Hope In My Many Troubles

“Psalms that Make Me Psing” Series

A Message by Jim Hammond from Psalm 34

A storm can make for a beautiful sunset, as evidenced by this picture taken by Richard Imboden. This picture was taken here locally. Is God painting a beautiful picture out of your storm?

Today’s message is “Hope In My Many Troubles”.

Focus: We may have many troubles, but the Lord will deliver us from them all.

This Psalm might seem a little disjointed when it is read, and that is because in its original it was an acrostic, the verses are alphabetical, in the Hebrew alphabet, curiously missing one of the letters.

It begins with a superscription that places the setting.

Psalm 34:1 Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.

1 Samuel 21:10-15 (NIV) That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. [11] But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances:

" 'Saul has slain his thousands,

and David his tens of thousands'?"

[12] David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. [13] So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

[14] Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? [15] Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?"

Some scholars are suspicious of the superscription, because they don’t see its connection with the content of the Psalm, and also because of the confusion over the name of the king. The king’s name is Achish in 1 Samuel 21 not Abimelech as found in Psalm 34, add to that the confusion of the fact that in the narrative just preceding, David has dealings with a priest by the name of Ahimelech. Ahimelech and Abimelech are very similar. Don’t let that throw you. Tim and Jim are very similar also but that doesn’t throw us.

Many scholars have come to the conclusion that Abimelech is a title for Philistine Kings, much like Pharaoh is a title for Egyptian kings. It just so happens that the title is similar to the name Ahimelech.

The more relevant question is, “what is the connection between the setting as described in the superscription and the psalm itself?”

I. Though I Despaired, God Delivered

In the paragraph preceding the Achish story found in 1 Samuel 21, David was also given a weapon by Ahimelech the priest—the sword of Goliath. This is a tip off as to David’s state of mind. It is one thing to accept Goliath’s sword. It is quite another to flee to Gath where Goliath was from, and expect that nobody would recognize Goliath’s sword. David wasn’t thinking clearly.

David’s experience is explainable given the fact that he was still young and growing in his faith.

Psalm 34:1 (NIV) I will extol the Lord at all times;

I believe that the more mature David remembers with a smile when he failed here because of his fear. David’s flight to the land of the Philistines revealed fear, not faith. This Psalm is about the Fear of the Lord that is born of faith. David is reciting the hard lessons learned by his own mistakes.

1 Samuel 20-21 is not a pretty picture. It presents David, failing, faltering, scheming, and lying.

A. He lied to Saul (chap. 20)

B. He lied to Ahimelech (the priest) (21:1-9)

His deception would cost many innocent lives (compare 22:18-19).

C. He lied to Achish (21:10-15)

· from bad to worse, typical when we trust ourselves instead of God.

· This might have been the end of David’s life, but the Lord intervened. God put it into the King’s mind to have nothing to do with a crazy man…

By the way….

Mental Illness in America

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.

Citation: Rita Mae Brown, Church Champions Update (11-26-01)

A. Nevertheless, Avoid the shame that FEAR can cause (Don’t Do Like I Did)

[4] I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears.

A certain preacher once had a bad, bumpy flight. For the rest of his life, he hated airplanes. One time he sat down next to a calm passenger who noticed the preacher's nerves.

"Why are you afraid, Preacher?" the passenger asked. "Doesn't that Bible of yours say God is with you always?"

"No, that's not exactly what the Bible says," the minister responded. "The Bible says, 'Lo, I am with you always.'"

Citation: Alan D. Wright, God Moments (Multnomah, 1999)

[5] Those who look to him are radiant;

David looked anything but Radiant. Wasn’t THAT an interesting witness he gave to that pagan King!?

QUOTE: “My friend Dorothy spent several weeks in prayer and special training to lead a Bible discussion group. Finally the big day arrived for the first class. Getting her family of six out the door was more hectic than usual that morning. Breakfast didn't turn out right and several arguments were going on among the children. Dorothy, quickly getting frazzled, tried to regain her composure. In the midst of the bedlam, her husband entered the kitchen and surveyed the uproar.

"Kids! Settle down!" he admonished. "Your mom has only 45 minutes until she has to become a radiant Christian."

