Chaplain’s Corner – April
22, 2008
Rev.
Rich Hines
Learning To Trust God - The Example of
David (Psalm 34)
This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ
as their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain or a volunteer gospel
minister in a jail, prison or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission –
in the
All Scripture quotes are normally taken from the New King James Version
(NKJV) of the Bible, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any
deviation from the NKJV text is placed within parenthesis signs (). These usually occur as direct translations
from the original languages, or as notes from the
original setting to help apply the text to today’s culture.
ALL CAPITAL
LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize words in a text, or to make a comment
about a biblical text, or emphasize a statement
Dear ministers of the
gospel of Christ to the incarcerated and to residents of rescue missions,
greetings. In establishing men and women
in the faith of Jesus Christ, you must help them actually learn to fully trust
God. In His word, God gives us many
examples of real people with real problems from which to learn.
Romans 15:4 Says: "For whatever things were written before (meaning in
the Old Testament) were written for our (meaning New Testament Christians)
learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have
hope."
One of the things you
should be doing in your Bible classes is character studies from the lives of so
many written about in the Bible. In the matter of teaching them to trust God, one of the best characters to study is David,
the son of Jesse. He became the
king of
The occasion just
before he wrote Psalm 34 was one of his failures, but through it, God taught
him to trust Him, His plan and His preserving grace. Psalm 34 begins with a Title or
Superscription. These words are part of
the Holy Spirit inspired text.
It reads: "A Psalm of David when he
pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and
he departed."
This takes us to 1
Samuel 21. There, the context is David
fleeing from the wrath and murderous intentions of jealous King Saul. He fled to a city of priests called Nob. There, he was recognized by one of Saul's
loyal herdsmen, and immediately felt he had to flee from that spot.
Having secured food,
he asked Ahimelech the high priest, for a
weapon. The only one available was the
sword that had belonged to Goliath, the Philistine giant from
Then of all the
possible places to go David ran to
In
Under the trap or
snare of the fear of man, David acted like a madman, drooling in his beard and
scratching or scribbling on the doors with his fingernails. This can be seen as a failure of his faith in
God, because he did this by his own fleshly human wits. In the ancient middle-east, drooling on your
beard or having someone spit on it was considered the depth of indignity. The Abimelech Achish could not stand to have such a man in his court, so
he banished David.
1 Samuel 22:1 then
tells us he departed from Achish in
As he reflected on
how good the LORD had been to him, the Psalm worked through the 22 letters of
the Hebrew alphabet, each verse beginning with a subsequent letter.
In it, we see his
reflection on God's deliverance from danger and subsequent worship. It ends with his call to others to completely trust in the LORD'S
deliverance. I think this Psalm is one
of many good passages to teach your flock about trusting God, even in their
place of incarceration or discipleship.
The Psalm has two
parts: Verses 1-10 and verses 11-22.
The first part is a Song of praise from David about his recent
experience of God’s deliverance.
It should be every believer’s personal song as well. I mean every believer should think about
these things. He begins in verse 1:
1 I will bless the
LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make
its boast (the word comes from to make a show, celebrate) in the LORD; the
humble (or lowly, weak, needy) shall hear of it and be glad.
In order to be a
believer and trust in the LORD, one has to first be humbled and through with
trusting in self. Once a believer, the
truly humble person becomes a true worshiper of God. David's experience in Achish's
court had humbled him before men, but even more so before God, for he had taken
matters into his own hands and had not acted in true faith. The more humble we are before God, the easier
it is to trust Him.
3 Oh, magnify (make large)
the LORD with me, and let us exalt (raise up, extol)
His name together.
When we realize how good and great the Lord has been to us, we want to see
others join in with us and praise Him.
David invites all of us even today, to join his worship nearly 3,000
years ago. I think the next part of this
song in verse 4, refers to what happened to David after leaving
4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.
After leaving
“I
sought the LORD, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. “
Next, David sang
about others, before returning to his own experience in verse 6.
5 They looked to Him (the
LORD) and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed (confounded or
embarrassed).
This is important
because our faith is aided by realizing others have gone through rough waters
too. We’re not the only ones that have
ever been in BIG TROUBLE. Others have
also had similar experiences - and when
in faith they “Looked to” the Lord, they brightened up and their faces
were filled with joy rather than embarrassment.
As David returned to
his own experience, note in verse 6 how he again speaks of being humbled.
6 This poor man cried out,
When he did so in
true humility, the rest of the verse not only records what David experienced,
but what will happen to anyone who humbly seeks the Lord.
“…and the LORD heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.”
Moving along, the
next part of David’s song is truly one of the strong promises in the Bible to
God’s trusting children. In this Psalm and elsewhere the “fear of the
LORD” and having a living faith and trust in the Lord are connected.
7 The angel of the LORD (an Old Testament reference to the pre-incarnate
Christ) encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers (rescues) them.
Wow! What a promise! God encircles
those who trust and reverence Him! He
always rescues His own! Christ protects
His own.
Compare verse 7 to
Hebrews 13:5, where the Lord says: “I will never leave you nor forsake
you.” In the original language that ‘s said even stronger.
In the ancient biblical languages repeated words or phrases were used
for emphasis. TWICE God says He will not
leave the believer and THREE TIMES, He says He will not ever forsake them!
Dr. Kenneth Wuest renders the translation of Hebrews 13:5 this way: “He
Himself has said, and the statement is on record, ‘I WILL NOT, I WILL NOT cease
to sustain and uphold you. I WILL NOT, I WILL NOT, I WILL NOT let you down’ ”
Now, back to David’s
song in Psalm 34, his closing stanza in verses 8-10 puts it all together.
