I am writing this blog at work while the Merry Maids are busy scrubbing the tile floor and chatting to each other in Spanish. I was also in the process of cleaning out my e-mails and reviewing the flagged ones and came upon this devotional by William Varner. He is a favored teacher of God's Word and I believe he teaches at the TMC as well as a fellowship group (AKA SS) that my husband attends Sunday mornings.
His advice on Thriving in Crisis comes at a time when it is so difficult to comprehend what in the world is going on. Difficult to go on with some normalcy because it does not seem that there never really is a sense of normalcy
Psalm 34 Thriving in Crisis
The psalm title gives the background: David’s strange behavior before Achish, king of Gath. The Biblical text is 1 Sam 21:1–22:2. After this problematic behavior, David hid out in the Cave of Adullam where he was joined by his “mighty men.” This background will help us see the significance of some of his statements.
David’s advice to those in crisis is fivefold:
1. Praise the Lord (vv. 1–3). The emphasis here is not that we praise the Lord at expected times (Temple, Church, Chapel), but that we praise Him “at all times.” Read Hab. 3:17–18 to see the testimony of a prophet who had learned to do this even when the enemy had destroyed every visible thing in which he trusted!
2. Trust the Lord (vv. 4–7). If we have said “trust the Lord” once in these devotionals, we have said it a dozen times. David tells us what trusting really means. It means to “seek” Him (v. 4), to “look to” Him (v. 5), to “cry out” to Him. When you do this, the angel of the Lord encamps around you. This is illustrated by the calm eye in the midst of a powerful hurricane.
3. Taste the Lord (vv. 8–10). To taste is to personally experience. David’s knowledge of God was evidenced by his intense personal relationship with him. Are you sometimes afraid that people will think you are “too spiritual” and that “you are so heavenly minded you are no earthly good?” Frankly I have never met such a person. Would that we were cursed with such heavenly minded people!
4. Fear the Lord (vv. 11–14). You fear the Lord by watching your words (v. 13) and by watching your walk (v. 14). This passage is quoted and applied by Peter (1 Pet. 3:10–11). Is this what David taught the mighty men in the Cave of Adullam? David was at his best when he was on the run from Saul.
5. Flee to the Lord (vv. 15–22). It is the troubled and crushed and broken that the Lord hears and delivers and keeps. The high and lofty one comes down to the level of our need (Isa. 57:15) (Jeff Eckert).
Verse 22 is the final promise in this acrostic poem and the author focuses our attention on God’s deliverance of His servants who take refuge in Him. “This verse links the psalm to a larger Messianic theme in Psalm 2:12 which uses the very same language about the blessedness of those who take refuge in the Son of God who is also the Messianic Son of David” (Varner
