Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for the day and his Word, and ask him to care for and bless us, give understanding, and make the psalm the song of our hearts.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 34
The Happiness of Those Who Trust in God
A Psalm of David When He Pretended Madness Before Abimelech, Who Drove Him Away, and He Departed.
1 I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!
There is no want to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 34.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Psalm 34 calls God's people to praise him, seek him, taste his goodness, fear him, turn from evil, and pursue peace. Bryan teaches his children that God hears and delivers the brokenhearted who trust him—not because they possess their own righteousness, but because Jesus intercedes as their righteous High Priest and redeems them by his blood.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Psalm 34:22
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
The complete transcript discusses the psalm paragraph by paragraph but never records a Best Verse choice. Verse 22 distills the closing gospel emphasis that the Lord redeems his servants and does not condemn those who trust him.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do & Christ Connection
Humble yourself with a broken and contrite heart, confess sin, turn from evil, pursue peace, and trust Jesus Christ. Rejoice that the righteous Savior bore wrath on the cross, redeemed his people by his blood, and gives eternal life without condemnation.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Hey, hey, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we... What are we doing? We're growing our love for the Lord together. That's right. You want to do the rest of the intro? Yeah. And this year... 2020, honey. 2020... What? We'll make it through all the wisdom literature. That's right. We'll make it through all the wisdom literature.
Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Let's go ahead, guys. Let's pray the father we thank you so much for this day, and we thank you for your word We pray now that as we read your word that you would care for us and bless us Please let us understand and please let this be the the song of our heart in Jesus's name Amen alright, so we're at Psalm 34 Nathan. Can you see over here? Okay, somehow we got it page over. Okay, so we're here. Can I tell you guys something really fun about this psalm that you can't see in English?
In Hebrew, each verse starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So verse one starts with, I will bless. And in Hebrew, that's ashri. And then verse two starts with bet. And verse three starts with gimel. Verse four starts with dalet. Verse five starts with hey. Verse six starts with halav, bet, gimel, dalet, hey.
Vav zayin. Zayin is verse six. is verse 7. Anyways, it keeps going on like that. Isn't that cool? It's like the Hebrew alphabet, each verse. So we can't see it in English, but in Hebrew that's how it goes. Alright, here we go. I'll read the first verse, and then we'll do paragraph by paragraph, and we'll talk about it, okay? Alright.
A psalm of David, when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. What do you think that those three verses are talking about? That's right. Exalting and praising God. Good. Deborah, can you read this section four through seven? I sought the Lord and He heard me. I sought the Lord and He heard me.
The Deliverer took me from all of my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him. and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him and delivers them. Wow, what do you think that one is saying? Who's his deliverer? God, I look to him and radiant were in the faces and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out and the Lord heard him. And then what does it say about the Lord in verse, or the angel of the Lord in verse seven? An angel of the Lord encamps around all those who fear him and delivers them. Right? Does God protect us? Does he care for us? That's right. Okay, Nathan, can you do 8 through 10? Here, I'll move it closer. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Oh, fear the Lord through his saints. There is no one to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good things.
What do you think that one's saying? God gives us all good things? That's right. God gives us all good things. Does He care for us? That's right. Come, you children. You hear that? The Lord's talking to you this morning. Come, you children, listen to me.
I will teach you the fear of the Lord, who is the man who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. All right, God says come and listen, right? And he wants you to Teach you to fear who?
God. That's right. Right? And what does he say in verse 13? Keep your tongue from what? Evil. Evil. Right? So should we lie to one another? No. No, right? That's what God says. And we should build up people, not down them. That's right. We should build people up. Right? Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. Good.
All right, Deborah, can you read verses 15 and 16? The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil. And cut off the membranes from the earth. Alright, the face of the Lord is against who? The evil. Those who do evil, right? But what about those who are righteous?
What does it say? He what? His ears are open to their cry. His ears are open to their cry. But we got a problem, don't we? Are we righteous in ourselves? No. No? So why would God hear us? Because we love Him. Yeah, but we're sinful people. We don't have our own righteousness. We actually have unrighteousness. So how does God hear us? God hears us because Jesus intercedes for us. Jesus is our high priest. Jesus prays for us.
Yeah. Okay, Nathan, can you read this one? Oh, sorry, right here. Verse 17 and 18. The righteous cry out and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their trouble. Yeah, a contrite spirit. That's right. So this is what I was getting at, right? The righteous cry out and the Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles. But notice here about the righteous.
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart. Do you know what the book of Ezekiel says? It says that God will take out our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. Did you guys remember Psalm 32? And Psalm 32 when he was confessing his sin? Yeah, did God break his heart? And then did God forgive his sin when he confessed it? That's right. And save such as have a contrite spirit. Yes, Daniel? Oh, so he had a contrite spirit? That's right. Let's read these last verses.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones, not even one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who trust in him shall be condemned.
Do you know what Jesus says? He says that if we believe in the one who sent him, we have passed out of death and into life. We shall not come into judgment. Is that good news? Who's our Redeemer? God. God. And who did he redeem us by? Jesus. That's right. So are we going to be condemned? No. No, we're not going to be condemned. Is that good news? Yeah. Can we rejoice in the Lord? Yeah, that's right.
That's why in verse 1 it says, I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise continually in my mouth. Last thing, Daniel. Go ahead. If you believe in Jesus and trust in Him, then you will have eternal life. That's right. If you believe in Jesus and trust in Him, you'll have eternal life. Good job.
What about you? Is this the cry of your heart? Do you have a contrite spirit? The Lord loves that. Maybe you need to confess some sin. Maybe you need to humble yourself. I don't know what it is for your life, but why don't we go ahead and pray together this morning. Let's go ahead and pray, guys.
Lord, we thank you that we have a righteous Savior, Jesus. We thank you that you do not condemn us, for it was Jesus Christ who drank that cup of wrath on the cross. Lord, we thank you that you have redeemed us with the blood of Jesus, and that you have taken out our hearts of stone and given us a heart of flesh. Lord, we pray that we would follow you and have a good day today. We pray these sayings in Jesus' name. Amen. May the Lord bless you today, and we'll see you tomorrow. Can you guys say bye? Bye! See you tomorrow. Bye!