Written by: Rebecca Heyhoe
Psalm 34 v 1-3
I will praise the LORD at all times; his praise is always on my lips.
My whole being praises the LORD.
The poor will hear and be glad.
Praise the LORD with me, and let us praise his name together.
Notes
Have you been somewhere where there is a real sense of euphoria - maybe a football
match when your team has scored, or maybe a gig when the band has finished
and the crowd is screaming for an encore? It’s that happiness, that
excitement that overwhelms us and we find ourselves jumping up and down,
shouting at the tops of our voices! Have you ever experienced something like
this whilst you have been praising God?
David (the author) clearly has. He says here that his “whole being” praises the Lord, not just his head or his heart, but his entire being - his mind, body and soul. He has grasped something of the joy that comes from knowing God. He’s happy to celebrate it and doesn’t care if it’s not the done thing. In 2 Samuel 6 v 14 we are told: “Then David danced with all his might before the Lord.”
We’re told that “the poor will hear and be glad”, they will be happy, they’ll rejoice, they’ll join in with David’s praise. They’ll respond with gladness because they’ll have realised something of God’s goodness, his mercy and compassion - they will revel in God’s perfect character.
God’s name is to be glorified and worshipped at all times. How do we respond to his name? Do we react with joy? Let us not forget who he is - the creator of the universe, our designer, our provider, our Father, our Saviour; this is our God! Let’s learn from David and not be afraid of praising God with all our might. This probably won’t mean dancing around in your underwear in a public place, but I encourage you to stop for a minute and think: how can you, being the person you are, praise God with all your might?
Prayer
Father, help me to grasp more of who you are. Show me your character so that
I can take joy in the God I love. Help me to understand you more and more
so I can rejoice in you. May you give me courage and boldness to step out
and praise you in new ways. Amen
Psalm 34 v 4-7
I asked the LORD for help, and he answered me.
He saved me from all that I feared.
Those who go to him for help are happy, and they are never disgraced.
This poor man called, and the LORD heard him and saved him from all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD camps around those who fear God, and he saves them.
Notes
There are times in life when it may feel like everything is going pear shaped
around you; times when it feels like your world has come crashing in on you
and you’ve been left to fend for yourself; times when it feels like
everyone and everything is against you. The psalmist here is reminding us
that our God never fails us. When we speak to God he hears us and he answers
us. There are times when we cannot understand his response, but we can be
assured that God does hear us.
One of our generation’s biggest fears is that of loneliness
and rejection; the thought of being turned away is one that is painful for
most of us. The good news is that our God will never turn his back on us. He
will never ignore us. He won’t slam the door in our faces. He is our
heavenly Father who has our best interests at heart.
God will never disappoint us. He is incapable of disappointing us and he will
never disgrace or humiliate us. God has no favourites; both David (the author
and king) and the poor (the outcasts of the time) experienced God responding
to them in the same way. God answered them both and saved them both from their
troubles.
What is there in your life that stresses you? Do you face situations that seem impossible? Maybe it’s time you let God into them; don’t be afraid to hand those situations over to him.
Prayer
Lord, today I bring before you myself and those I know who are facing difficult
times. I ask you to make yourself real in these situations. I ask that you
would hear my cries, just like you have heard the cries of your people throughout
time. Draw near me in my difficulties and help me to trust you enough to
let you into these situations. Amen
Psalm 34 v 8-10
Examine and see how good the LORD is.
Happy is the person who trusts him.
You who belong to the LORD, fear him!
Those who fear him will have everything they need.
Even lions may get weak and hungry, but those who look to the LORD will have
every good thing.
Notes
Can you remember the last time someone came bounding up to you and was just
bursting to tell you something exciting? Can you remember the last time you
were the sharer of good news? Here David is passing on his passion for God.
He has experienced God’s goodness, God’s power, God’s protection
and God’s love, and he’s inviting others to do the same. He says
to examine God because he knows that no amount of testing and questioning
of God will ever unearth something that isn’t true, perfect, wonderful
and awesome. In fact, it will just prove how good God is!
David instructs us to fear the Lord. This is a phrase that is found throughout the Old Testament, and it is found in Proverbs 1 v 7 which says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Those who fear the Lord have based their lives in God the creator. They are showing respect to the one who gave humans life in the first place. If you’re living your life like this, you will be provided with everything you need to live. Fearing the Lord isn’t a negative idea; it’s incredibly positive. If you fear God, you’re giving him the credit and honour he deserves and God will in turn meet your needs.
Do we encourage those we know to examine God? If not, why not? What are we afraid of? God can’t fail anyone’s questioning. Do we fear God in the way we should? Does God have the prime place of respect and power in our lives? If not, what practical steps can we take to put God in the position he should have, the very centre of our being?
Prayer
Father, thank you that you will never fail me, that you have no faults or flaws.
Help me to give you the respect you deserve, to give you the credit where
you deserve it, and to honour you in all I do in my life. Amen
Psalm 34 v 11-14
Children, come and listen to me.
I will teach you to worship the LORD.
You must do these things to enjoy life and have many happy days.
You must not say evil things, and you must not tell lies.
Stop doing evil and do good.
Look for peace and work for it.
Notes
In the Old Testament, important lessons about life are often brought to us
through the Wisdom Tradition. This part of the psalm falls into this category.
David takes on the role of a teacher passing on what he has learnt to his
pupils/children. He is sharing what he has learnt about life, its meaning
and the way to have a good, happy and prosperous life - one that is rooted
in God.
