What is the main message of Psalm 34?

And at the end of the creation story, God saw that creation was not just good, but that it was “very good.”
Psalm 34 encourages us to experience God for ourselves and to open our eyes and see the goodness of
God that is all around us.
https://www.workingpreacher.org/

Chapter Summary

David praises the Lord for delivering him from the Philistines, and he invites others to join him in singing joyfully to
the Lord. He extols the virtue of fearing the Lord and remembering His goodness. He encourages the Lord's people
to respect God and offers wisdom leading to a long and blessed life. At the end of this psalm David emphasizes the
distinction the Lord draws between the wicked and the righteous. He cares for the righteous and will not condemn
them, but He condemns the wicked.

What does Psalm 34:1 mean?

David promises to praise the Lord, using a Hebrew phrase which literally means "at every time." No matter what the
situation, David would praise God. This is the most prominent source of the scriptural concept of a writer's praise
for the Lord being "on my lips." David had experienced deliverance by the Lord from the Philistines at Gath (1
Samuel 21) and praised the Lord for that deliverance. His escape from a dangerous situation is probably what
motivated him to write this psalm.

However, he was determined to praise the Lord in every situation. The Lord is good all the time. Whether a given
moment is difficult or delightful, we ought to praise the Lord. Even in dire circumstances we can see His hand of
grace and mercy. He comforts us in our sorrow, and He helps us withstand every adversity.

When Paul wrote to the Philippian believers, he was under house arrest and chained to Roman soldier around the
clock, but he regarded his adversity as serving to advance the gospel (Philippians 1:12). Not only did he rejoice in
prison (Philippians 1:18), but he also called upon the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4).

https://www.bibleref.com/Psalms/34/Psalm-34-1.html

How can I apply Psalms 34 to my life?

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.Aug 27, 2021
https://christiansengaged.org/blog/psalm-34-happiness-found-when-the-lord-is-near

Psalm 34 – Happiness Found When the Lord is Near

Written By Bunni Pounds

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.

Psalm 34, Faith in Our Darkest Hour

 Brent Kercheville
 February 3, 2006
https://westpalmbeachchurchofchrist.com/old-testament/psalms/psalm_34.html:

//westpalmbeachchurchofchrist.com/old-testament/psalms/psalm_34.htmlFebruary 3, 2006
Introduction:
1. In contrast to many other psalms we have studied thus far, this psalm gives us
information in the heading that helps us understand the situation surrounding the
penning of these words.

2. First, let us notice that there are twenty-two verses in this psalm. Many times when a
psalm has been given this many verses, it is a clue to us that we are looking at an
acrostic psalm, since there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Such is
 the case for psalm 34. An acrostic psalm is one where the first line of each stanza
begins with the successive letter of the alphabet. Of course, the acrostic is lost in
translation into English and is why we do not see the acrostic in our scriptures.

3. Second, we are told the occasion for the writing of this psalm. The heading declares
this was when David “pretended to be insane in the presence of Abimelech, who
drove him out, and he departed.” This instance leads us to 1 Samuel 21:10-15. 1
Samuel 21 falls in the middle of the time when Saul is trying to kill David. Jonathan,
Saul’s son, was instructed by Saul to go find David and bring him back to the city to
be killed. Jonathan warns David of this and David flees to the land of the Philistines.
The Philistines recognize David as the king of Israel who the people sang about him
killing tens of thousands. But David was afraid of king Achish and began to act
insane so as to not pose a threat to the king. David walked around scratching on the
door and letting saliva run out of his mouth. Because of his actions, the king did not
see David as a threat and did not arrest him or kill him. This time of near death is
when David writes this psalm.

I. Praise the Lord (1-3)

A. Always
1. The first three verses begin with David declaring he will praise the Lord. There are
two main points to the praise David is giving. The first point David makes is that he
will praise the Lord at all times. Praising God will always be on his lips.

2. Now this would be a great of David to say that he is always praising the Lord if he
were standing in good circumstances. But let us not forget that David is running for
his life. So bad are his circumstances that he must pretend he is insane just to
preserve his life. David is the rightful king of Israel and he is forced to act like a
madman in Philistia just to keep his own life. These were some of the darkest times
in David’s life. Yet, in the midst of these dark times, David is able to say that he will
praise the Lord at all times.

B. David’s call to you

1. In these first three verses, David is basically saying to us, “Look what I went through
and I continued to praise the Lord. Should you not be able to always praise God?”
Verse 3 brings this concept in when David calls for everyone to glorify the Lord with
him and exalt the Lord’s name together.

2. We really have no excuse as to why our lips should not always be full of praise to
God. In the next few verses, David is going to give his testimony of God’s
deliverance.

II. David’s Testimony

A. The great works of God (4-7)
1. David tells us that he was seeking after the Lord and the Lord answered him.
Further, the Lord delivered David from all his fears. David had quite a few good
reasons to fear, but with the Lord was able to entrust his life to God’s hands. It is
important that we always look to God when in our darkest hour.

