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This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;

    he saved him out of all his troubles

‘One person’s testimony is only valuable to others if it rests on changeless truth about God’ (Alec Motyer, ‘New Bible Commentary’, pp.506/507). David’s testimony here is, in effect, ‘God rescued me; you too are safe in his hands’ (Derek Kidner: ‘Kidner Classic Commentaries: Psalms 1-72’, p.157).

This is the testimony of a spiritual bankrupt, so it is the testimony of everyone “saved” by Jesus. The Lord said, in the first beatitude, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The “poor in spirit” are those who are spiritually bankrupt, and who know it and confess it. If, as we saw, the “afflicted” (2) are those ‘at the bottom of life’s heap’ (Motyer), then David admitted he had also found himself there. (Someone observed that it is possible for a person to get so low that the only way they can look is up).

Kidner says, ‘To get the force of David’s words one only has to recall his peril and his abject clowning to save his life.’

“When I was desperate, I called out, and GOD got me out of a tight spot”  (v.6 ‘The Message’).

God did get him out of a tight corner, that’s for sure, and there is help and comfort for us in David’s testimony, because it contains ‘changeless truth about God’, and this God is our God – for ever and ever!

Those who look to him are radiant;

    their faces are never covered with shame.

Every face turned to him grows brighter (Jerusalem Bible).

The Lord bless you

    and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you

    and be gracious to you;

 the Lord turn his face toward you

    and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

His name was Alan and, for a short time when I was a teenager, he was my Bible class leader at a local church in Winstanley, Wigan. The thing I most remember about Alan is his radiance. I can’t remember much about his teaching, but I remember him. He shone. He was “aglow with the Spirit” (Romans 12:11). Alan was a new convert and he was just so in love with Jesus he was like walking sunshine. His influence was great. He went on to have a major leadership role in the ‘Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International.’ I ran into him from time to time in later years, and I found he was always the same – such a bright Christian.

It may often be the case that the most important change we need is internal rather than external. God may, or may not, free us from troubles on the outside, but He can give us such a light, a luminosity on the inside that we are overcomers anyway.

The word “radiant” is found in Isaiah 60:5 where it describes a mother’s face lighting up at the sight of her children long given up for lost. Just imagine the ecstasy.

Exodus 34:29 tells of Moses’ face shining as he came down from the mountain (and he didn’t even know it!), and 2 Corinthians 3:18 relates this to a Christian’s growing likeness to the Lord. So radiance is, Biblically-speaking, both delight and glory – the transformation of the whole person – and this was what I saw in Alan.

It reminds me of the story about the author Edgar Wallace, who lived in the same street as a godly clergyman. Apparently, Wallace said, ‘As long as I live in the same street as that old man, I can never doubt that there is a God.’

The second part of the text says: “…their faces are never covered with shame.” This means we will never be disappointed as a result of looking to the Lord. Matthew Henry references Hannah who “…went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast” (1 Samuel 1:18).

PRAYER: Lord God, please grant that people may see the beauty of Jesus in me.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

    he delivered me from all my fears.

‘Note the egoism of this verse and of those preceding it; we need not blush to speak of ourselves when in so doing we honestly aim at glorifying God, and not at exalting ourselves. Some are foolishly squeamish upon this point, but they should remember that when modesty robs God it is most immodest.’ C.H. Spurgeon: ‘Treasury of David.’

My outline of Psalm 34 (and there are many different ways to outline it) goes like this:

1. Praising: 1-3;
2. Praying: 4-7;
3. Preaching: 8 -22.

So here we are in the prayer section, and this verse refers to seeking, answering and delivering.

