We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk.
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Psalm 34
Praise for Deliverance from Trouble
1 I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Look to him, and be radiant;
so your[a] faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
Devotional
“I will bless the LORD at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (v. 1). David’s words express his disciplined resolution to bless God constantly, regardless of circumstances. The note on the Psalm indicates David was in a situation of vulnerability, conceivably accompanied by fear and anxiety. Blessing, or praising, God would not have been instinctive or intuitive. David, however, had witnessed God’s faithfulness over and over in the midst of many trials. David’s heart had been tuned and his will had been spiritually trained to praise God. A similar tuning and training had apparently occurred in the life of Job, whose story precedes the Psalms. Job blessed God when he was wealthy and in good health and he blessed God when he was broken and stripped of his possession, family, and health.
When I was taking guitar lessons, I bought an electronic tuner. I used it to keep the guitar strings in tune and to overcome my natural inability to distinguish the correct tones. Over time, I learned to tune the guitar with little assistance from the tuner. As believers, we also must tune our hearts and train our wills by means of spiritual disciplines. Such discipline and training of the heart is not blind to, or dishonest about, the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Instead, it permits us to be mindful of God’s presence, love, and empowerment in the midst of our temporal crises and vulnerabilities, and it prevents circumstances themselves from tuning our lives and responses.
Prayer
“Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace” (Robert Robinson)
Rev. Dr. Linda Stargel
Academic Dean and Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Biblical Language