Embrace the Word for Monday, March 9, 2026
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Psalm 34 is a praise offered by David in response to the LORD for delivering him. Psalm 34 offers a detailed superscription: “Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.” 1 Samuel 21:11-15 provides the historical context for this Psalm. David, who is on the run from Saul, escapes to Gath, a Philistine city. But Gath is the hometown of Goliath, whom David had earlier slain (See 1 Samuel 17); and David has in his possession, the sword of Goliath. As David appears before Abimelech, the Philistine king, who is also known as Achish, everyone seems to remember David’s role in slaying Goliath. David feigns madness: “So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard” (1 Samuel 21:13). David’s actions suggest how terribly desperate he was. Perhaps verse 6 captures David’s estimate of how helpless he felt in the face of the danger he was in: “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles” (34:6).
Like a couple of Psalms before, Psalm 34 is almost a complete acrostic, nearly identical to Psalm 25. Psalm 34 shares some things in common with a few of the immediate preceding Psalms. After Psalm 1 and Psalm 2’s usage the term “Blessed” (See Psalm 1:1; 2:12), there has been no use of that term until Psalm 32. But now, with Psalm 34, the term “Blessed” has been used in three consecutive Psalms (32:1; 33:12; 34:8). Psalm 34 and Psalm 33 each speak of “the eye(s) of the LORD” (33:18 ; 34:15); and each speak of the “fear” of the LORD (33:18; 34: Psalm 34:7,9,11). Psalm 34 begins with what is primarily David’s testimony about his situation (34:1-10), before transitioning to David’s instructions to his people concerning the fear of the LORD (34:11-22).
Psalm 34 opens with David’s praise to the LORD: “I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad” (34:1-2). Using intensely personal terms, such as “I,” “my mouth,” and “my soul,” David is emphatically praising the LORD. With the use of “bless,” “praise,” and “boast,” David stacks up the terms to underscore what he is doing. And with the time markers of “at all times,” and “continually,” David is describing the frequency as well as duration of his activities. David calls upon those around him, the “humble,” to gladly join in with him: “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!” (34:3). Praising God is deeply personal, but it is also highly communal. Praise begins in the heart of an individual, but it also desires company. David yearns for a fellowship of praise.
David testifies of the LORD’s deliverance: “I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears” (34:4). It is this deliverance that is fueling David’s praise. David “sought,” the LORD, who “heard” and “delivered.” Verse 6 gives the same pattern: “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles” (34:6). David “cried” and the LORD “heard” and “saved.” In between these parallel verses, David invites the company around him to join in: “Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed” (34:5). David is declaring that those who seek the LORD and cry out to Him, are those who look to him. And those who look to the LORD experience something from the LORD. Just as Moses’ face shone from being in the presence of the LORD (See Exodus 34:29), so too does a heart that God graciously fills with peace and confidence, manifest itself in appearance and demeanor. In verse 7, David parallel’s verse 5 as he testifies how God’s presence amidst His people is transformative: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them” (34:7). Just as the LORD encamped around Israel as they were surrounded by the Red Sea on one side and the pursuing forces of Pharaoh on the other, the LORD protected and delivered His people (See Exodus 14:19-20). Such assurance is meant to strengthen the hearts and brighten the continence of all who trust in the LORD.
David turns from offering his own testimony of the LORD’s goodness in his life to inviting the company around him to experience the same: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints” (34:8-9a). David’s invitation to experience the goodness of God is expressed through three imperatives: “taste,” “see,” and “fear.” David is not issuing three separate commands, but three ways of underscoring what trusting in, or taking “refuge” in the LORD consists of. We do not literally taste or see, but we are to personally or first hand savor and behold the ways that God’s goodness unfolds in our lives. As we become aware of the LORD’s goodness in our lives, we are to be in a kind of reverent awe over the power and might of God that we turn to the LORD: “for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing” (34:9b-10). The results of a seeking trust is the experience of the LORD’s faithful provision. The goodness of the LORD manifests itself in the “lack” of “no good thing.” Whatever the LORD deems good for us is what he will always supply to us.
David moves from declaring his testimony, with its accompanied invitation to join him, to instructions on what joining him in a seeking trust in the LORD looks like: “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD” (34:11). David has just invited the company around him to possess a fear that seeks the LORD. Now, taking on the firm affection of a father, David offers counsel as to what proper fear of the LORD looks like. First, living in the fear of the LORD is the essence of the good life: “What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?” (34:12). This good life expresses itself through its moral resolves: “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (34:13-14). In word and in action, in refraining from evil and purposing good, fearing God is set on display.
David unpacks how the LORD deals with those who properly fear Him. There is a vital reason why the LORD’s people would purpose to live the way described in the immediate preceding verses—the LORD wholeheartedly attends to the welfare of His people: “The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth” (34:15-16). His “eyes” and “ears” are turned toward the righteous, but the “face of the LORD” is turned against those who do evil. The LORD is ever attentive to His people, but He will remove all recollection of the wicked. What David testified that the LORD did in his own life (34:6), he now declares that He does for all who are His: "When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (34:17-18). David’s personal experience of being delivered amidst his affliction leads him to assert that the LORD hears and is near to all His troubled people. The LORD does not always prevent His people from experiencing affliction, but He does preserve them through their afflictions: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” (34:19). Contrast this assurance with the warning issued for the wicked: "Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned” (34:21-22). Both the righteous and the wicked experience affliction, but while the righteous are delivered, the wicked will be slain in their affliction. Notice the vital distinction that David ends with as he has been contrasting the wicked and the righteous. The righteous “take refuge” in the LORD, and it is through trusting in the LORD, that the LORD pardons His peoples sin (See Psalm 32) and counts them as righteous in His sight. For those who “take refuge” in the LORD, there is “therefore now no condemnation” (See Romans 8:1). Afflictions still come upon God’s people, Paul declares: “We are afflicted in every way,” he is also quick to add, “but not crushed” (See 2 Corinthians 4:8ff).
As we reflect on Psalm 34, we might consider John’s use of Psalm 34. I skipped over verse 20: “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken” (34:20). As David considers how the LORD had not only delivered him out of his afflictions, but also how the LORD does the same for all His people, David seems to look at Exodus and make reference to the Passover Lamb. As Israel made preparations for the blood of the Passover Lamb to cover the doorframes of their houses, the Lamb’s bones were not to be broken: “It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones” (See Exodus 12:46). David sees the LORD’s work of deliverance in his life as a pattern established at the Exodus involving the Passover Lamb. John picks up on both the instructions offered in Exodus 12 as well as how that was partially fulfilled in David’s life pointing to the ultimate fulfillment in Christ: “For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken” (See John 19:36). In order to accelerate the process of dying, the soldiers began breaking the legs of those who were crucified alongside Jesus. When they came to Jesus they found that He had already died. Thus, Jesus’ legs were not in need of being broken. Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection is our only sure hope. Through Jesus, we are delivered, “from all my fears” (34:4), “out of all [my] troubles” (34:6), “out of all [our] troubles” (34:17), and for emphasis, “out of them all” (34:19).
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Monday, March 9, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Wednesday, March 11, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 35.