8 Oh, taste and see (both verbs are commands) that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who trusts
in Him!
9 Oh, fear (also a command) the LORD, you His saints! There is no want (deficiency, need,
lack) to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack
(are destitute) and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack (or, fail of) any good thing.
Trusting, fearing and
seeking the Lord all go together. God
through His song writer David, commands us to taste and to see His goodness,
and to fear Him. Those that do also
actively SEEK Him, which is to say they’re constantly going to Him and
enquiring about Him. Those who trust, and fear and seek the
Lord will be blessed and supplied with what they truly need, by Him, and Him
alone.
The cave in Adullam was in the general area known as the wilderness of
The second part of
the Psalm in verses 11-22, is a sermon
from David based on what he learned about God through his
troubles.
His message centers
on the fear of the LORD - as it relates to life,
to prayer and to ultimate
salvation. Through it all we are
urged to live a life of faith, trusting
God to take care of us, both now and for eternity.
11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Verses 12-16 are
quoted in 1 Peter 3:10-12, and there applied to enduring persecution for the
testimony of Christ. Here, they speak
first about what it means to fear and trust the Lord, and then about WHO HE REALLY IS.
12 Who is the man 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 Depart (or, turn aside from)
from evil and do good; seek (as a desire) peace and pursue (chase) it.
Those that fear and
trust the Lord DESIRE the right thing.
Better, they desire the Right One, that is: God who gives those who
trust Him, true good. He gives real life. Not just length of years, but quality of
life. With God’s life in them, they
guard their speech. In Matthew 12:34,
Jesus taught we really say what we say, because of the condition of our heart. He
said: “… Out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaks.”
In the fear of the
Lord, a believer is characterized by a determined departure from evil sinful
things and a pursuit of good and righteous actions. They constantly pursue the things that make
for peace.
Verses 15-18 focus on
PRAYER. In verses 15 and 16, some of God’s
attributes are mentioned, because we need to know Who
it is we are speaking to in prayer!
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open
to their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the
remembrance of them from the earth.
The Lord God is
omniscient, loving, faithful and totally just.
He knows
everything and nothing is hidden from Him. He is approachable because He IS LOVE. In His love He is faithful and reliable to hear the prayers (even the cries) of
His own. Lastly, verse 16 speaks of His justice. Because He is perfectly holy, He judges evildoers.
God through David is
telling us here that He only hears
the prayers of the righteous. Look at 1
Peter 3:12, “…
the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their
prayers; BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL.” In their final and eternal judgment,
unrepentant unbelievers will be forever cut off and removed from the presence
of the LORD.
Continuing this
sub-section on prayer, verse 17
says:
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and
delivers them (rescues them, snatches them away) out of all their troubles (or
distresses).
This verse teaches us
that the righteous (who are the ones God has saved) do cry out to Him. They
pray, and because of His loving faithfulness God hears and answers their
prayers.
Consider
Psalm 63:6-8, possibly written at the
same time as Psalm 34, but more likely later, when he had to flee from his son Absalom’s forces, David says there:
"When I remember
You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night
watches. Because You
have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings (a reference to God’s
protection) I will rejoice. My soul
FOLLOWS CLOSE BEHIND YOU (this statement involves sincere prayer); Your right hand upholds me."
In Psalm 119:147,148
- written even later near the end of his life looking back on his experiences
David said: "I rise before the dawning of the morning,
and cry for help (obviously in
prayer); I hope in Your
word. My eyes are awake through the night
watches, that I may meditate on Your word."
The section on prayer ends in verse 18, and begins to
speak of God’s salvation. It says:
18 The LORD is NEAR
(can mean near in time, in place, or in personal relationship) to those who
have a broken heart, and SAVES such as have a contrite spirit.
As Jesus taught in
the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs (meaning: theirs ALONE) is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn (meaning
over their sin), for they (meaning: they ALONE) shall be comforted."
(Matthew 5:3,4).
So here God's salvation is
for those broken over their sin. In
their poverty of spirit they realize their total inability to change
themselves. So, they look to the LORD.
Since the true
believer in Christ does not have to wait a long time for God to reveal Himself
to them and since He is always present with them, they can TRUST Him to work
things out, even when things look bleak.
David learned that, and so should we!
Finally, in Psalm
34:19-22, his sermon concludes by teaching others about a right relationship
with the true God and about what happens to those that refuse Him and His salvation .
19 Many are the afflictions (from the root: bad, hence distresses) of
the righteous, but the LORD delivers (same word as in v.17, rescues) him out of
them all.
20 He guards (or
keeps watch over) all his bones; not one of them is broken.
It’s totally the opposite
with unrepentant sinners, who will not trust and obey God, so verse 21 says of
them:
21 Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the
righteous shall be condemned.
The sermon and the
Psalm ends in verse 22 with a final declaration about God’s
saving relationship to those who through faith have become His servants
and His children.
22 The LORD redeems
(ransoms, rescues) the soul (or life) of His servants (slaves or subjects), and
none of those who trust in Him shall
be condemned.
They won’t be condemned and judged for their
sin BECAUSE IN THE PERSON OF THE CHRIST, GOD BORE THEIR SINS IN HIS OWN BODY AT
THE CROSS OF CALVARY! Their total
trust in that ultimate redemptive fact,
justifies them from all their sins forever.
They will not be condemned.
What an assurance,
and what peace those who fully trust God
have!
Rich Hines
Minister To Chaplains