I Will Bless the Lord at ALL Times!

Psalm 34 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Lord, a Provider and Deliverer.

I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
² My soul will make its boast in the Lord;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
³ O 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 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will 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 rescues them.

⁸ O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
⁹ O fear the Lord, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
¹⁰ The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.
¹¹ Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Who is the man who desires life
And loves length of days that he may see good?
¹³ Keep your tongue from evil
And your lips from speaking deceit.
¹⁴ Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
And His ears are open to their cry.
¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁷ The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
²⁰ He keeps all his bones,
Not one of them is broken.
²¹ Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
²² The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

David wrote this psalm when he was in the depths of a very difficult time. He was being hunted and chased by Saul and his army. David had done no wrong. It was a case of evil hating good, darkness despising light. David has confidence and faith in God as his deliverer even though the  circumstances were not good. In verse 22, he writes:  The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. David sees the redemption of the Lord years before Jesus is born. He see it so clearly that he speaks prophetically of Jesus on the cross saying:  He keeps all his bones, Not one of them is broken. John recorded the account of Jesus on the cross in John 19:35-36, he writes:          And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. 36For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN."

Surly, we who are on this side of the cross, we who know of both the crucifixion and the resurrection, should have the same confidence in God’s deliverance.  It begins when we, like David will say: I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. We need to bless and praise God even in the difficult times. James 1:2-4 says:

 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴ And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I’ll admit that I am not there yet. I can’t tell you that I consider difficulties a joyful experience. I may not praise God for the storm, yet surly I will praise Him in the storm. Romans 8:28-29 says:   And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

God doesn’t cause evil. He doesn’t bring all the difficult times on us. But as we trust in Him, as we see Jesus, like David did, we can be confident that God will not only deliver us, but He will cause us to become more like Jesus.  

The psalmist says:  O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! Jesus says: "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. (John 6:35) and whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14) To experience the protection and deliverance of the Lord, we need more than to just know of Him. It requires more than just a verbal  acknowledgement. We need to partake of Jesus. We need to invite Him into every area of our lives, submitting completely to Him. That’s how we taste and see. The psalmist says:  Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.…(Psalm37:3-5)

¹⁴ Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. ¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry…¹⁷ The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit. ¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Are you brokenhearted today? Has your spirit been crushed? Are you afflicted by many things?

The psalmist has the answer to all our difficulties. Cry out to the Lord. His ears are open. He hears your cry. Remember though to begin with praise and blessing to God.  I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. As we bless the Lord it is not that we move Him. It is we ourselves who are moved. We are moved closer to Him. ⁴ I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears. The first and most important part of our deliverance is to be delivered from our fears.

Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is believing more in what we don’t want than in what we do want. When we move closer to God, our faith is increased and all fear is gone. The psalmist says:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil (Psalm 23:4)

Paul writes in Romans 8:38-39:  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.    Amen