Have you ever been "in a pickle" because of a dumb mistake you've made? I'm sure you haven't, but perhaps you have a friend that has! Have you ever "dodged a bullet" that you fired yourself? David was running from King Saul but ended up in the wrong place and feigning insanity in front of King Abimelech. Thankfully, the Lord delivered Him from this sticky situation. "Dumb mistake," "in a pickle," and "dodging a bullet" all describe David's circumstance at that point; but instead of blowing his escape off as luck, he wrote Psalm 34.
Psalm 34 starts out with the words, "I will bless the LORD. . . ." That is the entire psalm in a nutshell! When would David bless the Lord? He said he would bless the Lord "at all times" and that His praise would "continually be in [his] mouth." In other words, David said he would bless the Lord all the time and in every situation-constantly and continually.
How would David bless the Lord? Notice that in verse 2, David mentions the words boast and humble. There is a certain kind of boasting that demands humility. If I am going to "magnify the LORD," as verse 3 says, there must be humility of self. And if I am going to be humble of self, I can only do that by magnifying God. There is not room for me to magnify myself and God at the same time.
Why would David bless the Lord? David had a history, and that history is found in verse 4: "I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." Sometimes our greatest enemy is the fear we derive from some enemy we think we have. However, David sought the Lord, and that gave him cause to bless the Lord.
Verse 6 continues, "This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." Did you know that a "poor man" is the only kind of person that ever will cry to God? You are not going to ask unless you need, and you will not need unless you have a proper estimation of your place before God. It has been said before that people without problems do not pray. Some people mock prayer and people who pray by saying, "The only time you pray is when you are in trouble." The truth is, you are always in trouble! The problem is, you are not always wise enough to admit it.
Verse 7 gives us a great application this morning. David says, "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." You may not see God's "camp" this morning, but you can know that God is here (wherever here is). With the application comes an invitation: "O taste and see that the LORD is good. . . ." I will have problems and you will have problems; but in the same way that David experienced God's goodness, you and I need to "taste and see that the LORD is good." Will you bless the Lord today?
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