Psalm 34:6

New International Version (NIV)

This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.

For Meditation

1. Isn’t it interesting how careless we become when we are in our desperate moments? Can you believe some of the decisions we make at such times?
2. Otherwise, how could David consider taking refuge among the Philistines when he fled from Saul (1 Sam. 21:10-15)? With the memory of their slain giant and hero so fresh in their minds (11); how could the man who inflicted such humiliation on them assume he would be safe in their country? As King Saul once asked David, “When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed” (24:19)?
3. But, a “poor man” indeed, as David called himself in the psalm he wrote to celebrate this incidence as a mighty deliverance from the Lord (Ps. 34:6). For, wasn’t David pathetic before Abimelek, acting like a madman and drooling with saliva down his beard (1 Sam. 21:13)?
4. Don’t we all look pathetic when our foolish decisions boomerang in our faces? Have you been there before? What other option did you have, but to call on the name of the LORD, as David did (Ps. 34:6)? How many times didn’t God deliver you from such tight spots, as He delivered David?
5. So, can you understand, then, why David invites us to, “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (8)? When, in our poverty, we called on the name of Jesus (Matt. 5:3; Rm. 10:13), didn’t God deliver, “us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14)? Now that we have been dressed in His righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 6:14), wouldn’t Christ more than deliver us from all of such troubles (Ps. 34:7)?

I pray we join together to celebrate God’s goodness this morning, for “His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations” (Ps. 100:5).

May we praise the Lord at all times and continue to praise him always; and in response to all His mighty deliverance, may we glorify Jesus before all people, and call on them to exalt His name together with us (Ps. 34:1-3). For, He is worthy of all praise!

Shalom