Seder 32: Psalm 34---Try God's Way: It Works!

 Psalm 34 is an acrostic wisdom psalm traditionally associated with a specific incident in David's life:  At one point when he was fleeing for his life from Saul, David briefly took refuge in Goliath's home town of Gath (1 Sam 21:10-15).  His visit was short because he was quickly recognized.  With his cover blown, David feigned madness in order to escape.  (Commentators often point out an irony here:  David could control his madness, while Saul was controlled by his madness.) 

An imaginative story links Psalm 34 to this incident.  According to this story, David had at one point thanked God for all the wonderful things he had created, especially wisdom.  "But," David asked God, "Why did you create madness?  That seems like such an insane thing to do.  Madness serves no constructive purpose."  God replied, "A day will come when you will have use for madness."  David later remembered what God had said when he was in a tight spot in Gath.  He did indeed have use for madness.  Afterwards he prayed, as in Ps 34:1, "I will bless the Lord at all times"---both in times of sanity and in times of madness. 

In any case, David speaks as one who has put his trust in God and experienced divine deliverance.  "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" he declares in v. 8.  "Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"  He notes that "the young lions"---representing the wealthy (LXX) or those who do not follow God---are never satisfied, while "those who seek the Lord lack no good thing" (v 10).  

David acknowledges that the righteous endure their share of suffering:  "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" (v 19).  But he goes on to affirm that God is watching over his people:  "But the Lord delivers him out of them all," verse 19 concludes.  God protects us "in detail": "He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken (v 20).  

Psalm 34 is referenced in two New Testament books.  Verse 20 is referred to in John 19:33-36 in connection with the fact that the Roman soldiers did not break Jesus' bones on the cross.  "The Lord redeems the life of his servants," Ps 34:22 states, and God indeed raised Jesus from the dead.  

The apostle Peter seems to have had Psalm 34 in mind, along with Isa 53 and other scriptures, when he wrote 1 Peter.  In that epistle, Peter encourages Christians who are suffering.  Some suffering is to be expected, he says, because we are called to follow in Jesus' footsteps (1 Peter 2:18-25).  But it is also the case that, for those who have taken David up on his offer to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (1 Peter 2:3), God watches over those who follow him.  Peter quotes Ps 34:12-16 in 1 Peter 3:10-12 as he urges Christians to turn away from evil and do what is good, heeding David's wise instruction.