Psalm 34 "Taste and See" Taste and see that the LORD is good! If you think about that long enough, your brain starts to spin. Taste . . . and see. We don't usually associate tasting and seeing. Certainly presentation enhances our dining experience but that goes in the opposite direction: See and taste! What does it mean to taste . . . and see! How does tasting improve our sight? Psalm 34 uses the language of the senses to describe our experience of God. Indeed, much of the sensory language in the Psalm describes God's actions. The eyes of the LORD see us, the ears of the LORD hear us Does God have ears? Does God have eyes? Not in the same way that we do! Our eyes see a few things but God's eyes see everything. Our ears are finite and limited but God's ears are infinite and hear everything. God created us in his image, and so our finite, creaturely ability to see and to hear is modeled after his infinite, divine ability to see and to hear. And Psalm 34 calls us to rejoice because God has seen and heard the affliction of his people, and he has delivered us from death. Introduction: His Praise Shall Continually Be in My Mouth (34:1-3) Psalm 34 is an acrostic, which means that each begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet (in order) from Aleph to Taw (there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet). So the whole Psalm is neatly tied together by this literary device. Psalm 34 is titled, Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away. This refers back to 1 Samuel 21, when David fled from Achish, the king of Gath. Psalm 34 refers to Achish as "Abimelech" because "Abimelech" is the title of several kings in the Bible. (Literally it means "my father is king." Think of how the Egyptians called their kings Pharaoh, or the Romans called their kings Caesar. Abimelech appears to be the title of certain kings in the region cf. Genesis 20 & 26). David was fleeing from Saul, and he had been driven from the Land. He was now in such desperate straits that he fled to Gath! Gath was the home of Goliath. David had killed the hero of Gath only a few years before, and yet now Gath appears to him to be safer than Israel! But when he arrives in Gath the servants of the king complain to the king, isn't this David "the king of the land"? Isn't he more popular in Israel than Saul? Didn't he slaughter tens of thousands of Philistines? And so David pretended to be insane, and Achish let him go, saying, "Do I lack madmen?" Get him out of here! David had been in the hands of his enemies. They could have killed him, and yet God delivered him from all his fears. Therefore David says, I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. In 1 Samuel 21:13 we hear that he had made marks on the gates. This is probably a reference to how David had been chewing on the gates, in an effort to demonstrate his madness! His praise shall continually be in my mouth! Whether I am chewing on the gates of Gath, or whether I am singing before God, his praise shall continually be in my mouth! David could have boasted in his acting ability. He could have announced to the world that he had tricked the Philistines into releasing him. But instead he says, My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! David calls all Israel indeed all who worship the one true God to join him in exalting the name of the LORD. Psalm 34 is a Psalm of rejoicing. It celebrates the sovereignty of God in salvation. We do not boast in ourselves. We boast in the LORD. How do you hear this? Do you want everybody to know what you have done? Do you like being the "big man" -- the important person the one who gets things done! David says, Let the humble hear and be glad. Hear David's song of joy and as you hear, remember that it is also the Son of David's song of joy, because Psalm 34 comes to its conclusion in Jesus Christ the one who also played the fool, in allowing himself to be arrested, convicted, and executed. But he, too, was delivered by God and raised up to glory at his right hand. 1. The LORD Delivered Me (34:4-7) I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. (34:4-7) Seek and he will answer. Look and your face will not see shame. Cry out and the LORD will hear. Verses 4-7 open and close with the idea of fear and deliverance, or salvation. Verse 4 says that the LORD delivered me from all my fears, verse 7 says that those who fear the LORD will be delivered. Verses 5-6, sandwiched in the middle, are about seeing and hearing. What does it mean to "look" to the LORD? David says that those who look to him are radiant. Isaiah 60, verse 5 speaks of the faces of God's people being radiant, when God arises and shines his light upon them. It is an echo of Exodus 34, where Moses' face was radiant. When the light of God's glory shines upon the faces of his people, their faces are radiant. God's glory is the glory of the sun. Our faces are like the moon reflecting the sun's glory. And that is the difference between the glory in the face of Moses, and the glory in the face of Jesus. Because Moses' glory was a reflected glory the radiance of