Psalms 34

I will bless the LORD at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. After Abimelech drove him out, David answers deliverance with lifelong blessing—praise not boxed to calm days.

Bless the LORD at all times. Let praise stay in the mouth when fear returns; do not save thanksgiving for safer weather.

Calvin: David promises to keep in remembrance during his whole life the goodness bestowed upon him. Ordinary daily help calls for continual praise; a more illustrious preservation marks special obligation never to cease setting forth his praises. Distinguish heart-praise from hypocrites' empty tongue.

Continual praise from the heart. Heap benefit upon benefit into lifelong blessing; refuse a mouth that thanks God only when danger is already gone.

My soul shall boast in the LORD. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Wesley: Shall boast—Shall glory in this, that I have so powerful and so gracious a master. The humble—The righteous. Soul-boast in the LORD gladdens the lowly who overhear it.

Boast in the LORD so the humble may be glad. Trade self-glory for Master-glory; let your testimony lift the crushed, not advertise you.

Calvin: soul means the seat of the affections—whole-heart boasting in God alone lest so great a deliverance be forgotten. The humble (anavim) are not all the afflicted merely, but those humbled and subdued, ready to abase themselves; they share joy because David's case is a general pledge of grace, and hope lifts their hearts.

Boast in Jehovah that the humble may hear and recover. Make deliverance public medicine for the lowly; refuse private pride that never gladdens another.

Oh magnify the LORD with me. Let’s exalt his name together! Wesley: Together—Not in place, for David was now banished from the place of God's publick worship, but in affection: let our souls meet, and let our praises meet in the ears of the all-hearing God. Exile does not undo united exaltation.

Magnify the LORD with others. When place is denied, keep affection's meeting; exalt the name together in the ears of the all-hearing God.

Calvin: another fruit of thanksgiving—inducing others by example; he calls all the godly to unite heartily and with one consent. Learn from many helps to abound in hope; when each recites personal benefits, all are animated publicly to praise. We give thanks publicly so men may witness gratitude and follow the example.

Exalt his name together. Turn private rescue into congregational magnification; let one deliverance recruit many mouths.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Seeking is answered; fears—plural—are met by deliverance, not by pretended iron nerves.

Seek him when fears multiply. Bring the whole cluster of terrors to prayer; expect answer and deliverance, not a demand that you feel nothing.

Calvin: seeking here means recourse for help; God answered. Fears mean dangers that sorely disquieted—cruel death, betrayal to Saul, Achish's hatred. Even David, known for bravery, was terrified and agitated; mark this so that fear need not prevent calling upon God.

Sought, answered, delivered from all fears. Do not let effeminacy or heroism-myth silence prayer; frightened saints may still seek and be heard.

Those who look to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be ashamed. Wesley: Lightened—Comforted and encouraged. Ashamed—They were not disappointed of their hope. Looking to him brightens faces that hope will not put to shame.

Look to him and be radiant. Trade shame-anxiety for hope that is not disappointed; faces brighten where the eyes rest on the LORD.

Calvin: they look and flow to him; faces not ashamed—fruit of the favor shown to David. A mirror is set forth in which men may behold God's face serene and merciful; the poor and afflicted dare lift eyes and resort freely. Or: the darkened are enlightened and the ashamed reclothe countenances with cheerfulness.

Look to him without final shame. Use David's deliverance as the mirror that frees timid approaches; refuse a hope that expects disappointment from God.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Wesley: This man—David. The poor man's cry is heard; all troubles are the sphere of saving, not some only.

Cry as this poor man. Do not wait to stop being poor before you pray; the LORD hears and saves out of all troubles.

Calvin: David introduces the godly speaking of himself—This poor man cried—so the weight of example encourages them. God invites all the poor to cry; they contemplate in David what belongs to the common benefit. He is as willing to hear all the afflicted who direct sighs and cries with the same faith as he heard David.

The poor man's cry is a pattern, not a museum piece. Join the invitation; expect hearing for the same faith, not for identical biography.

The LORD’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Wesley: The angel—The angels, the singular number being put for the plural. Fearers of the LORD live inside an encamped deliverance.

Fear him under the angel's camp. Rest when surrounded; deliverance is posted around those who fear, not reserved for the fearless.

Calvin: God is able to deliver, and in mercy to our infirmity often defends by angels' ministration. One angel stands for the ministry of many—ministering spirits for the heirs of salvation. However many enemies surround us, angels armed with invincible power watch and array on every side.

Confess encamped deliverance. Let angelic guard confirm faith without displacing God as the Church's true wall; fear him and sleep inside his posted help.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Wesley: O taste—Make trial, of it by your own experience of it. Good—Merciful and gracious. Goodness is not rumor only—taste, see, take refuge, and be blessed.

