Have you ever felt overwhelmed, like the whole world is stacked against you? Have you ever felt like you had nowhere to turn? When David wrote Psalm 34, his father-in-law, King Saul was chasing him around the country, trying to kill him. He was so desperate to get away from Saul that he fled to the country of the Philistines – the very people he had been fighting against for years. Then, he pretended to be crazy so they wouldn’t kill him. But they wouldn’t even keep him in prison – they also turned him away. You can’t get much lower than that.

So, what did David do when he hit rock bottom? He turned his attention away from his terrible circumstances and made the conscious choice to praise God, to focus on God’s love and mercy.

And to fuel his faith in verse 4, he remembered how God had saved him in the past from similar sorts of dangers. After all, God even allowed him to do something as impossible as killing the giant Goliath (I Samuel 17). So it’s no wonder that he was confident that God could protect him from Saul and the Philistines. It’s no wonder that he was certain that God would provide for him in every way, as verse 9 says.

And because of this certainty, in verses 11-14 David urges us to live a life of obedience. Now, verse 12 reminds us that living a life of devotion to God and service to others is indeed the practical thing to do. After all, living in selfish and wicked ways is often dangerous – murderers and thieves don’t tend to live long and happy lives. And history teaches us that the most stable and prosperous societies are those which tend to value the sort of truth-telling that makes trust and peace possible.

But remember – at the time David wrote this psalm, he wasn’t exactly being blessed. He had done the right thing, serving Saul and remaining loyal to him. In spite of Saul’s increasingly insane violence, David even refused to lead the people in a rebellion against him. And yet he was still on the run. No, it’s no wonder that in verse 19 David admits that righteous people often have to endure all sorts of afflictions.

So, is David just talking out of both sides of his mouth? How can God bless the righteous even while sometimes allowing them to suffer? Verse 20 explains by giving us a brief but vivid glimpse of the suffering of Christ on the cross – “He keeps all his bones; Not one of them is broken.” Jesus was perfectly righteous, and yet He suffered in the worst way possible. But even as the nails pierced his wrists and His feet, and even though he was stabbed with a spear, none of His bones were broken.

And so we are reminded that it is precisely through Jesus’ suffering and death that any of us can be called righteous. And it is because He endured the agony of the cross that all who trust in Him can taste and see that the Lord is good (verse 8), and can experience the greatest of all blessings – the forgiving, healing, protecting presence of God with us.

So, surely we should respond to such grace with the sort of obedience David describes in verses 11-14. For if Christ made us righteous by dying for us, isn’t devoting ourselves to His glory, and to the good of others the least we can do?

Psalm 34 (NASB)

A Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.
I Will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear it and rejoice.
3 O 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 They looked to Him and were 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 rescues them.
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
9 O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him, there is no want.
10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Who is the man who desires life, And loves length of days that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil, and do good; Seek peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against evildoers, To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, And saves those who are 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 Evil shall slay the wicked; And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems the soul of His servants; And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.