The Alphabet of Praise: Learning to Speak about God and Ourselves ~ Psalm 34

Psalm 34

1I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.

3O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

4I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

5Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.

6This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.

7The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.

9O fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want.

10The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

11Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

12Which of you desires life, and covets many days to enjoy good?

13Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.

14Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

15The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.

16The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

17When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles.

18The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.

19Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord rescues them from them all.

20He keeps all their bones; not one of them will be broken.

21Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

22The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

The need to “learn to speak” can sound odd to our ears. For many, it seems to come so naturally.  But on second thought we know better: informal vs. formal speech, learning a language, etc. What kind of speech blesses God and blesses us?  This psalm is an alphabet psalm – an acrostic where each line begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It aims to instruct us, in other words, from A to Z, about speech that honors God. The first thing it teaches us is that:

     1. Worship can be about sharing your Abimelech story.

David right at the outset seeks to broaden, maybe even challenge, our sense of what worship is. Worship is much more than me and God according to David, more than private reflections or moments when I engage God directly and personally. It’s also about us and that each of us has a story to share about God’s faithfulness. It’s the congregation that the poet is addressing in order to bring hope to others. It’s a curious feature of this psalm that God is only spoken about but never directly addressed. 

Why Abimilech? What’s an Abimilech story? The heading of the Psalm clues us into an interesting feature about where it comes from. It connects to the story from 1 Samuel 21:8-15 that Kalon Kelley read for us earlier (Cf Gen. 20, 26) - the two stories from Genesis are about giving into fear which place Abraham and Isaac as well as others in grave danger. The final story is of David who encounters the King of the Philistines (“Abimelech” was not simply a name but an official title for Philistine Kings (literally, “my father the king”) like “Pharoah” was an official title for Egyptian rulers). David was weaponless and alone – afraid. This is a story about fear – conquering it or doing something different with it. Hence the Hebrew is literally “When David changed his discernment or behavior.” So David encountered difficulties and God gave him a way out.

So part of worship is about sharing our stories of fear, failure and God’s faithfulness. 

What’s your Abimelech story? What’s your story of fear? I was once asked why I sometimes speak about my divorce – the pain and the shame of it and God’s amazing goodness and redemption in my life – gained a lovely wife, found my calling as a pastor, was gifted with three more children. 

What makes an Abimelech story?

           1.      It’s an honest story about brokenness – the court historian of 1 Samuel doesn’t seem to get that. He tells it as if David saved himself. That may appear true from the outside but fails to incorporate David’s own sense of what was happening. Abimilech stories involve the recognition of real fear and telling the whole truth and David, in this psalm, is talking about God’s goodness and mercy but also his inadequacies. This is why I love the ministry of AA – every story begins with personal brokenness. The goodness of mercy of God are acknowledged amidst the frailty and fragileness of life.

          2.      It’s a story that “boasts in the Lord” – that magnifies God and not ourselves, it invites people in because it’s not about my strength or faithfulness but God’s. That’s why the psalmist says the young lions don’t get it, vs. 10 – they think they have no need for God.

So the church should be a story people who invite others to an experience of God – a God who saves. And yet most of us I sense, imagine worship this way:

“I want to share something good with you, something so tasty – it’s a rich, sweet, creamy,  a melt in your mouth and not in your hand kind of goodness. Do you know what I’m talking about? I thought you did. I want to share some with you. Here you go”:

This is the molecular structure for chocolate. Now, I’m not saying that their aren’t some helpful things to know here – the presence of caffeine in chocolate, the iron that exists in dark chocolate, that there are certain health benefits provided you don’t over indulge etc. But none of those things will offer the taste of chocolate which is the point. David is not inviting people to share correct ideas, sound doctrine, thoughtful principles but to experience God’s direct activity in one’s life.

So while knowledge must inform our experience; it must not replace it. Some of you are not fulfilling your spiritual role to the community because you fail to share your own stories of struggle and God’s goodness in your life. This is why we have LifeGroups! This is why the Egypt group will be sharing during and after the worship service on Nov. 16^th – to share a number of Abimelech stories.

