Psalm 34-Praying through the Psalms (Part I)
May 25, 2010
Moving beyond our circumstances
The Psalms is God’s collection of songs to us to carry us through the many valleys and complexities of life. There are Psalms of celebration, worship, lament, and many prayers for deliverance. And so it would be good to develop the discipline on knowing how to pray through the Psalms.
Our first Psalm that we will look at together is Psalm 34, which is a both a song of worship and reflection on God’s delivering power over impossible circumstances. David is hemmed in on both sides. On one side is his own countrymen with Saul pursuing his life. On the other are the Philistines of Gath. In an impossible situation we learn that David feigned madness to escape with his life. (I Samuel 21)
But in reflection David discovers that his deliverance didn’t come from great acting skills and his own cunning to escape, but to God’s almighty hands. Therefore, he sings and acknowledges the first ingredient in moving beyond difficult circumstances–worship, “God’s praise will always be on my lips… this poor man sought the Lord and the Lord heard his cry.”
Another ingredient that David addresses is that of brokenness. In vs. 17-19 we discover that it isn’t in our strength or wisdom or in our cunning that God delights, but in our humility and brokenness. This is where we discover that it is through weakness that God’s strength can be perfected and it is through weakness that God than can provide grace.
