Psalm 34:1-4
I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises…I prayed to the
LORD and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.
This is one of 14 psalms that has a title which identifies when David wrote it. The
background to this particular psalm is found in 1 Samuel 21 and 22. To summarise,
David had run away from King Saul who was trying to kill him. He escaped to the King
of Gath for safety. However, David felt far from safe and so he decided that it would
be best for him to pretend to be mad. This worked well and he successfully escaped
from the King of Gath to his next hiding place in the cave of Adullum. So the context
of this psalm is one of threat and insecurity. And yet David is full of praise and
worship. Indeed, he encourages us to praise the Lord at all times and says that praise
will always be on his lips.
The truth is that it is easy to praise the Lord when everything is going well. But David,
in common with the apostle Paul, was convinced that praising God is the appropriate
response every day. Just think of all the challenges and difficulties which Paul faced
that we have read about over the past month. He constantly experienced pressure
and frequently faced physical threats. He was let down by close colleagues and
suffered continually from his thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). But nevertheless,
he encouraged the church in Ephesus to: “be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the
Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18–20).
Every day we have a choice as to how we will approach life. We could go into today
full of complaints. But we could listen to David and Paul and decide that the best
attitude to have is one of praise and thanksgiving. And I can assure you that,
whatever may be happening in your life, if that is your attitude then you will find no
end of things for which to praise God.
Question
What are three reasons why you should praise God right now?
Prayer
Loving Father, thank you for the ways in which you are continually blessing my life.
Help me to keep praising you throughout today. Amen

Released on 30 Jul 2024