Grosey's Messages

Psalms 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.

1 Samuel 21

10 David fled that day from Saul's presence and went to King Achish of Gath.  11 But Achish's servants said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Don't they sing about him during their dances: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands?" 12 David took this to heart and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath,  13 so he pretended to be insane in their presence. He acted like a madman around them, scribbling on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.  14 "Look! You can see the man is crazy," Achish said to his servants. "Why did you bring him to me?  15 Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?"

David had no choice. The only place he could go to hide was in enemy territory, in the land of Gath. [The name of the king of Gath on that occasion was Achish. In accordance with normal custom, Achish was known by the title Abimelech, which means, "my father the king." This was simply the king's title, like Pharaoh or Caesar.

David was caught between a rock and a hard place. Saul was moving in to kill him, but every step closer to Abimelech was a step closer to torture and death. Then a wild thought hit David out of the blue: "Use psychological warfare. Behave like a lunatic. Act totally crazy." Which he did. And it worked. The king of Gath took one look at David frothing at the mouth, realized that this once mighty warrior was no threat to him, and tossed him out on his ear. In this way, David escaped death. Afterward, he wrote Psalm 34 as a poem about his experience. He praises God for his close escape because he realizes that his plan was such a crazy idea that without God's miraculous intervention, the plan would have never worked. He knew he could not pat himself on the back for his outstanding acting job and take credit for his escape. So, in a public way, through this psalm, he gives glory and thanks to the Lord for his deliverance. In the original Hebrew language, this psalm is an alphabetic acrostic, with each verse starting with a difference letter of the Hebrew alphabet, as it were, A to Z, indicating that it was intended to be committed to memory. David's desire was that no one who reads this psalm should ever forget the valuable lesson he had learned.

That is why David writes in verse 11, "Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD." His message is, when you learn to fear the Lord, you will learn how to overcome your fear of everything else that is less than God.

Like Psalm 25, this is an acrostic psalm with the Hebrew letter waw omitted and an extra pe added at the beginning of verse 22. The title connects the psalm with David's dangerous experience with the Philistines in Gath, as recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10—22:1, after which he fled to the cave of Adullum. The emphasis on fearing the Lord (vv. 7, 9, 11) and trusting His goodness (vv. 8, 10, 12) would fit into this historical context. The Philistine king is called Achish in 1 Samuel, but the dynastic title of Philistine kings was Abimelech, as in the title of the psalm. Egyptian rulers were called Pharaoh and the Amalekite kings called Agag. Verse 8 is quoted in 1 Peter 2:3 and verses 12–16 in 1 Peter 3:10–12.

1 Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, even if some disobey the [Christian]message, they may be won over without a message by the way their wives live…   6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do good and aren't frightened by anything alarming. 

Peter broadens this aspect of fear to describe how you can combat it. He deals with other issues that cause us fear:

^{1 Peter3:13} And who will harm you if you are passionate for what is good?  ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed, ¹⁵ but set apart the Messiah as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Out of his experience in Gath, David shared in this psalm four instructions for his own followers (1 Sam. 22:1–2), as well as for us today, to help us keep out of those fearful situations that can leave us paralyzed with terror. 

What is it that you fear the most?  A society plummeting into antichristian socialism that will persecute believers? It could be just around the corner.  Do you fear the loss of your house through fire? It could be just around the corner.

Praise the Lord (vv. 1–3)

David was delighted to be out of enemy territory (where he probably shouldn't have gone to begin with) and back in the wilderness with his men. Note the verbs: bless, boast, magnify, exalt. The name "Lord" is used sixteen times in the psalm. If initially, David was speaking to his own men, then he was calling them to interrupt warfare and focus on worship. "In prayer, we act like men [people]," wrote Puritan preacher Thomas Watson, "in praise we act like angels." David gave thanks to the Lord by magnifying Him and exalting His name. See what He did for David: He answered prayer (vv. 4, 15), provided his needs (vv. 9–10), delivered him from trouble (v. 17), and protected him from danger (v. 7). David didn't boast about his own cleverness or skill; he boasted about the Lord, who He is and what He does. They feared the Lord (vv. 7, 9),

His people were set-apart ("saints") as His righteous ones (vv. 10, 15, 19, 21), and were the servants of the Lord God (v. 22). Knowing who we are in Christ and who the Lord is ought to make us want to bless the Lord.