the earthly temple. But Jesus' glory is the uncreated glory of God himself the radiance of the heavenly temple. And we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We see him, who is crowned with glory and honor, seated at the right hand of God. How do you do this? How do you look to Jesus? The same way David did! By faith in the midst of trial and danger! As David was trapped in Gath, imprisoned by the servants of Achish, he looked to the LORD and was radiant! And so he feigned madness. Maybe you don't need to feign madness! Maybe the pressures of keeping up with your children your work or other things in life is truly driving you crazy! But in that madness, look to Jesus cry out to the LORD, for the angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. The angel of the LORD throughout the Old Testament seems very clearly to represent the presence of the second person of the Trinity with his people. The angel of the LORD is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. And he encamps around you who fear him, and he delivers you from all other fears. 2. So Taste and See that the LORD is Good (34:8-10) Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Verses 8-10 open and close with the themes of eating and goodness. Verse 8 says that the LORD is good. Verse 10 says that those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. And right in the middle verse 9 says that who fear the LORD have no lack. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Young lions may suffer hunger. Lions often represent the most powerful and self-sufficient of all animals, but even they may suffer want and hunger. But God takes care of those who take refuge in him. And so taste and see that the LORD is good! If indeed David had been chewing on the gates of Gath, then this image takes on a whole new meaning! At the very least he had been frothing at the mouth but he calls us taste and see that the LORD is good. This is a fascinating image. Seeing and hearing are the most prominent images in Psalm 34, and indeed, of all the senses, they are most prominent throughout the Bible. But we are also called to taste in order to see the goodness of God. What are we tasting? Well, think of it in the terms of spiritual seeing and hearing. How do you see Jesus? By faith. How do you hear the voice of the LORD? By faith. So how do you taste and see the goodness of God? By faith. By faith we taste the heavenly banquet prepared by our Lord Jesus Christ. By faith we sit at Wisdom's table and partake of her spiritual food (Proverbs 9. And by faith we long for the pure spiritual milk, by which we grow up to salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. That's the way Peter puts it in 1 Peter 2:2-3. Peter echoes Psalm 34, reminding us that we taste the Lord's goodness. The goodness of God is not just something we see in creation, it is not just something we hear about in the Bible. The goodness of God is something we taste! And when you taste something, it becomes a part of you. God has blessed us with all the bounty of his house, granting us the privilege of coming to his table, where we are fed with all the delicacies of heaven. Taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Those who fear the LORD and take refuge in him, seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness, will lack no good thing. 3. If You Would See Good, Do Good (34:11-14) In verse 11, David turns to the children. Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. After all, if those who fear the LORD lack no good thing, then we need to learn the fear of the LORD. This is whole premise of the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 1-9 is the voice of the father teaching his son to fear the LORD. We've been talking a lot about "fearing" the LORD. What does it mean to fear the LORD? Put simply, it means to be more concerned with what God thinks of you, than with what others think of you. Because whomever you fear is the one who will dictate how you live your life! If you are trying to please your boss and his opinion matters more to you than anything else, then you will do anything to get your boss's approval. If you are trying to please your husband and you are afraid of losing his favor, then you will do anything to get your husband's approval. And yes, if you are trying to please your children, and you are afraid of losing their favor, then you will do anything to get their approval! The one you fear is the one you serve. Come, O children, listen to me! I will teach you the fear of the LORD. What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Do you want a long life and prosperity? