there’s where we can be. There’s never a time not to praise our God. The Christian without praise and blessing flowing out of his mouth is like a bird that can’t fly or a fish that can’t swim. Take time to consider all the goodness and deliverances God has performed in your life and continual praise will be the norm. Whether in prosperity or adversity, safety or danger, God never deserves anything but continual praise! We just sang a beautiful hymn that can go with us.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
Oh my soul praise him for He is thy health and salvation.
Praise Him in glad adoration.
And you have Fanny Crosby’s “Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer!”
Then David speaks from his soul in verse 2, the very core of his being. Am I going to boast in myself? All those Philistines I killed? No! “My soul will boast in the Lord.” We too must remember that everything that has come into our lives is from the sovereign invisible hand of God for our good. Even the troubles and hard times are from His hand for His glory and our good. And who will hear it and be totally blessed? Not the arrogant but the humble who also give God all the glory. And with full confidence we come to the throne of grace where Christ is interceding for us and providing us all the mercy and grace we need to handle all the troubles He allows.
So David is giving God full-throttled praise. He could have complained and sometimes he did. He wasn’t perfect. But when we grumble and complain we are giving a no-confidence vote to God. Plus David invites others to praise and magnify his God with him. “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” Isn’t that beautiful? We can’t get too big a view of God. Make God and all His blessings, all His deliverances big, big, big! Exalt His name together! Lift His name, all His attributes, all His power and glory and holiness way up there! Like the Westminster Catechism description of God: “God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchanging in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” There is none greater.
It’s all about Him, not us. How often do we lift up the wrong person and make it about us. “That made me feel so good.” No, we want our lives to be like magnifying glasses, magnifying God as incredibly great and good and that’s why we treasure Him above all. Let us exalt His name together! I don’t know Petra’s theology, but I like their chorus, “We exalt Thee! We exalt Thee! We exalt Thee!” So much better than “I exalt Thee.” Together we can’t praise our God too much and we can’t exalt Him too highly for all His mighty deliverances in our lives!
GOD HEARS AND DELIVERS HIS PEOPLE FROM ALL THEIR TROUBLES
Psalm 34:4-7, I sought the LORD, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears. [5] They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be 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 encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.
We all have fears, troubles, and at times feel overwhelmed. The promotion didn’t work out, your child has a rare disease, “Uncle Art” is visiting your joints, your car died, again. Your basement is flooded, your wife just left you, a family member commit suicide, the stock market plummetted! Troubles on every side. “Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen” is an old spiritual. But God knows about those troubles, and He can deliver us from fears (vs. 4) and troubles (v. 6).
Many aren’t aware of the troubles James Cash Penney experienced. He began his stores in 1907 in Wyoming and experienced huge growth with 1400 stores by 1929. But when his wife died in 1910 he said, “My world crashed around me.” He married again but his second wife died seven years later. If that wasn’t enough, when the stock market crashed in 1929, he lost 40 million dollars and was penniless by 1932. J. C. Penny wound up as a patient in a sanitarium. Though he claimed Christ as his Savior, He had lost touch with his God. Then in his 50s, he struggled to regain his trust in God’s goodness. One morning he heard the kitchen staff singing a hymn, “Be not dismayed, what’er betide, God will take care of you.” That was exactly what J. C. Penny needed to hear. He drew near to God again and he started all over. “God will take care of you!” What a wonderful promise.
In this little nest of verses 4-7, David gives us correct thinking about God. When fears creep into your heart, it’s time to draw near to God. “I sought the Lord and He answered me.” Our God is right there next to you when you seek Him. He listens and answers and delivers you from all fears as you trust Him.
Psalm 56:3, “When I am afraid I will put my trust in You! In God whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid.”
That’s treasuring God for His loving, merciful deliverances.
Troubles are a time to seek God, not turn away or accuse Him. When the Israelites were facing the Red Sea and Egypt was breathing down their backs, they didn’t see God. All they saw was their trouble. And they whined to Moses big time. “Why didn’t you let us back there in Egypt?” They forgot all the slave drivers and the blisters. Later at Kadesh Barnea when the spies came back with the bad report that giants were in the promised land, only two men saw God in their trouble. All the others did nothing but whine! They were a generation of whiners. Don’t be like them.
