Psalm 34 – Happiness Found When the Lord is Near
By Bunni Pounds
*This blog is part of our weekly, virtual Bible Study through the book of Psalms. For information on how to participate, please visit this page.
In Psalm 34, David poured out a Psalm about the happiness of those who trust in the Lord after he pretended he was crazy in front of King Abimelech and was driven away from the Philistines.
David was continuously running away from King Saul who was still trying to kill him, and so he decided to run to a Philistine city.
Why he thought he would be safe in the place of Israel’s enemies we will never know.
They recognized David.
He was famous for killing Goliath.
To escape their wrath, David faked that he was “mad” – hitting his head against a wall, foaming at the mouth, and more. It was an odd way to escape but it works.
This Psalm was written after that adventure and confrontation with the enemies of God.
There are many individual sermons in Psalm 34, so let’s just we just go through a few of the key sections and see what we can get out of them for our lives.
“I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.” (verse 1-3)
The joy that we find when we praise the Lord and keep His goodness on our lips is a deep joy. Thanksgiving and blessing the Lord impacts our souls. It creates joy inside of us, and it becomes even more joy when we do it together corporately.
When we are in a room where multiple people start worshipping and giving thanks to God, it gives us more courage and joy and becomes even a more life-giving experience than just being alone. This is the power and the happiness that comes from exalting God’s name TOGETHER.
“I sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.” (verses 4-7)
Seeking God, turning our faces toward Him, makes us radiant and free from fear. It takes us out of a place of soul bondage into a place of freedom. When David felt abandoned and poor, God heard His cry and delivered him from his enemies. The “angel of the Lord” was around him and delivered him.
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!
There is no want to those who fear Him.
The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” (verses 8-10)
The admonishment here is this – if you try God, even a little bit - you will not be disappointed. Try reverence and trusting in Him. He will not let you down. When we seek God and look at His goodness instead of just looking at the trouble around our lives, we will see things differently. In places where all we might see is hunger and lack in our lives – God will fill us up - whether that is spiritually, mentally, or physically. He will not let us lack any good thing. That is a powerful promise that we can cling to.
“Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.” (verses 11-14)
Now comes instruction from David on how to follow in his footsteps - “Listen to me”.
The man or woman who sees long life, happiness, and fulfillment is one who fears the Lord, keeps from speaking evil about others, and seeks peace with God and others.
Romans 12:18 says “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”
This person who is seeking God is content with a simple life of happiness – putting their relationship with God first and foremost as the top priority. When we get our priorities out of order, then we will experience stress, fear, and be walking outside of peace.
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” (verse 15-16)
This passage is quoted in the New Testament after this exhortation in 1 Peter 3:8-9 – “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.”
These next two sections of this Psalm show the intimacy of the Lord with the righteous. Notice here that God’s “eyes” are on the righteous and His “ears” are open to their cry, but yet His “face” are against the wicked. Eyes are the intimate windows of the soul and God reserves the intimacy of His eyes in this passage to those who He calls “righteous”.
Then we go out to a larger picture of His face – but even His face is not focused on the wicked. He turns His face against those who “do evil”.
One thing I would never want to experience is the rejection of God. The devastation of Him turning His face away from me would be more than I could handle. It would be literally hell.
Hell in its simple form is separation and rejection from God. Jesus experienced hell for us when He went to the cross, died and was separated from the Father because of our sins.
But the story was not over - Jesus then went down to hell and took back the keys of death, hell, and the grave. He conquered death for us and brought us back into acceptance so that we could see His eyes, and His face turned toward us – His children.
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.” (verse 17-18)
Walking with the Lord does not mean we don’t have troubles and hardships hit us, but the difference is – He walks with us through those trials. When we experience a broken heart and yield to Him for healing – He heals us and delivers us. He brings us NEAR to Him to restore our souls.
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.” (verses 19-22)
We are God’s favorite children. When we experience afflictions – He will be with us and heal us from the trauma. He guards over our bodies, takes out our enemies for us, and deliveries us from ALL that the pain that enemy throws out against us. The final picture of the Lord redeeming the soul of His servants personally means so much to me because I have gone through many fights and watched the Lord restore my soul. God wants to do that for all of His servants. When we trust in the Lord – we will never be condemned.
Psalm 34 is a psalm of promise on how we can stay in happiness even with enemies and pain swirling around us. If we have His eyes upon us and His face turned toward us – then we have nothing to fear. He is faithful to redeem our souls from any pain caused by any enemy.
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