Citation: Roseanne Hill, Cedar Crest, NM, Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."

their faces are never covered with shame.

David’s Face was Covered with Shame...as he solved things in his own human effort.

FIND A FIXED POINT

On day six of the ill-fated mission of Apollo 13, the astronauts needed to make a critical course correction. If they failed, they might never return to Earth.

To conserve power, they shut down the onboard computer that steered the craft. Yet the astronauts needed to conduct a thirty-nine-second burn of the main engines. How to steer? Astronaut Jim Lovell determined that if they could keep a fixed point in space in view through their tiny window, they could steer the craft manually. That focal point turned out to be their destination--Earth.

As shown in 1995's hit movie, Apollo 13, for thirty-nine agonizing seconds, Lovell focused on keeping the earth in view. By not losing sight of that reference point, the three astronauts avoided disaster.

Scripture reminds us that to finish your life mission successfully, "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

Citation: Stephen Nordbye in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.

OR AS PSALM 34 PUTS IT: Those who look to him are radiant;

[6] This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;

he saved him out of all his troubles.

Nevertheless…

“He answered” Ps. 34:4–7. Even when we have acted foolishly, God does not abandon us. As David reported, “This poor man called, and the Lord heard him, He saved him out of all his troubles.”

II. To Be Free of Fear, Fear God

QUOTE: “SENSE GOD IN SOLITUDE”

I was in Brooklyn Heights some months ago to visit the church where one of the greatest Congregationalist ministers had once preached, the great Henry Ward Beecher. In the evening, I walked with one of my hosts along the promenade that overlooks Manhattan. I had never realized that there was such a wonderful place in Brooklyn Heights to see Manhattan. At night the whole island of Manhattan is lit up like a great tiara of jewels. You can sit there and see the ships coming in and out. You can look at that panorama of lights and be amazed at the beauty of the nighttime city.

As we walked along the promenade, my hostess talked about her life when she had arrived there several years before. Her husband had left her, and she was having difficulties with her only child, a daughter. She had come to this place at night thinking she could not go on. She hadn't wanted to take her life, but she didn't know how she could go on in the pain and the agony she was feeling.

She said she sat on one of the benches and looked across the bay at the city. She stared out at Liberty Island in the distance, and she watched the tug boats as they moved in and out of the bay. She sat, and she sat. The longer she sat, she said, the more her life seemed to be invested with a kind of quietness that came over her like a spirit.

Down deep she began to feel peaceful again. She said she felt somehow that God was very near to her, as if she could almost reach out and touch God. Better yet, she didn't need to reach out. God was touching her. She felt whole and complete and healed as she sat there that evening. It became a turning point in her life.

"Since then," she said, "whenever I feel under pressure at my job or from any personal problems, I come down here and sit on this very bench. I'm quiet; I feel it all over again, and everything is all right."

Citation: John Killinger, "Finding God in a Busy World," Preaching Today, Tape No. 132.

A. When God is in my camp, I have nothing to worry about

[7] The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,

and he delivers them.

Someone once said: Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there.

Citation: Unknown, Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 4.

I Lack For Nothing

[8] Taste and see that the Lord is good;

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

[9] Fear the Lord, you his saints,

for those who fear him lack nothing.

[10] The lions may grow weak and hungry,

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

B. Learn What Fear of the Lord Looks Like

[11] Come, my children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

[12] Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,

1. God Honoring Speech

[13] keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking lies.

2. God Honoring Actions

[14] Turn from evil and do good;

3. A Peace Seeking And Peace Pursuing Life

seek peace and pursue it.

[15] The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous

and his ears are attentive to their cry;

[16] the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

[17] The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;

he delivers them from all their troubles.

III. God is Close to the Brokenhearted

A. He saves the crushed in spirit

[18] The Lord is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

B. He delivers “the righteous” from all his troubles

[19] A righteous man may have many troubles,

but the Lord delivers him from them all;

None of Christ’s Bones were Broken

[20] he protects all his bones,

not one of them will be broken.

[21] Evil will slay the wicked;

the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

1. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

[22] The Lord redeems his servants;

no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.