Psalms 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
What a sweet resolve! Oh, that every one of us who knows the Lord would make that resolve, and keep it all our days: «I will bless the Lord at all times;» in dark times and bright times, as long as ever I live. «His praise shall continually be in my mouth;» that is the most delightful mouthful that a man can possibly have.
Psalms 34:2. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD:
We do not like boasters, but we would encourage every child of God to boast in the Lord as much as he pleases.
Psalms 34:2. The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
There is nothing that humble people dislike more than to hear others boasting: yet there is nothing that they like more than to hear anyone boast in the Lord.
Psalms 34:3. O magnify the LORD with me-
There is a sweet contagion about the praise of God, we want others to help us to spread it everywhere, so we say, with David, «O magnify the Lord with me,»
Psalms 34:3-4. And let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
There is nothing that is so effective as personal testimony to the Lord's saving power. How often is the skill of a physician commended by the grateful testimony of the patients who have been healed by him! So, shall not the prayer-hearing God be commended by those of us who have had our prayers answered by him? Let us not be slow to say, «I sought the Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.»
Psalms 34:5. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
«They looked unto him,» a whole army of them, an innumerable company, «They looked unto him and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.» There never was a face that was ashamed of being turned Christward and Godward.
Psalms 34:6. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Here David speaks of himself again, but he refers to himself in the third person: «This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.»
Psalms 34:7. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
The great Angel of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, surrounds with his army the dwellings of the saints, and takes care to have them in safe keeping.
Psalms 34:8-10. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the LORD, ye his saints; For there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
We are often in want because we are not seeking the Lord, but are seeking what we think we want, whereas, if we sought him, and left the supply of our wants to him, he would supply all our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Christ's command is, «Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.» Men think that they will not get what they want except they seek it, but if they seek God, he will give them what they really need even if he does not give them all that they want.
Psalms 34:11. Come, ye children, hearken unto me:
This man of God has made his confession to the saints, and now he tells it out to the children. There is nothing like working on material that will last, and those who are now children will most of them be alive when those who are now old men are dead and gone. So David says, «Come ye children, hearken unto me:»
Psalms 34:11-13. I will teach you the fear of the LORD. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
There is life or death in the human tongue; there is life in the tongue that is under subjection to the will of God, there is death, there is mischief of all sorts, in a wild ungoverned tongue.
Psalms 34:14. Depart from evil, and do good;
Get away from evil as far as you can; that is the negative side. Do good, that is the positive side of piety. He who obeys these two commands shall find happiness and blessing.
Psalms 34:14. Seek peace, and pursue it.
Do not be of an angry, irritable, quarrelsome frame of mind. If you do not at once find peace, seek it; and if it runs away from you, pursue it until you overtake it. Remember that it is the meek who shall inherit the earth, and that it is the peaceful spirit that is the happiest spirit.
Psalms 34:15. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
He gives them his eyes and his ears, and this means that he gives them himself, and that he is ever ready to perceive their needs, and to hear their cries.
Psalms 34:16. The face of the LORD is against them that do evil,
He sets his face against them, and this means that he is himself eternally opposed to all their wicked ways.
Psalms 34:16-17. To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
Not only out of some of them, but out of all of them. It is often a very long «all.» The list of their troubles is often difficult to read through but in due time there comes a «finis» to it written by the hand of divine mercy: «The Lord delivereth them out of all their troubles.»
Psalms 34:18. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Not your proud spirits, not your hectoring ones; but your lowly, penitent souls are the ones that are dear unto the heart of God, he is nigh unto them, and saveth them.
Psalms 34:19-20. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.
He will have many a flesh wound, but there shall be no permanent injury to him; and even though his body were diseased, his soul would be saved.
Psalms 34:21-22. Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants:
Great as the price is, he pays it; they are so precious to him that he minds not what price he pays so that he may redeem the souls of his servants.
Psalms 34:22. And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
Blessed be his holy name!