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Taste and See That the Lord Is Good (Psalm 34) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed Thinking. This is the deep dive where we
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  take your source material, your research, your books, your
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  sermons and really distill the key insights giving you the
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  clarity and context you need. And today our source is, well,
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  it's classic. We're looking at excerpts from
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  Charles Spurgeon's The Treasury of David, and we're zeroing in
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  on his commentary on Psalm 34. Right.
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  Our mission really is to help you get that quick but thorough
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  knowledge to find those aha moments without getting, you
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  know, bogged down in all the 19th century language.
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  We want to see what David is doing as both a poet and a
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  preacher here. And the context for the Psalm is
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  just so important. It comes from a really well a
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  very questionable moment in David's life.
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  The title says it's a Psalm of David when he changed his
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  behavior before Abimelech, and that points us straight back to
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  first Samuel 21. David's on the run from Saul and
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  he ends up in Gath. The Philistine city, Akisha's
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  territory, and the Psalm calls him Abimelech, which was likely
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  a royal title, sort of like Pharaoh.
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  So he's an enemy territory. He's surrounded by, you know,
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  Goliath's countrymen, and he just panics.
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  Completely panics. The text says he was terrified
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  and his big idea is to pretend to be insane.
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  He's scratching on the doors, drooling down his beard.
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  It's a humiliating, desperate act of self preservation
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  through, well, through a lie. And this Psalm is what he
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  writes. Looking back on that, he relied
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  on his own frankly foolish plan, but God protected him anyway.
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  And that's the tension, isn't it?
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  A questionable act leading to this beautiful song of
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  deliverance. But what Spurgeon points out
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  right away is David's choice in how he frames it.
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  What he chooses to leave out. Exactly.
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  It's a huge lesson in repentance.
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  David consciously, very deliberately, doesn't mention
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  his sinful, tricky escape in the Psalm itself.
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  He doesn't brag about how clever he was to act like a madman.
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  All the focus is on God's undeserved deliverance, Spurgeon
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  says. We shouldn't be like old
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  soldiers who are proud of their wounds or, you know, proud of
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  their sins. David played the fool, but he
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  wasn't foolish enough to write a hymn about his own foolishness.
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  It's all about Jehovah's faithfulness, all of it.
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  And that choice really shapes the whole Psalm.
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  It splits right down the middle into two major sections, which
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  is how we'll look at it today. Verses one through 10 are this
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  personal hymn. It's all about what God did for
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  David. And then verses 11 through 22,
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  it just pivots. It becomes a sermon of
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  instruction for others. For the younger ones, the less
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  experienced, yeah. And we have to talk about the
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  artistry here. Yeah, this is an alphabetical
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  Psalm and acrostic. The second one after Psalm 25.
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  Right. And what that means is that
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  almost every verse starts with the next letter of the Hebrew
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  alphabet. It's a very deliberate, very
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  structured way to write. So why do that?
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  It's not an easy way to compose. Well, it tells you how David saw
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  God's goodness. It's as if he's saying that
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  God's deliverance deserves his very best, his most careful,
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  methodical work. It was a way to help people
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  memorize it, show completeness. Like he's gone through the
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  entire alphabet from A-Z or a left to Tau.
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  And every letter just demands another line of praise for what
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  God has done. It's what Spurging calls a well
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  carved memorial to God's mercy. OK, so let's dig into that first
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  section, the Hymn of Unceasing Praise, starting with verses 1
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  to 3. David kicks it off with this,
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  this fixed determination. Verse one, I will bless the Lord
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  at all times. It's not a.
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  Maybe it's a declaration. And that phrase at all times,
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  that's the key, isn't it? It sets the whole tone.
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  It means in every single situation, every circumstance.
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  Before the trial, During the trial, after the trial.
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  Even when he was being thrown out of Gath as a madman, even at
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  his lowest, the praise should continue.
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  David understood that he would never be finished praising God
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  because God's deservings are, well, they're infinite.
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  It's never a bad time to bless the Lord.
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  Which gets to the theology Spurgeon really drills down on
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  Praise is for Jehovah alone, not for secondary causes.
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  Right. David knows his own trickery
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  played a role in his escape, but the real deliverance, the true
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  source of his safety, was God. So you don't praise your own
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  cleverness. No, the Lord has a monopoly on
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  our praise. It's His by divine right, and we
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  can't rob Him of that honor by, you know, crediting our own
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  quick thinking or just lucky circumstances, even when the
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  mercy reminds you of your own sin, like David's shame, the
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  praise has to go to the right place.
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  To Jehovah. Always.
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  And David makes it clear this isn't just a private, internal
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  feeling. He says his praise shall
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  continually be in my mouth. It has to be active, vocal.
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  That's what the tongue is for, to glorify God.