     2. Righteousness is about who you are with.

There is no question that righteousness is critical to the life of faith but just as David stretches our definition of worship he also stretches our language of righteousness. 

The psalmist declares in vs. 15 that “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,” but who are these righteous? What defines them? How do we recognize them? The righteous first appear as those whom God sees and hears because they cry out to God for help. They are those who realize not their moral superiority but their utter lack; their need for God. In vss. 15-22, they cry for help, they are brokenhearted, crushed in spirit, encounter afflictions and take refuge in him.  That’s the kicker of vs. 22 – they are not condemned but not because they were good but because they knew the One who was. If redemption is a gift from God, and grace is God’s action on our behalf, then who you stand with, cry out to, look at, are far more critical than what you do. And that’s good news. 

If righteousness is about who you are with then faith is not so much about believing in a specific outcome but believing that God is good, that God will not be thwarted despite our circumstances. 

 “Look to him and be radiant,” David commands in vs. 5. Look to him not look to it. You’ve heard the phrase, “Keep your eyes on the prize.” Well the prize, David says, is Him. “He is our refuge, our strength, our help.” 

 

Do you look to him daily? There’s an obvious talking component to a life of prayer, which this psalm whole heartedly acknowledges. But, I find this command to look significant. And looking needs no words. Learning to speak about God or to God also involves a silent gaze, a total surrender. Do you believe that that by simply being present with God, gazing on him silently, you can be made radiant? It involves the recognition that Augustine acknowledges, “God is closer to me than I am to myself.” This last year I have put this to the test. A significant portion of my prayer time has not been trying to cajole God into some deal but simply recognizing his presence and surrendering to his will. And friends, I have found a deep well of grace that has been changing me – slowly, sometimes painfully, particularly in areas of fear of anger. 

It reminds me of the time I bought my son Jordan a low in the dark t-shirt. He put it on excitedly and we shut off all the lights  and found only blackness. I was mad – I had been ripped off but then I realized my simple error. I had forgotten to hold it up to the light. Things that glow in the dark don’t do so on their own – they need only be in the presence of the light. It’s our relationship that creates radiance (surrendering to God’s nearness). This relationship in the psalm is expressed through this simple command, “look.” David’s behavior changed not because he was amazing but because God is and David looked to Him.

     3. Sometimes the good doesn’t work but God always does.” Vss. 19-20

But how do we avoid falling into the trap of telling only good stories? What about those who don’t have a story of triumph? Who find themselves neck deep in fear, hopelessness, and despair? Ones who are just waiting for God. Reminds me of the Dr. Seuss book O The Places You’ll Go – talks about the go-getters, the ones who climb mountains will always experience failure at some point,

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

God is not a means or a crutch for the “good life.” Christian Wiman who I quote at the top of your bulletin speaks of an encounter of listening to a famous novelist praise his deceased father for enduring a long, difficult death without ever “seeking relief in religion.” Wiman responds saying, “If God is a salve applied to unbearable psychic wounds, or a dream figure conjured out of memory and mortal terror, or an escape from a life that has become either too appalling or too banal to bear, I have to admit: it is not working for me.” In fact, Wiman admits, belief in God has more often than not made him more painfully aware of himself and that God’s goodness is rarely observed as a gift from the outside with beautiful paper and a satin bow but only often deep in the wounds, wishes, and terrors that we seek so desperately to rise above.

Sometimes our best plans don’t make it. Sometimes “keeping our tongue from evil” and “our lips from speaking deceit” won’t give us the life that we want. This challenges our narrative of righteousness. God is always the subject and we are always the subordinate clause. He hears, rescues, redeems.

If a godly life were always a good life then why was Jesus killed? And this question brings us back to the psalm.

According to David and Jesus, a godly life looks like this.

John will quote this psalm when recounting the crucifixion – John 19:32-37. Vs. 36 quotes Psalm 34:20. This is the One who David says “encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.” Jesus is that God who came and entered into our life of affliction, brokenheartedness, and despair. Jesus is that God who came and delivered us. Jesus is God’s promise that “our bones will not be broken.” Jesus assures that we can taste and see that God is good.