Seek the Lord (vv. 4–8)

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!

When David was feeling overwhelmed with fears, the first step he took was that he admitted his fears to God, in verse 4: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears." Verse 6 says God "saved him out of all his troubles."  The word "trouble" in the Hebrew means to be tied up, restricted, limited, or inhibited. That is what fear does to us; it ties us into knots, makes our personal world a scary place, and paralyzes us from taking any useful action. So what should you do when you find yourself in the grip of fear? First thing, admit it. Tell God all about it. Be honest about how you are feeling. Don't do the macho thing and act as though you are so tough that nothing scares you. Show the courage to admit your fears. Talk it out with God in lengthy prayer, complaining to God as you would to your closest friend. Why? Because if you want to be delivered from your fears, you must start with humbly admitting that you are afraid.

David gave a threefold witness of what the Lord does for His own: He saves (vv. 4–8), He keeps (v. 7), and He satisfies (v. 8). He sought the Lord and was saved from the fears ("terrors"; see 31:13) within him, and he cried to the Lord and was delivered from the troubles around him. To seek the Lord is the same as to look to the Lord; and when we look to Him by faith, He looks to us and "shines upon us" (4:6; Num. 6:22–27). If we walk in unbelief, our faces will be ashamed; if we walk by faith, our faces will be aglow (Ex. 34:29; Matt. 17:2; Acts 6:15; 2 Cor. 3:18).

When David envisioned a camp of angels around him, he may have been recalling Jacob's experience at Mahanaim ("the two camps"; Gen. 32:1–2). The angels are servants of the saints today and minister to us in ways we will never know about until we get to heaven (Heb. 1:14).

Those who seek the Lord discover that He not only saves and keeps but that He also satisfies (v. 8). "Taste" doesn't suggest a sip or a nibble; it implies feeding on the Lord through His Word and experiencing all He has for us (1 Peter 2:3; see Heb. 2:9; 6:3). It means knowing Him better and enjoying Him more. It was a great blessing for David to be delivered from Gath, and it was a greater blessing for him to be protected by the Lord after he fled, but the greatest blessing was drawing nearer to God and enjoying His presence, not just His gifts. David found God's Word sweet (119:103), and he rejoiced in the goodness of the Lord. "Good" is an important word in this psalm (vv. 8, 10, 12, 14).

Fear the Lord (vv. 9–16)

The key to overcoming all of those fears is to learn to fear God instead. David mentions the fear of the Lord three times in Psalm 34, in verses 7,9,11 ã "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. ... Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. ... Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD."

What does it mean to live in fear of the Lord?  Jerry Bridges defines it like this: "The essential elements of the fear of God are correct concepts of his character, a persuasive sense of his presence, and a constant awareness of our responsibility to Him". Jerry Bridges, Pursuit of Godliness

Those who fear the Lord (vv. 7, 9, 11) need fear nothing else, for this is the fear that drives out all fear (112:1). When we fear the Lord, He provides all that we need when we need it. Verse 9 is the Old Testament equivalent of Matthew 6:33. "No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly" (84:11 nasb). God promises to give us what is good for us and to cause all things to work together for good (Rom. 8:28).

These verses are full of active verbs that instruct us in godly living: taste, fear, seek, come, listen, keep, turn, pursue. [These are the verses that are quoted in 1 Peter 3:8-12.] David is describing the character of people who choose to trust and obey the Lord. Out of a healthy, holy fear of God, godly believers will conscientiously avoid evil and pursue all that is good. They will consistently say 'no' to what's wrong and 'yes' to what's right.

