Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 34:2-3 and following. Indeed, to show us that all our circumstances, including the most humiliating, can ultimately lead us to bless God, the Spirit used an episode in David’s story to dictate the words of this psalm to him (1 Sam 21:10-15). Let’s imitate “this afflicted”: let’s know how to magnify the name of our God always and everywhere. For in verse 12 it’s as if the Lord tenderly gathered us around Him and said, “Come, son, listen to me… ». He has a word of encouragement for everyone. He who is in danger reassures him with verses 8, 16, and 18 (Isaiah 63:7-10). Does another have material needs? He responds to his concern with verses 10 and 11. Is someone going through grief or sorrow? He shows her where to find consolation. His desire is to give us confidence in His Father so that we can praise Him with Him. Taste, He tells us, how good the Lord is (1 Pet 2:1-5). But the Lord also knows that we need His exhortation: “Keep your tongue from evil… turn away from evil and do good… seek peace and pursue it” (1 Pet 3:8-12). Peter does not finish the quotation of the passage, for today is the day of grace. The judgment announced at the end of the psalm is yet to come.
This psalm is still in spirit the language of the Lord Jesus after his resurrection. He celebrates God for this deliverance and invites his saints to join him in these praises. He exhorts them to put their trust in God on the basis of this deliverance, and to assure their souls of His mercy (1 Pet 2:3). We know that verse 21 had its fulfillment in John 19:36. In verse11, he gathers his own around him to present to them, in a way, the lessons that he himself learned as a resurrected man and that he is thus perfectly able to teach them. He tells them how to walk here on earth so as to escape many of the afflictions of this life; but he also tells them that, if they are to encounter trials (for they will encounter them because of their righteousness) they can, because he himself rose from the dead, be assured of the final deliverance, and escape from all true evil. Much more! their redeemer will become their avenger, annihilating those who hate them.
Thus Jesus, through his resurrection, consoles and instructs his saints, or his disciples. He shares with them the benefit of his own experience, just as he makes them share all things (1 Pet 3). This is what he expresses in Mat 11:29-30 – “Learn from me, for I am debonair and humble of heart, and you will find the rest of your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” He thus taught his disciples what he himself had already experienced, to know that the path of a debonair and humble heart brings the soul into perfect peace, making the yoke easy and the burden light. And who among us, beloved, does not have such an experience? But there is this reflection suggested by verse 7: was not the Lord Jesus, though “rich in glory” (Phil 4:19), remarkably ” the afflicted, the poor,” which is again discussed in Psalms 35:10 and 41:2? It is under this character that we come to know Him in the Gospels; may his name be blessed!
Notice also that this is the first Psalm in which we have found the interlocutory character that is sometimes found elsewhere, as in Ps. 91 and 145, although this Psalm is certainly the expression of the experience of the Psalmist who speaks again in verse 11. However, I think that in this Psalm Christ in spirit exposes God’s ways. Magnify the Lord with me! I have sought the Lord! This is the most powerful encouragement for the just, humble of heart. “I will bless Jehovah at any time.” Here David exalts the greatness of God, promising to keep in remembrance throughout his life the goodness he had bestowed on him. God assists his people every day, so that they may continually strive to praise them; yet it is certain that the blessing that is said to be worthy of eternal remembrance is distinguished by this mark from other benefits that are ordinary and common. It is therefore a rule that must be observed by the saints – they must often recall all the good that has been granted to them by God; but if, at any time, he must show more illustrious his power by protecting them from some danger, all the more so does it become sincere to them to show their gratitude.
Now, if by a single benefit God obliges us all our lives to himself, so that we never legally cease to expose his praises, how much more when he collects us countless benefits? To distinguish the praise he had said before would be continually in his mouth from the empty sound of the tongue, of which many hypocrites boast, he adds, at the beginning of the second verse, that it would come from the heart.