He narrows it down to two areas for us: not saying evil things or lying; and not doing evil, but doing good instead. On first reading, this may seem to us like a very simplistic approach, but David is actually saying something quite profound here. He realises that our words and our actions are intimately related; they are a product of our thoughts, and they come from deep within us - from our hearts and our minds. Jesus said that: “Good people bring good things out of the good stored in their hearts. But evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored in their hearts. People speak the things that are in their hearts” (Luke 6 v 45). Our actions and our words reveal what kind of person we are. They outwardly show our inward condition. They make known publicly where we are with God.
The final instruction David gives us is to: “Look for peace and work for it”. He knows that peace isn’t something that comes naturally to us as humans, that it is something we have to set our minds on, strive towards and work at to achieve. War and disharmony are brought about by evil words and evil actions, so it is only through our inward transformation that our outward actions can be changed and thus peace be achieved.
Prayer
Lord God, thank you for the wisdom that has been passed on from generation
to generation of your people. I pray that I would be able to learn from it
in ways that are seen in the outworking of my life. Please help me renew
my mind so that my speech and actions glorify you at all times. Amen
Psalm 34 v 15-18
The LORD sees the good people and listens to their prayers.
But the LORD is against those who do evil; he makes the world forget them.
The LORD hears good people when they cry out to him, and he saves them from
all their troubles.
The LORD is close to the broken-hearted, and he saves those whose spirits have
been crushed.
Notes
Recently I went through a tough time in my life. As I was talking to someone
about it, they said something that spoke profoundly to me. They simply said: “I’m
on your side.” Those words spoke straight into my soul; to know that
I wasn’t alone in my pain gave me hope. We as Christians have a God
who is on our side. He hears us when we cry to him. He saves us and draws
near to us. Our God is one who stands for those who love him. Our God is
a God who is against evil; who will hold those who do evil accountable for
their actions.
We will all have difficult times in our lives, times when our spirits are crushed and our hearts are shattered. However, our God is compassionate; he acts in the lives of his people. God can be found in all our experiences of life, whether they are full of joy or heartbreak. We may not experience an instant rescue from our troubles, but we can be assured that God is faithful. He will never leave our side; he will see us through the difficult times. Our God is on the side of those he loves, those who are hurting, those who are suffering and those who feel all hope has gone.
If you are hurting and struggling at the moment, be assured that God is on your side. Not only that, he is by your side helping you through in ways you may never fully understand. If life is good at the moment, think of those you know for whom it isn’t. Maybe it’s time to tell them about our compassionate God who shares in their pain; a God who is for them, not against them.
Prayer
Father God, thank you for your neverending faithfulness. Thank you that you
meet me in my brokenness and long to bring me to a place of wholeness. Draw
near to those I know who are struggling. Help me to know how best to show
them your love and compassion. Amen
Psalm 34 v 19-20
People who do what is right may have many problems, but the LORD will solve
them all.
He will protect their very bones; not one of them will be broken.
Notes
When I first read this verse the part that struck me most was: “the Lord
will solve them all”. I have to say that there are many times when that
doesn’t seem to be a reality in my life. God rarely seems to directly
intervene and fix my problems. He certainly doesn’t wave a wand over
them, say the magic word and then they disappear! This doesn’t fit my
experience of life, and I think it’s safe to say that this probably doesn’t
fit your experience either. However, the next line in this verse helps to unpack
it a bit more.
The psalm tells us that not one of our bones will be broken because God will protect them. Everyone has problems; female and male, young and old, Christian and non-Christian face difficult situations, and go through struggles and hard times. The difference is that those who know God have a hope, a security in the knowledge that God is on their side and is able and willing to help them. We will never encounter a problem that will crush us completely; God will never allow us to go through more than we can handle. We’re told in Isaiah 42 v 3 that: “He will not break a crushed blade of grass or put out even a weak flame.”
At times it may feel like we’re facing the unfaceable and are up against the unconquerable, but with God’s help we can get through these hard times. Our Father knows what you and I face each day. He knows our pains and our struggles. He is there to help us face them and conquer them in his strength, and we can be sure that nothing we face is too big for us to handle when we come at it with God.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that you know exactly what struggles I am facing at this moment
in my life. Thank you that you are right here with me, encouraging, strengthening
and healing me. I pray that you will help me learn to lean on you more and
more each day. Amen
Psalm 34 v 21-22
Evil will kill the wicked; those who hate good people will be judged guilty.
But the LORD saves his servants’ lives; no one who trusts him will be
judged guilty.
Notes
If I had to sum up what this passage says in one word, it would be “justice”.
Our God is the one who sets the standards. He is the ultimate test and he is
the judge of every living creature.
God is a just God who will hold everyone accountable for their lives. Those who live evil lives, those who live outside of a relationship with God, will be judged guilty. Judgement is a topic that we are afraid to talk about nowadays; it’s the unmentioned part of our faith. We have too many bad memories of men standing on street corners with sandwich boards declaring: “Judgement is near - repent!” However, to ignore it completely is to deny a central belief of Christianity, that Jesus will come again to judge all of humanity.
The good news is that those who serve the Lord and trust in him will be saved; they will be found innocent on the day of judgement. They are innocent because of their acceptance of God the Father as their creator and their willingness to lead lives that serve and glorify him. There is hope for those who know God; he promises in this passage and elsewhere in the Bible that those who trust him will not be found guilty.
Are we so afraid of what others think that we don’t say anything to them about God? Maybe it’s time we stepped out of our comfort zones and did the brave thing by starting to share with people about the hope that we have, of the joy of life with God, both now and for eternity.
Prayer
Father God, thank you that if I give my life to you I can trust in your promise
that on the day of judgement I will not be found guilty in your eyes. Help
me to be bold and share you with my friends and family so that they too will
be declared innocent on that day. Amen
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes