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Psalm 34 Commentary

Taste And See That The LORD Is Good

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KEY THOUGHT: But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. [Psalm 34:10b NKJV]

Kindly read your Bible before going through the commentary!

Psalm 34 NKJV

The Happiness of Those Who Trust in God

A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

34 I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.

4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The [a]angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!
There is no [b]want to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.

11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man 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 Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
To [c]cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as [d]have a contrite spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous shall be [e]condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.

Footnotes

a. Psalm 34:7 Or Angel
b. Psalm 34:9 lack
c. Psalm 34:16 destroy
d. Psalm 34:18 are crushed in spirit
e. Psalm 34:21 held guilty

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalm 34 Commentary

The psalmist makes bold claims about the LORD, his God.

He prayed to the LORD, and the LORD answered him. He freed him from all his fears.

Further, the oppressed look to Him and are never disappointed.

Indeed, these are bold claims. So he invites his audience to “Find out for yourself how good the LORD is”.

The core message of the gospel is an invitation to “taste” the goodness of the LORD. The message is important to undo the lie that the LORD God “doesn’t care”. In the Garden of Eden, satan sponsored this lie against the perfection of the goodness of the LORD.

The psalm speaks more than we can immediately see. This message should be louder in a world that presents satan as the strong man, the strong man ready to provide mortals with the needed solutions.

But it’s all deception. Let the individuals find out for themselves how good the LORD is.

Let the evangelist point the seeker to Jesus, and let Jesus do the rest. Let the seeker find out for themselves how good the LORD is.

But what exactly has happened to the psalmist to motivate him to write this psalm? Probably the Book of First Samuel 21 provides the context for this chapter. But what is David doing at Gath of the Philistines, the enemy territory?

Well, Gath is a safe haven for David, so he reasoned. He is running away from King Saul.

The account in the Book of Samuel doesn’t give us the impression that David had as much time as to even breathe. His head was on the chopping board. In great fear, he pretended to be insane, and that is how he survived what was definitely a death situation.

Don’t run to the enemy camp despite many battles within the Kingdom of righteousness. The enemy camp is not a safe haven. This should be an easy pick from the chapter that motivated David to write this psalm.

Even in this moment of sudden danger and consequently great fear, David still had time to call upon the LORD. There is probably no event that can be too sudden for a prayer. The grace of the LORD always allows for one.

But who is not shocked by this kind of deliverance! Of all the means (in a world of limitless power and options), the LORD decided to save David in this way!

Regardless, David returns to the LORD and thanks Him for the deliverance, albeit a strange deliverance. He has seen the finger of God behind it all.

Rather than a very long complaint letter to heaven and a “do-it-better” lecture, David is full of praise. He acknowledges God’s presence in all his circumstances.

“Fear the LORD, you his holy people.” There is one fear against which David sought deliverance. But there is another fear he seeks for God’s holy people, the fear of the LORD. Probably because with this fear, we cannot fear anything else.

“The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.”

This psalm is messianic as verse 20 becomes the subject of John 19 verse 36. It applies to the man Jesus Christ. The same thought here can be applied. The sovereign God chose Gethsemane as the means for the salvation of humanity. That is sovereignty – electing Gethsemane as the means of salvation for humanity.

We are reminded that no bone was broken at this point as a strong indication that the process was still under the rigid control of Heaven. We can look back at our own and appreciate all the deliverances, small or great, flowery or ugly, dignified, or shameful escape. It is a point of maturity if the saint can see through it all and sit down to write his own song of praise from his experiences.

Loving Scripture….

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24 thoughts on “Home”

  1. It has been exciting learning how God can make things happen to his choosen one, God workout something wonderful and fulfils the promises he made to the father of Joseph.

    God’s words remains true so are his promises and indeed it has been God working out the salvation of man Kind by Grace through Faith alone.

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  11. Profound. My life needs a new introduction to God. Not that I have been right, but because God desires to help me… I see an amazing Grace here. Having broken the first commandment, still God looks for me and helps me to build up with him… And live for him. A littles knowledge of the Lord will ignite my passion and desire to serve him. This morning I pledge to seek, live and serve the Lord Jesus Christ and His purposes everyday of my life.
    Beautiful lesson

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  12. The Lord reintroduces himself and shows Israel, He is all they need. Some boast in horses and others in chariots but we’ll boast in the Lord. He is able and the only one worthy of our trust. Lord teach me how to always look up to you at all times and not focus on my strength or capabilities. This is my prayer

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  14. This far too common today. Just do something that seems like true worship yet it’s intent and actual practice is not even close to the set standard by the Lord. I personally feel challenged of some things we do in our personal lives, the focus of many churches and ministries today. We’ll need to realize the Lord must be worship as he has personally guided. Provides a good start of my reflection today

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  15. In those days when there was no King everyone did as they pleased. This is a good reminder to us that we are on own when the King of Kings isn’t leading our lives we’ll be doing what is not right and the results will show clearly how life without Christ looks like. We thank God that even when it looks like he’s not there, he’s behind the scenes working. I have learnt to trust in the Lord always.

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  16. Iam seeing this being stressed… There was no King in Israel… So lawlessness is the order of the day. This shows how heartless and wicked man can be with out the right King in his life. He can do anything. May the Lord help us to allow Christ in our lives that every aspect of our lives is changed and we yield ourselves to him alone.

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  17. I’m sure as the two daughters in-law stayed in Naomi’s home they learned about the God of Israel and appreciated His works among his people. Ruth’s determination and what she says moves my heart. She’s convinced she must go with Naomi and wants to spend her life with her, this relationship was strong especially between a mother inlaw and a daughter in-law. Yet Ruth stays and how she puts it shows the depth of her heart, I’ll go with with you, your people will be my people, your God will be my God…

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