Like David, let us seek the Lord of safety, health, and grace in fear.
Selvaraj Soosaimanikam – Vatican
In our Bible search last week, ‘God does not forsake believers!’ We concluded this hymn by meditating on verses 20 to 22 of hymn 33. Let’s begin our thoughts on Psalm 34 in this week’s Bible search.
Entitled ‘Praising God’s Mercy’, the hymn is ‘David’s; When he showed himself mad before Abimelech, he went out to chase him; Then he sang’ is subtitled. This subheading gives us the context in which King David wrote this psalm. Let us first know the background of the writing of this scripture. The battle of mercy between King Saul and David is the root cause of all David’s sufferings. Saul’s jealousy, anger, and sense of revenge on David made David lose his peace. As a result, like a deer afraid of a tiger, David had to flee to various places and seek refuge. There are so many problems faced by the people in a huge country, King Saul is thinking that he should leave them all and kill David. So, David is fighting for his life from such a cruel Saul. Fleeing from Saul, David takes refuge with King Achish of Gath. Even there danger chases him. King Achis, hearing of David’s bravery in killing Goliath, is jealous of him like King Saul. So, in this predicament, David is forced to the extreme of pretending to be a madman in order to escape from King Achish. Let’s read the passage now.
Then David arose and fled that day to Achish, king of Gath. Achish’s officials asked him, “Is this David, the king of Israel?” ‘Saul killed a thousand men. Didn’t the women dance and sing to themselves, ‘David has killed ten thousand men?’ They said. David kept these words in his heart, and was greatly afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. So he pretended to be a madman before them by changing his countenance and gnawing at the doors of his mouth, foaming at the mouth through his beard. Then Aquis said to his officers, “Look at this man; He is a madman! Why did you bring him to me? Are we short of lunatics to act madly in my presence? Can he enter my house?” He laughed. (1 Sam 21:10-15). This historical event in David’s life is only exemplified in this psalm. Moreover, David, who survived this great danger, composes this hymn to praise the Lord.
Having internalized this historical background, let us continue our thoughts on this practice. This hymn has a total of 22 verses. Let us now consider verses 1 to 4. Let us read those words first. I will praise the Lord forever; His praise will always be on my tongue. I will boast of the Lord; Simple people will laugh at this. Praise the Lord with me; Let us glorify his name. I begged the Lord for help; He replied to me; He freed me from all kinds of fear. (Verses (1-4).
Two thoughts are centered in these four verses. That is, in the first three verses, David says, ‘I will praise God, I will glorify God, I will glorify his name’, and in the fourth verse, he says, ‘He has answered my prayer’ and ‘He has freed me from all kinds of fear’ and says, ‘Why should I praise God?’ He also presents the reason for that.
Many people were traveling in a ship that was going to sea. Among the pilgrims was a devotee who had great devotion to God. The ship, which was going well, got caught in a sudden storm and broke into pieces and sank. Then, clinging to a piece of wood from the wrecked ship, the devotee somehow managed to escape and reach a nearby island. “Lord… even though I am alone on this deserted island, You are with me. I believe that you will help me in some way and protect me,” the devotee said to God. But even though he never got any help, he never lost his faith in God. Days passed like this. To protect himself, he built a small hut with materials found on the island. He satiated himself daily with the fruits he got there. A few more days passed like this. But, not only did he lose his faith, he continued to pray to the Lord every day. One day when the devotee returned after going out in search of food, his only hut was on fire. When he saw that, he was very sad. But never losing hope, he consoled himself by saying that God would have some good in this too. His faith was not in vain. In a few hours a ship was approaching the island where he was staying.
When he saw it, he said, “God has heard my prayers and helped me. He did not abandon me. He has sent someone to save me,” said the devotee jumping in excitement. Then, the crew from the ship took him to the ship. Once inside the ship, the devotee asked them, “How do you know I am alone on this island?” The captain of the ship replied, “When we looked from a distance, we saw smoke rising from this island. Also, we came here thinking that someone stranded on the island is crying out for help,” he said. It was then that the devotee understood the reason why the Lord set the hut on fire. As ships that way were very, very rare, he realized what his situation would have been had the hut not been on fire. The devotee thanked the Lord again saying that God will never abandon any devotee who has faith in Him and prays to Him daily.
I will sing and praise God’s name; I will thank him and glorify him (Tibah 69:30) Enter His gates with thanksgiving! Come to His court with a song of praise! Give thanks to Him and praise His name! For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; He is trustworthy in every generation (Tibah 100:4,5) Lord! I will thank you with all my heart; I will praise you before the gods. You have heard me in the day of my supplication; You gave strength to my mind. (Deuteronomy 138:1,3) and David praises and thanks the Lord for his goodness in some other psalms.
When he was a young man shepherding sheep, David used to sing praises to God. And we see him thanking God for using him to defeat the giant Goliath. “What else do you have to say, I, David, in return for honoring me, your servant? Because You know Your servant. O Lord, You have not only done all these great deeds for Your servant, but also announced all these honorable deeds. Lord, there is none like you; There is no god but You as we have heard with our ears. (1 Mark 17: 18-20). Although King Saul was jealous of David and sought to avenge him, he saw that the Lord was with David and guiding him. Because of this, King Saul was very afraid to lift his hands against David. Yet in his heart he yielded to the evil spirit of Colossians. That is why,
Acting against God, Saul was forced to take his own life. But David, who had firm faith in God till the end, received the royal position, His protection, His love and grace as a gift. Therefore, like David, let us fear the Lord of protection, health and grace. Let us pray to God for that on this day.