Food for Thought

David’s Psalm 34 is a Psalm well worth not just reading but is worth memorizing. It begins with a great challenge.  David writes: “I will bless the Lord at all times”.  Easier said than done might be our first reaction to these words.  Perhaps we think surely King David is seated comfortably in his palace as he pens these words having just been served a magnificent breakfast on a beautiful sunshiny morning. Surely, he is thinking: “All is well! God is good all the time!  And so why not commit to praising him?”

But the truth is far from that.  This Psalm is written in conjunction with the events covered in I Samuel twenty-one and chapter twenty-two.  David has yet to be King, is being constantly hunted by the jealous King Saul and has found refuge in Gath, an area ruled by the Philistine King Achish.  How ironic is that? David the boy hero toppling the Philistine hero Goliath and now dependent on the Philistines for his safety! How uncertain and unsafe is that?  David hears the grumbling of officers in the Philistine army about his presence there and so he flees and takes up residence in a cave still running for his life.  Not exactly a place or circumstance that would inspire praise in my mind.

Then consider his companions, the people who joined him, his brothers, relatives, and ‘others’. The scripture defines them as: men who were in trouble, or in debt, or who were just discontented.  So this is quite a different picture than that of a King being served the royal breakfast on the palace patio.  The reality is a man being hunted like an animal, probably dealing with a scarcity of food, and being defended by relatives, debtors, and the discontented.

But it is from this reality that David writes: ‘’I will bless the Lord at all times”.  How does that response compare with what you and I are going through?  I don’t mean to diminish the struggles you may be personally experiencing, many of them are very tough. But being determined to bless the Lord at ALL times is a great strategy.  Read the remainder of the Psalm and note carefully the results David experienced as a result of his praise. Here’s a snippet!

The eyes of the LORD watch over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for help. But the LORD turns his face against those who do evil; he will erase their memory from the earth. The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the broken-hearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.

The point? Bless the Lord at all times:                            Pastor Dave