Psalm 34.1-7

What gets you excited?

What fills you with enthusiasm and passion to the point you want to tell everyone you come into contact with about what is happening in your life?

Do you get excited when you buy tickets to see one of your favorite musicians perform in concert?

Do you get excited when a new book is released by one of your favorite authors?

Do you get excited when you and your spouse get a much needed date night out and away from the kids?

Do you get excited when you hear that you are receiving a tax refund?

Do you get excited when the next season of a TV show begins?

As a student, do you get excited when the last day of school arrives?

As a parent, do you get excited when the first day of school arrives?

This morning, we are going to hear about what makes King David excited.  We are going to hear about what fills King David with enthusiasm and passion to the point he wants to tell everyone he comes into contact with about what is happening in his life.

Now, you may be asking, who is this King David and why does what he thinks or experiences matter?

Well, if you have spent time in church, or maybe even if you haven’t, you may know a piece of King David’s story that has become legendary both inside and outside the church.  In King David’s younger years, he was the one who killed the giant Philistine soldier Goliath with nothing more than a slingshot and one stone. But, more on that in a bit.

This morning, to hear about why King David is filled with excitement, we are going to return to the songs of King David found in the book of Psalms. 

Let’s turn our attention to the first 7 verses of Psalm 34 now.

Psalm 34:1–7 has King David saying this:

[1] I will bless the LORD at all times;

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

[2] My soul makes its boast in the LORD;

let the humble hear and be glad.

[3] Oh, magnify the LORD with me,

and let us exalt his name together!

[4] I sought the LORD, and he answered me

and delivered me from all my fears.

[5] Those who look to him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed.

[6] This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him

and saved him out of all his troubles.

[7] The angel of the LORD encamps

around those who fear him, and delivers them. (ESV)

Right out of the gate in this song of King David, we learn that he is excited about telling the world how great God in Heaven is.

In the first seven verses of this Psalm, King David tells us that:

• He will bless the Lord at all times (to bless is to praise)

• And, then, he doubles down on that commitment to praise God by saying that the words of his mouth will always and forever tell the world about who God is, what God has done, and what God is always doing for him and us.  

• David also says that his soul — his inner most being, the part of him that is spiritual and eternal— will make no claims to personal greatness or personal worthiness (David knows his many sins against God, and has confessed and repented many times for walking out of step with God’s standards for life and love), but will only make claims about God’s greatness and worthiness to be praised and listened to and obeyed because of his love, mercy, and grace, that lead him to forgive us and welcome us home with eternal life in His Kingdom of Heaven.

• Along those lines, David also says that He will magnify the name of the Lord and exalt the name of the Lord so that by making God a bigger and bigger part of his conversation, more and more people will have a chance to hear about God’s love, God’s protection, and God’s provision for them, and by believing in the God revealed in the Scripture of the Holy Bible, be delivered from eternal separation from God, death, and destruction due to the effects of sin in their life.

David is so excited about the real presence of God in his day-to-day life, that overflows with joy to the point where wants the people around him, including you here this morning, to see, hear, believe, and experience the goodness of God in your day-to-day life as well.  

So, where did King David’s confidence in God and excitement about God’s real presence with us in this world come from?

All of this confidence and excitement had to come from somewhere. Right?  

Well, here is a bit of history behind Psalm 34:

Psalm 34 is one of only 14 Psalms that give us the direct historical context in which it is written.

The superscription to Psalm 34 says, “Concerning David, when he pretended to be insane in the presence of Abimelech, who drove him out, and he departed.” 

The specifics of this story, if you are interested, are recorded in 1 Samuel 21, and it is one of the most interesting moments in David’s life. 

While Saul was still king, David was rising in prominence. When David was seen, people would chant, “Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands” (1 Sam 18:7). As a result, Saul became jealous and angry, and he was consumed with trying to kill David. 

As David was running for his life, he fled to Gath. This was an interesting place for David to hide because it was the hometown of Goliath, whom he had killed a few years prior. Everyone in Gath knew who David was. 

David was recognized, and news got to the king that he was there. 

David, while trying to save his life, ran into a town filled with people who wanted to end his life. He was trapped, but he had an idea. He decided to act like he had lost his mind. He let his saliva run down his beard and he began to scratch at a doorpost. When the king saw him, he said, “Look! You can see the man is crazy!” And David left Gath unharmed. 

From that situation David wrote Psalm 34. 

Now, as you read this psalm with this situation in mind, you sense how overwhelmed David was by the goodness of God in sparing his life. 