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. (34:12-14) If you would see good, do good. Notice how our spiritual theology and our moral theology are bound up together. You will not experience the LORD's favor and blessing if you ignore what he says. If you are sitting around waiting for God to bless you, so that you can serve him, then you may be in for a long wait. David says that if you would learn the fear of the LORD if you would taste and see his goodness then you need to walk in his ways. But notice the order: God delivers his people (verses 4-10) and then calls them to walk in the fear of the Lord. I can see the child Jesus growing up in Nazareth singing Psalm 34. As he learned the fear of the LORD, growing in wisdom and stature before God and man, he would have understood that if he wanted to see many days, then he needed to guard his tongue and pursue peace. Because Jesus is both the child who learned this lesson perfectly, and he is also the Son of David who now sings this song to us! Jesus sings to you: Come, O children, listen to me! 4. Because the Eyes and Ears of the LORD Are Toward the Righteous but Against the Wicked (34:15-18) Verses 15-18 help us understand why we should listen. Verse 15 opens with the eyes and the ears of the LORD being "toward" us, and verse 18 closes with the nearness of God to those who are brokenhearted. The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their trouble. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. God is not just sitting there, passively observing what we do. His eyes and his ears are "toward" the righteous and their cry. Once again we see how the Psalms speak of the people of God as righteous. And the righteous are contrasted with "those who do evil." When scripture calls us "the righteous," it is not just saying that we have been declared righteous in our justification. The "righteous" are those who do good because they have been justified. Because God has forgiven all our sins, and because God has declared us righteous in Jesus Christ, therefore we are called "turn away from evil and do good." Now, you may try to say "Pastor, I may do a few good things here and there, but I'm still a sinner! I'm not righteous!" Well of course you still sin! David did too! But God has forgiven your sins! If God has forgiven your sins, and declared you righteous in Jesus Christ, then how dare you say that you are not righteous! "Well, even my best works are but filthy rags!" Yes, but God forgave you for that too! It's not just your sins of commission that God forgave. It is also your sins of omission! God has forgiven you of all your sins. All that he sees in you now are those good deeds that he created you to do in Christ Jesus. Therefore he calls you "righteous." And yes, you are going to blow it and you are going to sin again tomorrow. And God will forgive you for that, and still call you righteous. So get used to it! Because he's not going to change his attitude about this so you'd better change yours! You see our spiritual theology is also intimately bound up with our doctrinal theology. If you still think that you are under condemnation for your sins, then your experience of God is going to be pretty feeble and fearful. But when you hear that the eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry, then you come with boldness before the Lord your God, trusting that he will hear you and deliver you from all your troubles just as he did for Jesus! But there is a flip side to this. Because verse 16 says The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, if your sins have not been forgiven, and you are living in rebellion, then the face of the LORD is against you. And his purpose is cut off your memory from the earth. Those who reject Jesus Christ have no legacy. They will be forgotten. And in the new heaven and the new earth, there will be no memory of them. For there is no communication between the new creation and the fires of hell. Conclusion: God Delivers His Servants out of Affliction (34:19-22) In verses 19-22 David concludes his song of praise by reminding us that Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. Here David moves from the plural to the singular. Throughout the Psalm he has usually used the plural (except when he talking about himself). But here in verses 19-20 he switches to the singular. Perhaps he intended to again remind Israel of the importance of the Son of David. The Son of David is the righteous one, and God delivers him out of all his troubles. Whatever David's intent, God surely intended us to see Christ here: John 19:36 quotes this Psalm He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Our Lord Jesus Christ was delivered from trouble and affliction not that God protected him from getting into trouble. No, the Father even sent his Son to the cross! But God delivered him from death and raised him up to his right hand. And that is our hope. We know that affliction will slay the wicked. We know that those who hate the righteous will be condemned. We know that none of those who take refuge in Jesus will be condemned. For what can separate us from the love of God in Christ? You thought that was a New Testament idea, didn't you? But Paul lifted it straight from Psalm 34: None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. Take heart, O people of God, for in Jesus Christ, God has redeemed the life of his servant and therefore we who hope in him have the hope of eternal life. Taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!