Be like David when you face trouble and some mad man is breathing down your neck. Remember these truths about God and His sovereign love and care for His people. These come from Jay Adams’ booklet How to Handle Trouble. “God is in this trouble. God is up to something in this trouble. God is up to something good in this trouble. Get involved in what God is doing in this trouble. And expect good results.” We know God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called for His purpose. God says that so we know it is true. That Red Sea blew wide open for Israel. Forty years later those giant walls of Jericho fell down flat with just a shout. That Assyrian army of 185,000 men surrounding Jerusalem was struck dead in one night without a fight. An angel came and walked Peter right out of that prison. God brought an earthquake and broke Paul and Silas out of that jail up in Philippi. It doesn’t always go so swimmingly, but sometimes it does. What we do know is that God is with us in trouble and brings about good results.
Troubles are a time to seek and trust God. His ear is opened to our cries and He knows how to bring good out of suffering and afflictions. Cory and Betsy ten Boom were thankful for the lice in their beds that kept the Nazi guards away. Joni Eareckson Tada’s life-changing dive into the Chesapeake Bay opened a life-long ministry to handicapped people. Fanny Crosby, though blinded as an infant by a careless doctor, never bemoaned her blindness and wrote thousands of well-loved gospel hymns like “Pass Me Not Oh Gentile Savior.” God was in all of these troubles, and He is in your trouble today as well.
In verse 5 David assures us that when we look to our Lord through the troubles, trusting Him to deliver us, our faces will radiate the joy of our God. They won’t be cast down, dour and sour, but our faces will reflect something of God’s glory in our lives. And you can be sure when you look to God and focus on who He is, you will never be ashamed. You will never be sorry or disappointed. Nathan preached on 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in your weakness.” So Paul respond, “Most gladly will I boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” It’s in our weakness that God shows Himself strong!
Look at the fantastic promise in verse 7, “The angel of the Lord encamps around us.” What a picture of God’s security team assigned to His people. We’re all familiar with security services responsible to provide safety for presidents and important people. If you are a child of God, you’ve got 24-7 security camping around you and your security guards have power to destroy everything smaller than God. Hebrews 1:14 says angels are sent from heaven to render service. Spurgeon said, “We little know how many providential deliverances we owe to those unseen hands” sent by God to serve us.
You’ll remember God’s deliverance of Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6. The armies of Aram with chariots and horses had surrounded the city of Dothan. Elisha’s servant was sure they were goners. Elisha said, “Don’t fear! Those with us are greater than those with them.” Then he asked God to open his servant’s eyes. Sure enough, the mountain around the city was full of fiery horses and chariots. And we can say, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world!” (1 John 4:4).
INVITE OTHERS TO DISCOVER HOW GOOD YOUR GOD IS
Psalm 34:8-10, O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! [9] O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want. [10] The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.
This is David’s invitation to us to experience how good God is, how faithful He is, how He provides our needs, and how He delivers us from all kinds of evil. He says, “Taste and see.” You don’t know what a peach or plum tastes like until you bite into it. Did you ever bite into a rotten fruit? It wasn’t good and you spit it out. When you taste the Lord and see Him working in your life, it is only good. No one ever tasted of the Lord and found Him bitter, sour, rotten, or anything but good!
Tasting is very personal. We taste God by faith. He is satisfying to our soul. His Word, His truth, His character are all good. All that He is is good, infinitely, eternally, immutably good. His goodness will totally satisfy our souls for ten million, million eternities. Thomas Watson said, “God is the summum bonum, the chief good. He is the quintessence of sweetness.” His goodness will excite us and please us and satisfy us, bless us and ravish us and we will glorify Him by totally exulting in His goodness forever and ever. Richard Baxter said, “Meditate on the goodness of God ‘til you have no more taste for this world.”
How good God is to us as He delivers us from sin and evil. Every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights (James 1:17). Everything about you and your world is from God’s goodness. Psalm 119:68 says, “You are good and do good.” Do you eat, sleep, walk, work, talk, smell, love? It’s all from God’s goodness. You can’t breathe without breathing in God’s goodness. Your wife is a gift from God’s goodness: “He who finds a wife finds a good thing” (Proverbs 18:22). Be thankful. Let her know.
Verses 9-10 assure us our good God will meet every real need we have. We’ll not be in want of any good thing. Fear the Lord means esteem Him highly, reverence Him, honor Him, live carefully with Him, respecting everything He has said in His Word. He takes care of those who esteem him above all earthly goods.
SO WHAT?
When troubles come to your door, let them drive you to God, not away from God. Let them cause you to cry out to God, not whine and grumble in God’s ear. Let God display His goodness through your troubles and fears and afflictions. Trust Him, look to Him, and know He is using these things, not for you to act like a madman like David did for a short time, but to make you radiate more and more because of Christ’s goodness in your life. And as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, all these troubles are temporary compared to eternity.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, [18] while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
What has God delivered you from? Can you sincerely say He has delivered you from your sin’s penalty? “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Taste and see that He is good.