It’s hard to know where to begin a meditation when Psalm 34 is the topic! There is so much wonderful truth for us here, and especially for a day like this.
David is rejoicing as he writes this Psalm. He had been delivered from captivity in the Philistine city of Gath (where Goliath had come from) by feigning madness. Much of the Psalm is advice to others, springing from David’s desire that they should know the goodness of God as he has come to know it. The key element of his counsel is contained in verse 9 (see above) - fear the Lord. This idea is central to this Psalm, and the key to much joy and peace in Christian living, as we shall see.
So what does David mean here by “fear the Lord?” We all know that this is to do with reverence and not cringing fear, right? Well, yes, reverence is certainly associated with the idea, and cringing fear hardly seems to fit a context where David is telling us how blessed are those who adopt this posture before God! But we are too ready today to set the awesome and dreadful majesty of God on one side, and to downplay what reverence should mean in relation to Him. We want to bring Him down to our level, to deal with Him as our cosmic “buddy”. But the Hebrew word here carries these meanings: being afraid, frightened, standing in awe, revering, etc.. This is the infinite, the Almighty, the Eternal, the Omnipotent, Omniscient God, and we are His sinful creatures, and this should bear upon how we approach Him!
To fear God, then, implies that we honor, revere and respect Him because of Who He is. He must take first place in our priorities and affections. We must own His right to rule over us as King, and to command us. We are to do this simply in view of Who God is, but David brings another, beautiful aspect of His character into view to help us take His advice. In addition to all his awesome and majestic glory, God is good (v 8) - indeed, He defines goodness and sets the standard for it! In an earlier meditation, I mentioned Aslan (the lion who represents Christ in C. S. Lewis’s Narnia series) and how he is described in one place as being “not safe, but good”. So it is with God. How could such an awesome and incomprehensible God as this ever be safe? But praise God, He is good!!
And those who truly fear the Lord in the way David describes here discover that, in the goodness of God, all the other blessings in this Psalm become theirs:
- They will seek Him and be delivered from all their fears (v 4); saved from all their troubles (v 6)
- Their faces will glow with joy, they will never be put to shame (v 5)
- The angel of the Lord (possibly Christ Himself, or else a host of heavenly beings) will set up a protective boundary around them, and deliver them (v 7)
- They will know no lack (v 9)
- He will be near them when brokenhearted, He will save them when crushed in spirit (v 18)
- They will be delivered from all their afflictions (v 19)
- They will be kept safe (v 20)
- They will be redeemed and not come under God's condemnation (v 22)
This is quite literally the best news we could hear right now! We need this God to be ours, with all the blessings that He bestows, but we are especially conscious of that need at the moment, as we realize how mortal we are and how uncertain life is. We should want to hear David’s advice on fearing the Lord more now than at any time before in our lives! But how can we come to this place of fearing the Lord? Who may taste and see His goodness?
David anticipates the question in v 11-14, where he offers to teach us the fear of the Lord and to understand what it looks like. Note in v 11 and 12 that this is addressed to children and adults - none is excluded from coming to Him! And in v12 he indicates that he is telling us the way to life - indeed, to abundant life. We need to have wholesome and true speech (v 13). This, of course, only comes from a heart that has been cleansed from sin. We can only have a clean heart when we follow David’s additional instruction - to turn from evil and do good, to seek peace and pursue it (v 14). By His power, He enables us to turn from our sin and to Him, trusting the Savior He sent to save us from the condemnation we deserve. We seek peace with Him, which is available through the sacrifice of Himself that Jesus made on the cross.
And He will give it - indeed, He has promised to do so! All the blessings mentioned above will be ours in this life because this matchless and all-powerful, but good, God will pledge Himself to us! We will have nothing left to fear! And there will be no condemnation for us on the Last Day - no Second Death to fear, but only an entrance into eternal glory and bliss! That is why one hymn, based on this Psalm, says this:
Fear him, ye saints, and you will then
have nothing else to fear;
make you his service your delight,
your wants shall be his care.