Much of Psalm 34 is personal testimony (vv. 1-7,15-22). David sought the Lord, and God heard him and delivered him from all his fears (v. 4). When David looked to the Lord, his face was radiant, and he was not put to shame (v. 5). He cried to the Lord, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles (v. 6). In a moment in which his life was in danger, the angel of the Lord protected him and rescued him (v. 7). As David walks out of Gath alive, he cannot help but be overwhelmed by God’s goodness. You feel his utter joy in the first two verses as he exclaims, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will boast in the Lord; the humble will hear and be glad.” In other words, you could not stop him from praising the Lord if you tried.

When David prayed to God in this specific troubled and fear inducing part of his life, he uses the words delivered and saved as God’s response to him.

David is ecstatically excited because God delivered him from all of his fears and saved him from all of his troubles.

Because of that, David’s excitement causes him to want to tell the world about God’s goodness and He wants the world to join him in knowing and experiencing God’s goodness.  That is why Psalm 34 offers several invitations for you to join him in praising God and worshiping God and sharing the good things that God has done for you in delivering you from fear and sin and saving you from trouble and death through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In a Biblical devotion that I sent out to the church on Thursday, the author said this:

Many years ago, a TV comedian wearing judicial robes would walk on stage while another person shouted, “Here comes the judge! Hear comes the judge!” Laughter ensued. I remember hearing [one Christian theologian] respond to that skit, preaching, “One day, nobody is going to laugh at that line anymore.”

Surely the judge of all mankind is coming. The Bible repeatedly warns us to be ready. When that Last Day comes, how shall we face Him? In complacency? In fear? No, with faith and joy, for this is the One who has granted to all believers the right to eat from the tree of life (Revelation 22:14). We enter at His invitation and because of His work on the tree of the cross. We enter because He has washed us in His blood and cleansed us from our sin. He died with forgiveness on His lips, promising cleansing to all who believe in Him. Cleansing? Yes! Although our sins “are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

The Spirit calls to us to accept Jesus’ invitation without any merit or worthiness in us. It’s all by grace and love, which are in Christ Jesus. This is the gate of the Lord. As we come into His presence, let us enter and face Jesus with joy!

Being released from an impossible-to-complete to-do list—one that would earn us favor with God—should hav no less a reaction than to us us overflow with joy, excitement, and thanksgiving, and to desire to share that Jesus’ blood-bought freedom with others.

But, let’s be honest, we are more likely to get excited over Taylor Swift concert tickets than the goodness of Jesus’ forgiveness.

So, what do we do when we find ourselves in this place — more excited about the things of the world than the things of God?

We repent and pray!

Several times throughout each day, I have to pray these two prayers directly from Scripture.

Psalm 51:12:

[12] Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit. (ESV)

And,

Psalm 19:14:

[14] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (ESV)

David extends many invitations to you at the beginning of this Psalm for you and me to join him in his excitement about God and praise of God.

King David invites you and me this morning to believe in God as Lord and Savior—the Deliverer from sin and death—and be glad.

King David invites you and me this morning to magnify God’s name with him.

King David invites you and me this morning to exalt God together in song and testimony of personal experience.

David’s life is aligned with a focus on God who made Him and God who continually delivered him and saved him.

David is excited about God’s love and goodness because of the things he personally experienced.

David is overflowing with excitement because God answered David’s prayers.

David is overflowing with excitement because God delivered David from all of his fears.

David is overflowing with excitement because God made David’s face radiant meaning that David’s face wasn’t red with shame and embarrassment, no, David’s face was at peace and resting in God’s grace and mercy toward him.

David is overflowing with excitement because God would not let David’s fears consume him.

And, David is overflowing with excitement because God sets The Angel of the Lord around him to protect him and provide for him every day.

This morning be excited and align your life with a focus on God who made you and God who continually delivers you and saves you.

This morning, be excited about God’s love and goodness because of the things you have personally experienced.

Be excited because God answers your prayers.

Be excited because God delivers you from all of your fears.

Be excited because God makes your face radiant meaning that your face isn’t red with shame and embarrassment, no, your face wis at peace and resting in God’s grace and mercy toward you.

Be excited because God will not let your fears consume you.

And, be excited because God sets The Angel of the Lord around you to protect you and provide for you every day.

This morning, Jesus promises you that He will be with you always until the very end of ages— you who have faith in His life, death, and resurrection for you as the only way to deliverance and saving from your fears and your troubles in this life and the next.

Be excited and shout it from the rooftops that your sin is forgiven, your mind has been transformed to think and see as God thinks and sees, and that you already have a place prepared for you in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Like King David, sing your song of excitement and invitation, maybe in similar words of post-rockers Close Your Eyes, who leave us with this chorus:

“This is my worship, this is my life

To bring hope into this broken world.”

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

September 1, 2024.