Psalm 34
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Today we will be in Psalm 34.
And before we read that and dive in this morning there’s a few key points we need to know to make more sense of this Psalm
This Psalm is a poem written by King David
And it’s based on an actual historic event that takes place in David’s life
It’s one of only 14 psalms that give us the historical setting in which they were written
You can find the story in 1 Sam chapter 21
But short synopsis is this:
If you know David you know that he is the model king of Israel but that power and position doesn’t happen over night
In fact, David is anointed as king over Israel as a boy and it was almost 15 years later before he became king
And so the king at this time (Saul) had a very interesting relationship with him.
There were times when it was good and there were times when it was so bad that Saul tried to kill David.
This was one of those times.
So David was on the run from Saul and the only place he could run to was to was a city of the Phillistines
Now remember, David has just recently killed Goliath and many Philistines in battle. So they aren’t friends.
Well, the Philistines recognize David, so David comes up with this crazy idea. He decides that he is going to act like he has lost his mind
I’m serious, this is the plan. Scripture says that he begins to foam at the mouth and drool is falling from his beard
Crazy! I’ve read my girls many children’s bibles and I’ve never seen this story in there
The Bible is crazy! I’m telling you there’s some crazy stories in it. and this is one of them
Well, the king of the Philistines realizes that David has lost his mind and so he just let’s him go.
So, David experience this “redemption” from God and so filled and overwhelmed with joy he writes this Psalm
Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left. 1 I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. 2 I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 3 Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. 6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, 13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. 14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; 16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth. 17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; 20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. 21 Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. 22 The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
So, Psalm 34 is focused on answering a question for us.
The question is: What does it look like to live a redeemed life?
If you’ve been saved from God.
If you’ve experienced being brought from death to life.
How does that redemption shape your life?
What should begin captivating your heart, mind, soul?
What kind of activities should you begin doing?
What does it look like to experience the redemption of God?
3 things should happen according to Psalm 34.
Worship
Worship
A life of redemption is marked by worship.
1 I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. 2 I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 3 Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.
Knowing the background of what’s going on here you can feel the joy of David in experiencing the goodness of God and His salvation of David’s life
In verse 3 we see that this is more than just a testimony but an invitation as well.
David is inviting any and all who hear or read or sing this Psalm to join with Him in exaltation to the Lord
Everyone longs for goodness. We all want good things in our lives.
David is showing us that our desire for goodness comes from God and our craving for it can only be completely satisfied in Him.
David has seen the goodness of God and has experienced its satisfying quality
And now, he is inviting us to experience the same thing.
Our culture today, and for a long time, has pushed the image of self
Even some distortions of Christianity push it.
It’s the worship of self.
Richard Lents: "The study of God is increasingly being replaced by a fascination with the self."
We are more and more interested in who we are and less and less interested in who God is.
We’ve got all of these tools to show us why we are unique, why we are different, why we deserve recognition.
Are you a 7,8 or 9
Are you a retriever or beaver?
Are you a harmonizer?
Look, these things aren’t bad things, I can tell you where I fall in each one.
But are they tools to just simply boast in ourselves?
Have you ever realized that the Bible hardly ever highlights the uniqueness of a specific person?
But it is always highlighting the uniqueness of God.
Now, the Bible goes to great lengths to show us what we have in common but it never shows us what separates us.
Now, it shows us what separates us from God, but we want to spend all of our time finding out what separates us from one another.
What makes me better than you. Why I am worth worshipping.
And sadly, this is as much of problem for Christians as it is for anyone else.
We’ve fallen into a lie that I constantly teach my 3 year old.
The world doesn’t revolve around you, nor should it.
But here is the beauty of our knowledge of God
The more we know and the clearer God becomes for us, the more we know and understand ourselves.
It’s not that knowing yourself is a bad thing
It’s just not the main thing
Christianity is not a religion of self-actualization
It’s a religion of self-denial
And if we prop ourselves up in a way that makes self the center of our worship and affection we will be sadly and grossly underwhelmed and empty
It is the Lord who is praised and glorified at all times because it is His goodness and name that is worthy of it
And what happens is, when we do that properly, we become satisfied.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Taste and see! Jesus used words like this all the time.
