Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

Trust must be exclusive:

• “ We depend on the Lord alone… • “ Only he can help us… • “ …our hope is in you alone.”

Trusting God enfolds us in his love: • “ …to save us. • “ …protecting us like a shield.

• “ …your unfailing love surround us.”

Trusting God causes happiness and rest. • “ In him our hearts rejoice, for we are trusting in his holy name!”

Sadly, Asa failed the ‘trust test’ when he was invaded the second time by Baasha, king of Israel. He took the treasures of the Lord’s house and hired the king of Aram to help him. God sent Hanani to re- prove him for his lack of trust and to remind him: “ The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” (2 Chron. 16:9) God is searching for those who will trust him!

PSALM 34: I WILL PRAISE THE LORD AT ALL TIMES Freedom from Fear

This psalm is David’s celebration of being rescued from an extremely difficult situation. He prom- ises that all who put their trust in the goodness of the Lord will experience the same. It is also prophetic of the life of Christ as verse 20 “ …not one of his bones will be broken… ” is quoted in the gospel of John when Jesus was on the cross. It is the 3d of the 9 ‘Acrostic’ poems in the psalms. These are songs where each verse begins with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is very closely related to Psalm 25, which is also an acrostic poem and emphasizes many of the same themes of Psalm 34.

It is traditionally divided into two parts:

I. DAVID’S SONG - 1-10 WE REJOICE ! II. DAVID’S SERMON - 11-22 WE ARE RESCUED !

INTRODUCTION :

“ A Psalm of David, regarding the time he pretended to be insane in front of Abimilech, who sent him away.”

The backdrop for this psalm is found in 1 Samuel 21:10-15 when David fled to Abimilech, the king of Gath because Saul was seeking to kill him. In 1 Samuel Abimilech is called ‘Achish’ but they are the same person. Abimilech is the title of the kings of the Philistines like the kings of Egypt were called ‘Pharaohs’. “ So David escaped from Saul and went to King (Abimilech), Achish of Gath. But Achish’s of- ficers weren’t happy about his being there. ‘Isn’t this David, the king of the land?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thou- sands’?’ David heard these comments and was afraid of what King Achish might do to him. So he pre- tended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard. Finally, King Achish said to his men, ‘Must you bring me a madman? We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?’ So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam.””! (1 Sam. 21:10-15, 22:1)

I DAVID’S SONG - (1-10)

This section can be divided into three parts: Praise (1-3), Prayer (4-7) and Provision (8-10).

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