Seek the Lord

There came a time in the history of Israel when the people decided that they wanted a king to rule them; after all, all the other nations had a king, why not us.

God questioned their decision and pointed out that a king would rule them, tax them, use their money to upgrade his kingly lifestyle and would end up going to war and taking their young men to die for him. Wouldn’t it be better just to stick with God as their king?

Unfortunately, they insisted and it was Saul who became King complete with his jealousies and paranoias. A greater leader, David, became his commander-in-chief, extremely successful and much more popular. 

Saul turned on David and wanted him killed. David’s loyalty to the king meant he didn’t retaliate but instead he fled and found himself in danger of falling captive to an enemy, King Abimelek, named Achish. David’s to escape from him he used a very strange tactic.  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.

Achish said to his servants, ‘Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me?’ Drive him away!

David was on the run again, eventually hiding in a cave where he was joined by many of his followers. It was there that he wrote Psalm 34.

When you read the psalm in your Bible you will see an explanatory label that tells you this is a psalm Of David from when he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left. The structure of this psalm in Hebrew is an acrostic, or nearly so. Each verse begins with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet. 

The purpose of the acrostic format mainly seems to be a device used to encourage learning and memorisation.

The psalm is also called “Praise from the Cave.”

In his situation, with his life under threat but from the security of a fugitive’s cave David calls God’s people to praise, not with a sigh of relief but with a triumphant call to bless the Lord at all times. He had praise continually in his mouth. He wasn’t satisfied to praise the Lord just quietly in his heart or mind but with a declaration out loud, with words from his mouth that everyone could hear.

I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice, he cries.  He praises God in a way so that others could hear, be encouraged and rejoice with him. Then he goes on and he calls on us all to do the same! Glorify the Lord with me, he calls. Let us exalt his name together!

Obviously, David had no reason to be pleased with himself or anything to boast of.  His latest exploit had been to escape from captivity by behaving life a dribbling idiot.  However here was the God who had saved him. So thrilled is he with the greatness of the Lord he says that he will glory in the Lord, wonder at the Lord and even boast about the Lord.

David had just been in a situation which should have given him real fear and he escaped by a ruse which gave him strong grounds to be ashamed yet he tells us…

I sought the Lord, and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears.  Like David, all who look to God are radiant and they have no need to be ashamed. On the contrary they have someone about whom they can confidently boast. God is great, God is good, Let us exalt his name forever.

We can join David and from the depths of our souls we too can boast in the Lord, publicly, joyously to the whole world. God had been good to David and he has been good to us so we join David and boast in the Lord.

We are usually so tentative about our beliefs but Paul wrote “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14) and “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord” (2 Corinthians 10:17)

When we do this, people of good will and humility will hear the boast and be blessed, be encouraged and be glad. Come on, then! Glorify the Lord, magnify the Lord with me and exalt, lift up, make known, shout out the name of our Lord God!

We so easily make our approach to God with shopping lists of requests or repeated prayers. But what happens when you stop asking for things and seek the Lord himself. God is right there with you and you want to know, even experience God’s nearness that is happening when you seek the Lord. What happens when you come to spend time personally, just you and your Father? You know what happens when you seek the Lord himself. He answers you and delivers you from all your fears.

There’s nowhere more peaceful than when you are comfortably, confidently in the arms of the Lord.

David knew that those who look to God like this are changed. They know, and even we know, that they have a precious form of radiance and peace - they know no shame. Let’s follow their example.

We can do as David did and call out to the Lord and we, too, can know that the Lord hears us and brings us through and out of our troubles. But not on our own!

The Lord is with us, yes, but more than that. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. His presence with us is extensive, encompassing, protecting us.  Who can stand against us when we are surrounded by the angel of the Lord? The Lord is with us and he is the Lord of hosts. Every angel is at his command! This is the Lord of hosts and his army that is encamped around us.

Know this to be true and we know we are delivered, saved out of our troubles,  even radiant and saved from all our fears.

People will know we have been with God. In 2 Corinthians 2:14-6 it’s put like this, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”

So here is the invitation. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

You know what happens when a new flavour is introduced to a small child. Maybe there’s serious resistance or even rejection. Here, as mature adults we are invited to taste and see what God wants you to have.  There’s bound to be new tastes and experiences the more you accept what God wants you to have but be assured that the Lord is good and blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 19:9-10 says “the ordinances of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

When you taste and see something it’s a very personal thing. You have to get up close and personal to taste something. It takes commitment to taste something, a commitment to let it in, right on your tongue, into your life.

There is real trust required to taste something. What if you don’t like it or if it does you harm? You have to overcome your fear of something new.

But when you taste and see you will find that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 

Seek the Lord with such personal involvement and closeness that you get a taste for it - so you taste and see that the Lord is good.

Here’s something to mull over.  Do you really appreciate that you can taste and see that the Lord is good when you eat the bread and drink in remembrance that Christ gave his body and blood for you?

You can’t go wrong by taking refuge in God, in trusting God.

This means approaching God with all due respect and reverence, thankfulness and praise, an approach which has that element of fear. He is a God in whom you can have complete trust. He will do you no harm but only bless and care for you. But he is still the great creator God and no tame talisman.

Come with that respectful fear of the Lord, yes, because those who fear him lack nothing. 

Even lions may go weak and hungry but those who seek the Lord lack nothing because he loves you, he loves your life and desires to do good for you in many ways.

Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

So David called his followers around him and today calls us. Come, my children, listen to me. He says, I will teach you the fear of the Lord, ways in which you can be the children he wants you to be, submissive and obedient to your loving Lord.

When you have a heavenly Father who provides so much for you then you should really react and live as his grateful, loving child.

There are some obvious and reasonable responses you can make, living in this world as a child of God.. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.

It’s a mistake to think of your Christian life as a series of do nots and negatives. Here we are urged to be positive, to avoid the negatives. There are so many negatives in the world and so many habits and temptations. Be positive, do good! Seek peace - chase after it. 

Peace with God and peace among men is something to look for, to hunt out and to keep going after it.

Once again we are reassured, we are never on our own but always in the Lord’s care.

You are never out of God’s sight.  The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry. You are always in God’s hearing. 

Do you need help? Well, cry out and ask for it because we know that when the righteous cry out, the Lord pays attention. He doesn’t ignore you. He is attentive to your cry.  He hears you!

He is a mighty source of comfort. He is close to the broken-hearted, he saves those who are crushed in spirit.

People who do not submit to the Lord and those who do evil should not expect to receive his care. They might even find that God opposes such people. Their eternal future is bleak.

The righteous person may have many troubles but the Lord delivers him from them all.

Inevitably in this world everyone, including righteous people, have troubles but take comfort knowing that the Lord delivers you from them all. 

People with broken hearts think God is far away, when he is really most near to them. He is their best friend. He is in them and with them.

The Lord hears his precious ones, those forgiven and cleansed by him. You have come to Christ who was crucified, died on your behalf to take the blame and power of your sin.  All judgement which should fall on you fell on Jesus as he died on the cross. 

As for you, there is nothing left to condemn you for. Jesus took all that so that no condemnation can be levelled at you. Now you are forgiven, cleansed and God sees you to be righteous and fit for his heaven. Those who are righteous in his eyes he delivers from all their troubles.

In Jesus the Lord has rescued his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Extol the Lord at all times.

Seek the Lord. He will answer you. Take refuge in him. He has already delivered you!

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

In the Lord, in Jesus, there is no condemnation.

Psalm 34 sung