The invitation is to know Jesus in a way that He satisfies your every craving.
It’s an invitation here to go beyond personal knowledge to get to personal experience
If I took this coffee in my hand and I began to describe it to you. That it was bold and rich. Maybe it’s columbian beans. There’s a subtle dark chocolate after flavor. I mean I could go above and beyond explaining it to you but no matter how well I did, it would be nothing like tasting it yourself.
There are certain things in life that need to be tasted to be experienced properly and to it’s fullest
This is the picture David gives us.
Don’t just know about the Lord
Don’t just be able to rattle of some Scripture
Don’t just be able to tell me some doctrinal truths about His nature
Taste and see that He is good.
This is worship to a whole other level!
And when we begin to get this right, something else will happen.
Repentance
Repentance
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, 13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.
When we get a Biblical view of the Lord and ourselves, yes we will worship Him, but we will also fear Him.
“I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”
This isn’t fear as in, He’s some bully ready to destroy us when we mess up.
This is reverence, honor, awe struck
My youngest daughter, Naomi, has slept in a crib her whole life. She’s 3 now and wanting to venture out a little and be like one of the big girls. So, just about every night when we begin getting ready for bed she will ask me, “Daddy can I lay with Wren and Essie tonight.” Most night’s are school nights so I typically don’t let her but the other Friday night I told her she could. So we do our normal routine and we get ready for bed and I tuck them in and I tell Naomi, “now stay in bed because if you get up and your playing and dancing and doing whatever, I’m going to take you back to your bed. She said yes sir and I walked out of the room. I got up about 15 min later and walked in there to check on them and the 2 older girls were in their bed and Naomi is in the middle of the room dancing. She had her back to me at first but as she did one of her twirls she realized I was standing at the door. When her eyes caught mine there was an immediate jerk, shock, look of terror. Followed by a sprint to the bed. Now, I promise you, I have never hit my kids. I can probably count on one hand the times I have even raised my voice at them. I try everything in my power to never respond to them out of anger. Naomi knew I wasn’t there to harm her, I wasn’t there to hurt her, I wasn’t even there to punish her aside from keeping my word and moving her to her bed. But what she did know was Dad asked me to do something and I didn’t do it. There’s a reverence there. She knows, no matter how many times she tries to go against me, that I am dad and she is daughter.
This is the fear of the Lord
David is trying to teach us that we have a position under God
And that right understanding leads us to repentance
Let me ask you a question:
When was the last time you truly repented?
Specifically to the Lord but even to one another?
That should show you a glimpse of where your hope is.
Of where you think the moral standard is
And where you fit on it.
Hope
Hope
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all;
Let me be clear this morning. The prosperity gospel is a gross distortion of the biblical gospel
The prosperity gospel teaches that God will give you all that you need if you just have enough faith
The Biblical message is that God is all that you need.
The prosperity gospel teaches that Jesus came to alleviate sickness and give us earthly prosperity
The Bible teaches that Jesus came to alleviate God’s wrath on our sin so that you can experience hope in Him.
The prosperity gospel teaches that God will give but He will never take away
The Bible teaches that God will give and take away but He will never take Himself away
And the biggest problem is not that the prosperity gospel offers too much, it’s that it offers too little
It’s promises are earthly and wordly and temporary and fall too short
But the Bible gives us good news this morning!
Are you brokenhearted? The Lord is near
Have you been crushed by this world? Jesus saves
Are you experiencing troubles, trials, difficulties?
The Lord will bring you through them
22 The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
Apart from Christ, we stand condemned. In Christ we stand redeemed!
If you are in Christ there is no condemnation!
The gospel is not about temporary health, wealth, or prosperity
It is about an eternal hope! And that hope is Jesus!
SO HOW DO WE LIVE LIVES OF PRAISE ACCORDING TO PSALM 34?
We live our lives as those who have been redeemed
Marked by worship, repentance, and hope
We don’t fall victim to any other gospel than the gospel of Jesus
knowing that what the world has to offer falls absolutely short of what Jesus offers