A blessed life - Psalm 34

We're beginning our next psalm today! Thanks for rejoining me here after our week of praise; I thought it was important to focus for that week on our gratitude to our Father. Did you find yourself humming or singing our praise song later that day, as I did? 

We're starting to study Psalm 34. As always, I'm going to post it here for you to read:

I will extol the Lord at all times;
    his praise will always be on my lips.

I will glory in the Lord;
    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

Glorify the Lord with me;
    let us exalt his name together.

 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
 Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.
 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
    he saved him out of all his troubles.
 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
    for those who fear him lack nothing.
 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
 Come, my children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
 Whoever of you loves life
    and desires to see many good days,
 keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
 Turn from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are attentive to their cry;
 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to blot out their name from the earth.

 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

 The righteous person may have many troubles,
    but the Lord delivers him from them all;
 he protects all his bones,
    not one of them will be broken.

 Evil will slay the wicked;
    the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
 The Lord will rescue his servants;
    no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

The scholars tell us (and you may even see a note in your translation that says this) this psalm is an "acrostic" which means that each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. They also tell us that it was written by David, after he pretended to be insane when dealing with Abimelek, who then drove David away.

A beautiful and inspiring psalm that came out of an embarrassing incident in David's life. See? God truly CAN use all things for good!!

We'll examine the back-story tomorrow and then dig into how we can benefit from the psalm in our own lives.