1. Seeking: The Bible contains many wonderful promises made to those who seek the Lord – not least verse 10b. But other verses on the subject come to mind. E.g: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer.29:13);“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (Is.55:6);“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). These are just a few examples.‘Seeking’ seems to refer to more than perfunctory praying. There is an intensity, an earnestness running through it, like the name of a seaside town in a stick of rock;
2. Answering: The fact that God answers those who sincerely seek Him is fundamental in the above passages. Consider another which says: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). His children never seek Him in vain (Isaiah 45:19);
3. Delivering: The word “fears” in verse 4 is a strong one. It is closely related to the “terror” of Psalm 31:13. It could refer to the events dreaded or the dread itself – probably the latter. Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, in his 1933 Presidential inauguration: ‘…the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself…’(although he may not have been the first to articulate the thought). But there is no doubt that fear itself is a terrible thing. It can be paralysing; it can put the brakes on, and keep you from moving forward in faith. Sometimes the fear may be be worse than the thing feared. David sought the Lord and was delivered from “all” his fears. What do you need deliverance from?

Jonathon Aitken, in his book “Porridge and Passion’, tells how early on in his imprisonment at Bellmarsh Maximum Security gaol, he was talking to a monk, a member of the Chaplaincy team. Aitken is very honest about the things he did wrong and he was willing to pay the price for his crime. But he was also treated so badly, so unjustly by a number of people. At the time of this conversation he was struggling with resentment. The monk told him he needed to forgive, but Jonathon replied that he just couldn’t at that point, even though he knew he needed to. So the monk issued this challenge: ‘Would you be willing to ask the Lord to make you willing to forgive?’ Well, yes, he could and he would do that. His testimony is that not immediately, but over a period of a number of weeks, his heart gradually changed, and he was able to forgive his tormentors. He sought the Lord, and He was heard.

PRAYER: Lord, increase our faith.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

    he delivered me from all my fears.

5 Those who look to him are radiant;

    their faces are never covered with shame.

6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;

    he saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,

    and he delivers them.

Verses 1-3 I’m entitling ‘Praise’ (Derek Kidner entitles the entire psalm ‘Thank God!’), and verses 4-7 ‘Prayer.’

But before we get into the detail of 4-7, I want to make a couple of observations:

1. This psalm is an acrostic. So each verse begins with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. However, it appears that one letter is missing and another is used twice. I think it’s important to point out (although the thought is not original to me) that life in a fallen world is not always neat and tidy. It is regularly disorderly and messy and unpredictable. That was David’s lived experience, and he invites us to share his joy and learn from his life. We have the same God;
2. Therefore we can say with some legitimacy, I believe, that this psalm provides us with an ‘ABC of prayer in a crisis’. Kidner points out that a substantial quotation and some further distinct echoes of the psalm in 1 Peter 2 and 3 (and in other epistles) illustrate the indebtedness of every generation to this psalm. He also says that one of its best known legacies is the hymn, ‘Through all the changing scenes of life.’

“1 Through all the changing scenes of life,

in trouble and in joy,

the praises of my God shall still

my heart and tongue employ.

2 O magnify the Lord with me,

with me exalt his name;

when in distress, to him I called

he to my rescue came.

3 The hosts of God encamp around

the dwellings of the just;

his saving help he gives to all

who in his mercy trust.

4 O taste his goodness, prove his love;

experience will decide

how blessed they are, and only they,

who in his truth confide.

5 Fear him, you saints, and you will then

have nothing else to fear;

his service shall be your delight,

your needs shall be his care.

6 To Father, Son and Spirit, praise!

To God whom we adore

be worship, glory, power and love,

both now and evermore!”

Glorify the Lord with me:

    let us exalt his name together.

More than once we’ve seen it or heard about it: someone running a marathon – or a similar long distance – deliberately slows down as they near the finish line, in order to put an arm around another obviously struggling runner, who would never make it over the line without such physical and moral support. The ‘good samaritan’ has sacrificed possibly their target time, and their position in the race. But helping someone in need matters more.

The New Testament calls the church – the people of God – to a ministry of ‘one-anothering.’ There are so many different things we are exhorted to do for “one another.” Keep an eye out for them as you read your Bible. We need each other. The ministry of mutual encouragement is so important. None of us will be able to make it across the finish line on our own.

In some of our hymns we do the same as David here: we encourage our brothers and sisters to worship God and walk with Him. Don’t underestimate the power of words (for good or ill), and the positive influence you can have on someone else. As we see people straggling, let’s not think it’s another’s job to get alongside them (or that someone else will probably do it). I am my brother’s keeper!

