You can experience a joy, a radiance, in even the worst circumstances. You can be going through the worst possible crisis, and you can still experience comfort and joy. The kind of joy that God offers isn’t diminished by difficulty and hardship; it coexists with difficulty and hardship. We can look to God in our struggles and experience joy and peace even in the middle of trials.
Advice can be valuable, but only if it comes from somebody reliable. But when you find someone who’s been through exactly what you’re going through, and they have something to say, their advice can be incredible.
- If you are getting married, it is so helpful to talk to someone who has been married for a long time and is making it work.
- If you’re going through joblessness, it helps so much to talk to someone else who’s been unemployed in similar circumstances.
- If you are raising teenagers, it can be very helpful to talk to someone whose kids have gone through the same thing.
- If you are going through a crisis, it is helpful to talk to someone else who’s been through a similar crisis and survived.
It can be so valuable to get good advice from someone who’s learned from a similar situation we’re going through.
David’s Circumstance
So here’s why it’s worth learning from Psalm 34.
There are 14 psalms that are linked to events that took place in David’s life. This is one of them. We read in the inscription of the psalm, “Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.”
Two things to notice here.
First: David knows what it’s like to suffer! We find this story in 1 Samuel 21. You think you have problems? David was literally running for his life. He was in so much trouble that he fled to the land of the Philistines, his archenemies. How desperate do you have to be to flee to people who want to kill you? Even worse, he went carrying the sword of Goliath, a Philistine he had killed. When David was recognized, he escaped, barely, by acting like he’d lost his sanity.
Here’s the thing about the Bible. We are not the first to suffer. You name whatever problem you’re going through, and it’s probably not going to be crazier than what David went through before he wrote this psalm. It’s hard to out-crazy this story. David writes as someone who’s an innocent sufferer facing a really difficult situation.
But here’s the other thing to notice. The inscription says, “Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech.” This is slightly confusing, because the Philistine king’s name was actually Achish. Abimelech shows up in Genesis 20. He was king in a similar area, but it was Abraham, not David, who dealt with Abimelech.
Why does Psalm 34 mention the wrong guy? Robert Alter, a Bible scholar, suggests that the editor was making connections. He saw some parallels between David’s story and Abraham’s story. A just man is threatened with imminent death, and God rescues him.
In other words, this is David’s story, but it’s part of a bigger pattern of how God treats his people. The future king of Israel is so desperate that he’s scratching doors and drooling all over his beard, and the editor says, “Yeah, this reminds me of some other times that God has rescued his people in some pretty strange circumstances.”
So this is a psalm written by someone who knows what it’s like to go through crazy times, and David has two messages for us.
Two Lessons
Here are the two lessons.
Learn from me (1-7)
In the first part of this psalm, he gives his personal testimony. He begins with a call to praise:
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.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
(Psalm 34:1-3)
Then he gives the reason why he is praising God and calling us to praise God in verses 4 to 6:
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
What is David’s testimony? David’s testimony is not that he escaped from King Achish by his own ingenuity. He doesn’t credit his clever acting skills. He credits God. God was the one who delivered him, so God deserves the praise.
David sought Yahweh in a time of trouble. God answered and delivered him. He cried out, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him from all of his troubles. Tucked away, though, is an amazing promise in verse 5:
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
Here’s what he’s saying. You can experience a joy, a radiance, in even the worst circumstances. You can be going through the worst possible crisis, and you can still experience comfort and joy.