O Taste and See
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Psalm 34
Psalm 34
Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
1 I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall 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 delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
21 Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
This Psalm is an alphabetical Psalm - Each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet; verse 1 aleph, verse two bet, verse 3 gimmel with the exception of waw the sixth letter.
And the Psalm divides neatly into two - Spurgeon says that the first 10 verses are a hymn and the last twelve are a sermon!
This is a Psalm of David. We’re told that this Psalm was written at the time he feigned madness before Abimelech.
This story is found in 1 Sam 21:10-15
10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”
Some commentators have said that the scribes made a mistake here because the King of Gath was called Achish, not Abimelech. But it seems that Abimelech, which is made up of two words abi (my father) and melek (king) seems to be a royal title rather than a name - a bit like Pharoah.
Once David had escaped from the hand of Abimelech he fled into the wilderness, into the cave of Adullam. And it’s here in Adullams cave that this Psalm was probably penned.
1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.
So this Psalm was written at one of David’s low points - he’s on the run, fearing for his life. Saul, who once loved him is now seeking to kill him, and he’s gone from eating at the royal table surrounded by nobles to living in a cave with a bunch of outcasts. Imagine how that must have felt - hero to zero in no time! He had been anointed as the next King by Samuel as a teenager, he defeated Goliath and experienced a meteoric rise to fame. But now here he is seemingly with his life in tatters.
God’s plan for your life isn’t always linear - Joseph went from favoured son to inmate, Moses went from royalty to the wilderness, David went from hero to fugitive. But God got each of them where he wanted them to be in His timing. Don’t worry if life seems 1 step forwards two steps back at times, keep following Him and he will get you where you are supposed to be at the right time. Resist the temptation to push the fast forward button, don’t try to skip steps, don’t give in to impatience. David’s first words from the cave of Adullam weren’t ‘why me God?” They were “Bless you Lord”
When life seemed at it’s most difficult - David’s words were, “I will bless you Lord at all times!” This reminds me of Job’s words after he endured a day from hell!
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Do we worship God at all times? Are we ready to bless his name whatever season of life we might be in? However we might be feeling? Sometimes our souls can get weary, tired and downcast and we need to remind ourselves that God will always be worthy of our worship. It is right to give him thanks and praise!
David says that God’s praise won’t just be in his heart, or in his thoughts but in his mouth!
God deserves blessing with the heart, and extolling with the mouth—good thoughts in the closet, and good words in the world.
In verse 3 David enjoins the reader to join in exalting the Lord with him - O magnify the Lord with me! There’s nothing we can do to make the Lord greater than He already is, but think of a magnifying glass - it doesn’t make the object itself bigger, it makes the object bigger to us! When we magnify God, we enlarge him in our thoughts, we enlarge him in our hearts we meditate on him, we fill ourselves up with truth about Him!
In verses 4-6 David speaks of his deliverance from Abimelech.
He sought the Lord, verse 4, he cried out for help - verse 6. A cry, the first noise any of you made when you entered this world. No one needs to learn to cry - we can all do it, you learn to stop crying… Crying speaks of need, of utter dependence. That is what a prayer cry is - it’s when you reach that place of utter dependence on God, when you reach the end of yourself. David says - this poor man cried out and The Lord heard him and answered.
The Lord delivered Him from all of his fears, verse 4, the Lord saved him out of all his troubles, verse 6, The angel of the Lord encamped around him and rescued him.
I often wrestled with the idea of God being rather austere in attitude. Thinking that he would absolutely deliver me from any danger, so long as I hadn’t gotten into that danger through my own stupidity. If I had gotten into it through my own stupidity I imagined God would have the attitude of - ‘well, you’ve made your bed, now lie in it!’ And while I’m not condoning making stupid decisions - I am saying that God is not austere, He is not severe with His people. David absolutely got into the mess with Abimelech through his own fault! Think of it - what was he famous for? For killing the Philistine Giant Goliath. Where was Goliath from? He was from Gath. What does David do? He runs to Goliath’s hometown, actually carrying his sword expecting what? A welcome?! He got himself into an almighty mess, a real tight spot. He pretended to be out of his mind so that they might let him go - another thing that I don’t think would have pleased God. But Achish decided to let him go! A miracle really! God delivered David from a very, very big mess of his own making.
Don’t sit in your mess, don’t stay in a place of fear and anxiety just because you don’t think you deserve to be rescued. Maybe you don’t! But call out to God just like David did - His mercy and kindness knows no ends.
Verse 7 says that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them. The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament appears a number of times - and is a mysterious figure. He appeared before Gideon in Judges 6 and Gideon was afraid that he would die because he had seen His face. Many think that the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is actually the second person of the Trinity - Jesus Christ.
What David says of the Angel of the Lord is equally true of Jesus - He encamps around all those who trust in Him. That’s what it is to ‘fear the Lord’ - it’s not to be frightened of him, it’s to trust Him, to live for Him, to be obedient to Him. For all those who seek refuge in Christ are safe - He encamps around them. What can harm you while you are in the camp of the Almighty?!
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Finally David says - O taste and see, taste and see that the Lord is good.
You’ll never convince someone who has tasted honey that it isn’t sweet. Doesn’t matter how many arguments you’ve got - their experience trumps whatever you have to say!
Those who have encountered God - experienced Him at work in their lives cannot be persuaded by any argument that He is not good!
Knowledge of God isn’t just theoretical - it’s experiential. A Christian isn’t just someone who knows about God, they are someone who knows God and is known by Him. It’s a two way relationship.
How do we taste and see God’s goodness? By faith - We look for Him in His word, in prayer and in providence.
Finally in verse 10 David says that even the most powerful of all animals, the king of all beasts, the lion do suffer lack and hunger - but they who seek the Lord will lack no good thing!
simple-minded believers, who dare not act as the greedy lions of earth, are fed with food convenient for them. To trust God is better policy than the craftiest politicians can teach or practise.