‘A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle’ (Italian proverb)

PRAYER: Lord, show me someone I can encourage today.

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.

I want to pick up on two words found in the ‘New King James’ translation of this psalm:

1. Boasting: I am reminded of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:31: “Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” “ (‘New Living Translation’).I also recall Romans 15:17,18b, where he writes: “Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done – by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God.” There is a natural, sinful human tendency to want to boast about our achievements and accomplishments. But the Biblical perspective is that there is no room for such boasting. A hymn contains these lines: ‘boasting excluded, pride I abase; I’m only a sinner saved by grace’;
2. Magnifying: To “magnify the Lord” does not mean to make Him bigger than He is. That is impossible. But perhaps we begin to see Him bigger and bigger as we praise Him. How much we need this enlarged perspective.

‘The Bible NEVER flatters its heroes. It tells us the truth about each one of them in order that against the background of human breakdown and failure we may magnify the grace of God and recognise that it is the delight of the Spirit of God to work upon the platform of human impossibilities.’ Dr. Alan Redpath.

PRAYER: Lord God, may we know who you are, and who we are, and as a result walk humbly before you all our days.

I will glory in the Lord;

    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

‘In prayer, we act like men, in praise we act like angels.” Thomas Watson.

Life and death are in the tongue. Our words can have a profound effect on others, for better or for worse.

‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.’ I believe this quote is attributed to Plato, and there is much truth in it. If people are not currently fighting a hard battle, they have done in the past, or they are likely to in the future. Every human-being should be handled with care.

I love these words found in Isaiah 50:4: “The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.”

David writes, in this verse, about the effect his glorying (or boasting) in the Lord may have on others in need. One commentary says “the afflicted” are those at the bottom of the pile. No-one need be beyond the reach of God’s encouraging Word

Superficially, it may have appeared that David got out of the situation with Abimilek (Achish) by his astuteness. But in fact, he says, it was a divine deliverance. David did not boast about his own cleverness, skill, or resourcefulness, but He boasted in the Lord. He was the One who had brought about his escape.

I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

‘If we hope to spend our eternity in praising God, it is fit that we should spend as much as may be of our time in this work.’ Matthew Henry.

It is clear that, for David, praise was a choice. He had decided to have a lifestyle of worship. Look at the repetition of the word “will”.

“He is resolved and fixed, I will; he is personally and for himself determined, let others do as they may; he is intelligent in head and inflamed in heart—he knows to whom the praise is due, and what is due, and for what and when.” C.H.Spurgeon

God is always thoroughly deserving of our praise so His praise should “always” be on our lips. But we do not “at all times” feel like praising God, so we have to decide that we are going to do it. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.’ But we have to commit ourselves to this great purpose for which we were made. In the ‘New Bible Commentary’, verses 1,2 are headed: ‘Commitment to ceaseless praise.’

The life-situation out of which this psalm was born is instructive. It was a difficult and dangerous time for David. He was an innocent man, on the run. We may question what he did when he pretended insanity before Abimelek, but he was clearly caught between ‘a rock and a hard place.’ He was being treated unjustly. Was that sad story to be included in the “at all times”? I believe David’s answer would be a loud and definite ‘Yes!’

The title of this psalm says:

‘Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.’

So the psalm is connected with the dangerous experience David had with the Philistines in Gath, as recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-22:1, after which he fled to the cave of Adullam. This time in his life was not his finest hour. If faith is ‘living without scheming’, as someone described it, then what was David up to? What was going on?

But by God’s grace and mercy, this very human being came out of it with a testimony to the goodness of God, and he had life-lessons to pass on to others. This beautiful psalm came to the boil and bubbled over through the heat of his trial and his less than ideal response to it. But it is correct to note, as Matthew Henry comments, that although this psalm was inspired by a particular occasion, there is little in it that relates to that occasion, but there is much that is of more general help and instruction.

It is encouraging that, in the Bible, God in His sovereignty even rules and overrules in the sins and failures of His people, and regularly uses those very things to further His purposes in them and through them.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

PRAYER: Lord, may nothing in my life be wasted, but used for your glory.