Desire what is good (v. 12). To be one who "desireth life" means to desire a full life, the abundant life Christ came to give (John 10:10). This kind of life has little to do with possessions, status, or fame, but it has a lot to do with character, faith, and a desire to honor the Lord. They seek the Lord and want nothing less than His will for their lives. Solomon had wealth, knowledge, fame, and power, yet he wrote, "Therefore, I hated life …" (Eccl. 2:17–20). To cultivate a heart that desires what is good, a heart that delights in the Lord (37:4), is the first step toward the life that overflows with the blessing of the Lord.

Speak what is true (v. 13). If we can control the tongue, we can control the body (James 3:1–12); "whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles" (Prov. 21:23 nkjv). To speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) and to speak nothing evil is not easy in today's competitive and corrupt society, but it can be done. Note David's prayer in 141:3–4.

"I would rather play with forked lightning, or take in my hands living wires with their fiery current," said A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, "than speak a reckless word against any servant of Christ, or idly repeat the slanderous darts which thousands of Christians are hurling on others, to the hurt of their own souls and bodies."

Pursue what is right (v. 14). This means abandoning sin once and for all, doing good as God gives strength and opportunity, and being a peacemaker and not a troublemaker. Christians don't seek "peace at any price," for peace depends on purity (James 3:13–18; Isa. 32:17), but they do make every effort not to make enemies (Matt. 5:9; Rom. 14:19; Heb. 12:14–21).

Sometimes our best efforts seem to be in vain, but at least we obeyed the Lord (Matt. 5:21–26; 18:15–35).

"Pursue" means that we have to work at it, with the help of the Lord.

Expect what is best (vv. 15–16). We must live by faith, trusting the Lord to guide us, care for us, and help us do the right thing. We need not fear because His eyes are upon us (32:8) and His ears are attentive to our prayers. God's face is against those who would do evil to us. This promise is illustrated in Acts 12, when Peter was in prison awaiting execution, the church was praying, and King Herod seemed to be having his way. God saw Peter's plight, He heard the prayers of the saints, and He delivered Peter but destroyed Herod.

Psalm 112:7-8 says of the person who fears the Lord, "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes." Isaiah 41:10,13 also proclaims, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. ... Do not fear, I will help you."

Trust the Lord (vv. 17–22)

 "I sought the Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." David was remembering deliverance from a real danger, an angry Philistine ruler. He responded to the threatening situation with a petition to the Lord for help, and the Lord heard him. Actually David declares that he "delivered me from all my fears." There have been many other dangerous situations, but when he cried out, the Lord delivered.

A.      Trust the Lord with your frustrations

17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

B.      Trust the Lord with your feelings

18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

C.      Trust the Lord with your future

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.

D.      Trust the Lord with your foes

21 Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

E.       Trust the Lord with your failures

22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Have you ever been on an airplane in the fog when the air gets turbulent and the ride gets rough? At that moment, you may remember feeling tempted to start to worry about whether you'll ever make it safely to the ground. But then the captain's voice comes over the P.A. system, assuring you that everything is under control, that his radar shows that you are right on course, and that in a few minutes the bumpy ride will subside. Just knowing that someone who knows more than you says that everything is under control is very reassuring, isn't it? You can then just sit back and enjoy the trip, realizing it is the captain's responsibility to get you to your destination safely, not you. So, after admitting your fear, you commit it to the captain, forget it, then go back to sleep.

You have a God who takes care of you like that all through the day and all through the night. He never forgets about you. He is always with you every step of the way, through thick and thin. Sure, your life isn't always neat and tidy. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it's confusing. Sometimes it seems terribly unfair and troubling. But even in the midst of those thorny, thistle-filled, sweat-of-the-brow chapters of life, you can know that all of these distresses and setbacks, disabilities, pains and agonies, do not have the final word. They do not have ultimate control over your life. God does. And He will never cease being in control.  So, what is David's formula for coping with fear?