Taste and see that the LORD is good. Make trial by experience; do not leave mercy as hearsay. Blessed is the refugee in him—come under that shelter.

Calvin: taste shows men are without taste who devour gifts without relishing them or ungratefully conceal them. Stir the senses; bring a palate that God's goodness may be known by actual experience. Blessed is the man who trusts in him: God never disappoints those who seek his favor; our unbelief alone impedes his large and bountiful satisfying.

The psalmist invites us to taste, see, and trust. Refuse dulled devouring of mercies; let experienced goodness confirm the blessing of refuge, and blame unbelief—not God's scarcity—when the soul stays empty.

Oh fear the LORD, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him have no lack! Wesley: Fear—Reverence, serve, and trust him: for fear is commonly put for all the parts of God's worship. Saints' fear is whole worship, and lack is answered there.

Fear the LORD as saints. Reverence, serve, and trust together; expect no-lack under that fear, not under anxious grasping.

Calvin: exhortation to holiness and righteousness that opens a channel for blessings. Men often provide by fraud and plunder; the faithful feel stirrings to imitate. David promises it will be well if they keep themselves in the fear of God opposed to deceitful counsels. God never forsakes those who walk righteously; yield him the honor of expecting more from him than the wicked from unlawful practices.

Fear Jehovah and refuse want-driven fraud. Integrity is safer than cunning; stay in the fear that has no lack rather than howl among the wolves.

The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing. Fierce self-provision can still starve; seekers of the LORD shall not lack any good thing—shared providence against predator-confidence.

Seek the LORD rather than envy the lions. When strong hunters go hungry, keep seeking; good things are timed by his hand, not by your ferocity.

Calvin: apposite comparison—God provides for his people while lions, fiercest of beasts, prowl famished. Sooner shall lions perish with hunger than God disappoint the righteous and sincere who seek food from his hand. If the good sometimes know penury, his hand succors in due season when they know not where to turn.

Seekers lack no good thing though lions hunger. Cast care on paternal bounty; wait the season of succor without baptizing plunder as necessity.

Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Deliverance turns catechist: the rescued father calls children to learn the fear of the LORD.

Come and listen to be taught fear. Treat the fear of the LORD as learnable wisdom after mercy, not as a mood you wait to feel.

Calvin: with increased earnestness he exhorts just and harmless conduct. Calling them children allays froward affections; come and hearken imply laying aside wilfulness to become docile. Fear of the Lord stands for the rule of a pious and holy life—virtue is in many mouths, but few know what it is to serve God.

Hear the fear of Jehovah taught. Soften stubborn ears; let meekness receive the rule of life that mere talk of virtue never supplies.

What man is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Wesley: Life—A long and happy life, begun in this world and continued for ever in the next. Good—prosperity or happiness. Desire of life is assumed; the path to seeing good is about to be named.

Admit you want life and good days. Let that honest desire drive you into the fear of the LORD, including hope that stretches beyond this age.

Calvin: not asking whether any desire happiness—all do—but censuring blindness: scarcely one in a hundred studies to purchase peace by just means. Nearly the whole world is deceived promising happy life from any source other than the divine blessing on the sincere and upright.

Desire life, then take the just path. Stop chasing good days by violence and fraud; seek the blessing God gives the upright heart.

Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies. Wesley: Evil—From all manner of evil speaking, from all injurious, false and deceitful speeches. The fear of the LORD first bridles the mouth.

Keep tongue and lips. Refuse injurious, false, and deceitful speech; life that loves many days starts with a watched mouth.

Calvin: a rare virtue—truthful discourse free from deceit. Not first a wide net for every slander theory, but speech that does not ensnare neighbors. Nothing is harder than making speech a true representation of the heart; exercise strict control lest the tongue run riot.

Guard tongue from evil and lips from deceit. Make words match the heart before God; do not buy "good days" with ensnaring speech.

Depart from evil and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. Wesley: Depart—From all sin. Do good—Be ready to perform all good offices to all men. Seek—Study by all means possible to live peaceable with all men. Pursue it—follow hard after it when it seems to flee.

Turn, do good, seek and pursue peace. Do not stop at refusing harm; chase peace when it runs, and ready good offices toward all.

Calvin: abstain from evil and devote yourselves to doing good to neighbors. Begin with not wronging, then refuse the excuse that mere non-injury is enough—aid one another. Seek peace and pursue it by gentleness and forbearance even with the fretful; yet with limitation: when the wicked defy God in open war, loyalty must oppose them. In personal affairs be meek and condescending.

Turn from evil, do good, pursue peace. Add active kindness to abstinence from harm; chase peace without treason against God's honor.