“But malice will kill the bad guys.” So David has taught before, that there is no better defense than a just and blameless life, he now declares that all the evil enterprises of the wicked, even if no one should in any way oppose them, will turn to their own destruction. Those, he says, who hate the righteous will be destroyed. Let it be for us, therefore, like a wall of brass and a sure defense; that however numerous the enemies who assail us, we must not be afraid, for they are already doomed to destruction. The same thing that David confirms in the last verse, in which he says, that Jehovah delivers the souls of his servants: How could they be kept safe, even for a moment, among so many dangers, unless God interposes his power in their defense? For it is necessary that we first be judged or condemned to death, before God appears as our redeemer. It follows that those who rush too quickly and are unable to realize God’s power unless they appear quickly, working for them deliverance, intercept the communication of His grace. Moreover, so that no one can form his judgment on God’s servants by moral or philosophical virtue alone, as he is called, David specifies it as a main mark by which they can be known, that they trust in God, on whom their salvation also depends.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
The Lord snatches me from my fears:
· Glorify oneself in God
Ps 44:9 We glorify ourselves in God every day, and we will celebrate your name forever. Jer 9:23 Thus saith the Lord: Let the wise not glorify himself with his wisdom, let the strong not glorify himself with his strength, let the rich not glorify himself with his wealth. 1 Cor 1:31 so that, as it is written, he who glorifies himself may glorify himself in the Lord. 2 Cor 10:17 Let him who glorify himself glorify himself in the Lord.
· Divine Liberator
Ps 56:14 For you have delivered my soul from death, You have guaranteed my feet from the fall, that I may walk before God, in the light of the living. Isaiah 46:4 Until your old age I will be the same, Until your old age I will support you; I did, and I still want to carry you, support you and save you. 2 Cor 1:10 It is He who has delivered us and who will deliver us from such death, He from whom we hope he will deliver us again, Hb 2:15 and deliver all those who, for fear of death, were all their lives held in bondage.
· Warnings, moving away from evil
Ps 34:15 Get away from evil, and do good; Seek and pursue peace. Ps 97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil! He keeps the souls of his faithful, He delivers them from the hands of the wicked. Rom 12:9 Let charity be without hypocrisy. Abhor evil; attach yourself strongly to the good. 1 Thess 5:22 abstain from all kinds of evil.
· Deliverance promised to believers
Jb 5:19 Six times he will deliver you from anguish, and seven times evil will not reach you. Ps 91:3 For it is he who delivers you from the net of the birder, from the plague and its ravages. 1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has occurred to you that has not been human, and God, who is faithful, will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength; but with temptation He will also prepare the way out, so that you can bear it. 2 Tim 4:18 The Lord will deliver me from all evil work, and He will save me to bring me into His celestial kingdom. To him be the glory to the centuries of the centuries! Amen! 2 Pet 2:9 the Lord knows how to deliver pious men from trial, and reserve the unjust to be punished on the day of judgment,
From all of the above, we note that the assurance that it is God who governs, makes faith capable of blessing at all times. He showed his fidelity to those who were in distress. The Psalmist, Christ in spirit, commits the remnant to bless, for Jehovah has manifested His deliverance to him. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry; its face is against those who do evil to remove them from the earth. Jehovah is near those who are heartbroken, and He saves those who have a dejected spirit. The righteous must expect to suffer as long as man has his day, but Jehovah delivers him, while evil causes the wicked to die; Jehovah redeems the souls of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him will be held guilty. It is the expression of the full assurance of Jehovah’s government in favor of the one who is humble of heart, and what makes him able to bless not only when he is blessed – it would not be faith – but at all times, for Jehovah hears the cry of the righteous, he keeps them, he redeems them when they are in distress. Christ is the perfect example of all this. The faith of the residue seizes what has happened to him, for his own encouragement. Verse 20 was also literally fulfilled for him. The entire Psalm is the secret of faith alone, which, by its trial, is led to bless at all times. Peter applies it to the immutable principles of God’s government. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “the thanksgiving and supplication of the faithful.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.