2. David describes this importance in verse 5, “Those who look to him are radiant; their
faces are never covered with shame.” God can brighten our lives and our days even
in the midst of great turmoil. David reminds us that those who look to the Lord are
never let down or disappointed by God. Instead, we are enlightened and radiant for
the working of God in our lives.
 3. There are many great lines in this psalm, but verse 6 is one of the best. “This poor
man called, and the Lord heard him.” David was in a pitiful state. But even in our
most pitiful states, God is there to hear us when we call to Him. God saved David
from his troubles and delivered him through his trials. This deliverance is described
as an angel of the Lord surrounding and delivering those who fear the Lord. This
image brings the mind the power of the Lord coming to our aid. The Lord is ready to
defend us, protect us, and fight for us. The angel of the Lord is used to describe God
working in this world on our behalf.

B. Taste the Lord and see (8-22)

1. David encourages us to give God a try. Taste and see that the Lord is good. This is
our 100% money back guarantee that you and I will be totally satisfied when we try
the Lord. We will see that He is good to those who seek and fear Him. Here are
some of the things we will find when we taste the Lord.

2. Lacks nothing (8-10). Those who fear the Lord will lack nothing. “And my God will
supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19). We
must try the Lord and see that God will take care of us. We typically do not believe in
this statement. We think we have to supply all our needs. But God says He will take
care of those who fear Him.

3. Longevity of life (11-14). “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good
days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.” David tells us
that we must be servants of God if we want to have a prosperous life. God’s laws
should not be considered a book of rules. God has given us these laws so that we
can see long days and enjoy the time God has given us on the earth. God’s laws will
help us maximize our physical lives to the fullest.

4. An attentive God (15-16). God’s eyes are upon the righteous, watching over us.
God’s ears are attentive to our cries. God’s face is toward us granting us with
blessings, while His face is against those who do evil. Evildoers are cut off from
God.

5. The Lord saves and delivers (17-22). Look at the listing of all God does for the
righteous: (1) the Lord hears them, (2) the Lord delivers them from all their troubles,
(3) the Lord is close to the brokenhearted, (4) The Lord saves those who are
crushed in spirit, and (5) The Lord delivers us from all troubles (this is repeated).
These are words to encourage us in our times of suffering.

6. Turn to 1 Peter 3:10-12 to see that Peter quotes this section of the psalm. Peter
quotes this psalm to encourage us to continue to do good in times of suffering. Thus,
Peter encourages, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing,
because to this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9).
Taste the Lord and see that serve God is worthy of our efforts for God will do many
things for us.

III. Not A Bone Shall Be Broken (34:20)

A. God’s great blessings
1. I would like to spend the rest of our time on what I think is the most important verse
in this psalm, verse 20. “He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.”
Carefully read the context again and we will see that the psalmist is talking about the
righteous. Verse 19 begins the thought concerning a righteous man who has many
troubles but the Lord delivers him from them all. Further, God protects the bones of
 the righteous, not one of them will be broken. So what does this mean for us as
righteous people that none of our bones will be broken?

2. When we turn to John 19:36 we see that the apostle John quotes this verse and
applies it to Jesus. In the context of John 19 we are reading about the death of
Jesus. Specifically, we read that when the soldiers came to break the legs of those
crucified, they did not break the legs of Jesus because he was already dead. Their
pierced Jesus’ side and blood and water flowed from him. By a simple reading of the
passage, it seems that the scripture was fulfilled because Jesus did not suffer from
any broken bones.

3. So what does this mean for us? Is David saying that those who are truly righteous
will not have their bones broken? Is the passage and its fulfillment speaking about
the physical state of our bodies? I believe we are missing something if we do not see
that more is implied concerning the bones of the righteous never being broken.

4. The scriptures talk about the evil have their bones broken and scattered. “God
brings him out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox; He shall consume the
nations, his enemies; He shall break their bones and pierce them with his arrows”
(Numbers 24:8). “There they are in great fear where no fear was, for God has
scattered the bonesof him who encamps against you; You have put them to shame,
because God has despised them” (Psalm 53:5). Therefore, when we read about
bones, those who have broken bones are lacking the blessings, favor, and
deliverance from God. Those whose bones are not broken are in favor with God.

5. This is the great message for our lives today. It does not matter how badly we may
suffer in life, our bones are not broken, meaning we are still in favor with God and
know that God can deliver us from what we are enduring. Is this not exactly what
was meant concerning Jesus? Yes, none of his physical bones were broken. But
more importantly, none of Jesus’ bones being broken meant He died in God’s favor
and love. Though man considered Jesus smitten by God and afflicted by God, Jesus
died in the favor of God. Further, none of his bones being broken meant he held to
the promise of God’s deliverance. We know deliverance came three days later as
Jesus conquered death, rose from the grave, and ascended to the Father where all
glory and honor was bestowed upon him.

6. In the same way, when we are righteous none of our bones will be broken.
Therefore, we may suffer but we are still in God’s favor. We may endure great
tribulations, but we can hold on to God’s promise of deliverance. This is David’s
message in this psalm. He had to pretend to be insane to protect his life. Saul was
trying to kill him and David was running for his life. But God took care of David and
delivered him. David was in favor with God, none of his bones were broken. We
have the same promise given to us. Let us praise the Lord at all times and exalt his
name together for his great deliverance. (NIV)