The LORD’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry. Watched righteousness and heard cries belong together—shared attentive care.

Live as seen and heard. Cry without theatrical despair; his eyes and ears are already toward the righteous.

Calvin continues the doctrine of deliverance: eyes upon the righteous and ears open to their cry mark fatherly attention, not distant inspection. The godly are not unnoticed petitioners.

Let watched cry replace frantic self-advertisement; providence listens as well as looks.

The LORD’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth. Wesley: The face—His anger, which discovers itself in the face. Favor's opposite is face-against, memory cut off.

Do not treat evil as forgotten. The face against evildoers warns; flee that anger rather than bargain with it.

Calvin: the face of the LORD against evildoers balances eyes toward the righteous—remembrance cut off from the earth. Malice does not write the last public record; God does.

Fear the face against evil. Refuse envy of those whose memory God means to cut off; stay under eyes of favor, not face of anger.

When the righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. Echo of the poor man's story: cry, hear, deliver—out of all troubles again.

Cry for help expecting full deliverance. All troubles are within his hearing; keep crying as the righteous, not as those who have already quit.

Calvin: the righteous cry and Jehovah hears and delivers from all troubles—doctrine exemplified for those tempted to think providence idle when pain lasts. Hearing is not partial toward a favored few anecdotes only.

Cry, be heard, be delivered from all. Hold "all" when troubles stack; the pattern of v. 6 is the church's standing hope.

The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit. Wesley: Nigh—Ready to hear and succour them. To—Those whose spirits are truly humbled under the hand of God, and the sense of their sins, whose hearts are subdued, and made obedient to God's will and submissive to his providence. Nearness meets brokenness—pastoral center of the psalm.

Bring a broken heart and crushed spirit to the near LORD. Humility under his hand and sense of sin is not disqualification; it is the place he succours and saves.

Calvin: God is deliverer even when the faithful are brought very low and half-dead. That he is nigh when hearts fail is incredible to human sense—yet his power shines when he raises from the grave. Nothing more opposes true patience than Stoic loftiness; we are not truly humbled until affliction of heart abases us before God so he may raise us. Sweet consolation: God departs not even when we are overwhelmed and almost deprived of life.

The LORD is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed. Drop Stoic self-command as the mark of faith; receive nearness in faintness, and let him raise you from the dust.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Honest tally: many afflictions—then total deliverance. Quantity of pain does not void the LORD's out-of-them-all.

Count afflictions without counting God out. Many does not mean abandoned; expect deliverance out of them all, not exemption from them all.

Calvin: anticipates the doubt—how God cares for the righteous if they are continually harassed. They remain subject to many miseries so that, tested, they show invincible constancy and experience God as deliverer. Without trials faith languishes and piety stays hidden. He can deliver a thousand times as once; never lose courage whatever evils threaten.

Many afflictions, deliverance from them all. Read trials as testing under care, not as proof of neglect; hold constancy and cry for the out-of-them-all.

He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken. Wesley: Bones—All the parts and members of their bodies. Kept bones image thorough preservation under many afflictions.

Trust thorough keeping. Affliction may be many without being final ruin; the Keeper numbers what the enemy would shatter.

Calvin: illustrates protection—not one bone broken; compare Christ's word that hairs are numbered (Luke 12:7). The clause is applied in John 19:36 to Christ and represented as receiving fulfillment in him—yet the psalm's comfort for the righteous stands in God's careful preservation through danger.

He protects all of his bones. Rest in numbered care through affliction; let preservation language steady you without turning the verse into a promise of painless life.

Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. Affliction's end differs by camp: the righteous are delivered through it; the wicked are slain by it, and haters stand condemned.

Do not envy the wicked's present ease. Affliction and condemnation wait on hatred of the righteous; stay on the delivered side.

Calvin: malice (or misery) shall slay the wicked—their wickedness falls on their own heads. Those who hate the righteous shall be destroyed: a wall of brass for the godly among numerous enemies already devoted to destruction.

Affliction slays the wicked; haters are condemned. Take courage behind that wall; refuse terror that treats hatred as sovereign.

The LORD redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned. Closing pastoral beatitude: redeemed life, refuge, no condemnation—the psalm's last word over the brokenhearted and the hunted.

Take refuge and rest un-condemned. Serve under redemption, not under fear of final sentence; none who shelter in him are cast off.

Calvin: Jehovah redeems the soul of his servants—preservation that first adjudges to death before God appears as redeemer; those who demand speedy show of power intercept grace. Principal mark of servants: they trust in God on whom salvation depends. Those who trust shall not perish.

The LORD redeems his servants; refugees are not condemned. Trust through the death-shadow where redemption appears; do not quit refuge for a faster human verdict.