Review of Psalms 34

by Mr. Dare Odugbemi

The Psalm was written to advise us on our absolute dependence on God – having no reliance on what we can achieve by our own strength: God delivered David from lions, from King Achish, from Goliath, and then from Saul, no wonder he started the Chapter by praising God!

Sequel to the event of 1Samuel 21, verses 4 and 6 of this Chapter summarized how David managed to escape almost being killed at Gath from the King Achish when he was running away from Saul (remember Goliath of Gath? Of all places, David sought refuge amongst the Philistines in the hometown of Goliath because he was running away from Saul. He had to “form” being insane before they could leave him to escape).

After David escaped from Achish into a cave, the young lions in the cave couldn’t feast on him and his men. It proceeded in vs. 8-10 to highlight the hope of those who fear God – they shall no want or lack any good thing. This is further buttressed in our usual Benediction in this family (Rom. 8v32) – if God can give up unto us Jesus, Who is His only begotten, He will not withhold anything from us as we need them.

In the concluding part of vs. 12-22, the Chapter mentions some guiding principles to live a good life – apart from religion:

• A life that is pleasing to God is not the one devoid of trials and tribulations, but the one that sees God in the challenges trying to break and remould it;
• If you love life and want to see many days, keep your mouth from uttering evil things; regardless of what you’re seeing around you, let your mouth refuse to say the negativities;
• It is not enough to depart from evil; make it a point of duty to do good too – don’t just sit on the fence; and
• lastly, in trials and tribulations, always maintain a joyful attitude.

Amen.