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  Spurgeon has this great line where he calls it a blessed
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  mouthful. I like that.
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  Yeah, and he says if our mouths were always filled with praise
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  for God, there wouldn't be any room left for complaining or,
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  you know, slandering other people.
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  You roll that dainty morsel of God's goodness under your
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  tongue, and the bitterness of your afflictions just get
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  swallowed up. Which flows right into verse 2
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  where he talks about boasting. My soul shall make her boast in
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  the Lord. Boasting usually has such a
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  negative ring to it. It does.
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  But this is different. This is holy boasting.
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  It's not just vain bragging. And notice he says his soul is
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  in it. That's the first clue.
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  This isn't the arrogant boasting of the Pharisee who takes all
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  the credit. Holy boasting gives all the
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  credit away. You shift the object of your
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  pride from yourself, your clever plans, your escapes to God
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  himself. And what's the scope of that?
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  If we're boasting in the Lord, what are we boasting about?
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  Oh, the scope is infinite. You can boast in His character,
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  His attributes, His covenant promises, His works, they're all
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  incomparable. You can never exaggerate God's
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  greatness, so proclaiming your confidence in Him isn't there.
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  Again, it's actually a service to other people.
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  And he says, who that audience is, the humble shall hear
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  thereof and be glad. Yes, this is so vital for the
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  life of the Church. Usually humble people are put
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  off by bragging right, but boasting in the Lord is a
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  comfort to them because it's good news about a faithful God.
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  So hearing the testimony of a tried believer.
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  Like David, fresh from the fire. It gives solace to people who
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  have less experience. It's a form of encouragement.
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  We should be talking about God's goodness specifically so that
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  others can be strengthened in their own trust.
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  Which sets up verse 3 perfectly. He goes from his personal story
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  to a group action. O magnify the Lord with me.
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  He's not content to praise God by himself.
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  No, it's a natural instinct of the new spiritual life, isn't
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  it? We want company in glorifying
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  God. Praise just gets better when
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  it's shared. Now.
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  You can't make God actually bigger.
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  He's infinite of. Course.
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  But you magnify him by making his name, his glory, more widely
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  known. Our combined voices expand the
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  recognition of His greatness in the world.
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  And the source material connects this to a specific moment in
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  time. Venomous suggests David is
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  saying this to the men who just joined him at The Cave of
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  Adulum. Think about that for a second.
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  It's incredible. David escapes, he runs into the
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  wilderness, and who shows up? This motley crew of 400 men.
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  The Outcasts. The indebted, the distressed,
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  the discontented, the down and outs of Israel.
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  And David, from his own sinful, desperate escape, gathers this
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  ragtag army and says, let me tell you what God did.
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  Now magnify the Lord with me. It's this powerful picture of
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  corporate worship coming not out of a time of prosperity, but out
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  of shared hardship and brokenness.
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  God's praise is fitting, even when the choir is
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  unconventional. That imagery of shared hardship
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  leads us right into the next section, verses 4 through 7,
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  where David gives his direct testimony.
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  He owns his flawed faith in that moment.
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  It really does. And verses four and six he talks
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  about calling on the Lord, but he admits his prayer must have
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  been confused, maybe even tainted with self-sufficiency.
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  Why? Because he had already tried his
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  own human trick. First the tortuous policy of
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  pretending to be insane. He had, you know, hedged his
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  bads. He schemed.
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  Then he prayed. But the.
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  Fact that God answered that his poor limping prayer that is so
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  comforting. If God only heard perfect
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  prayers, none of us would stand a chance.
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  Not a chance. Just shows God's grace.
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  But even bigger than the prayers, acceptance is the
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  result. God made a complete total work
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  of it. He delivered me from all my
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  fears. And that phrasing is so key.
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  It's not just that he delivered him from the trouble at Gath.
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  No, it's much bigger. It means God didn't just solve
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  today's problem, he gave security from future anxiety,
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  Spurgeon says. God cleared the whole field.
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  He took away the troubles and their causes.
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  It's a total removal, past and future.
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  Then David makes it universal. In verse 5 he says they looked
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  unto him and were lightened. This wasn't just for him.
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  But he seamlessly moves from his private experience to a truth
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  for all believers. Just one look at the Lord
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  brightens the face. It changes your spirit, and your
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  countenance shows it. There's life and light in A Look
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  at the Crucified 1. And, he adds, their faces were
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  not ashamed. Because if you trust in God, you
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  never have to be ashamed of that trust.
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  It will be justified. God will prove it was the right
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  call. And that leads to one of the
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  most critical verses in the whole Psalm, verse 7.
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  The Angel of the Lord encampeth roundabout them that fear him,
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  and delivereth them. This is huge theologically.
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  That specific phrase, the Angel of the Lord is so important in a
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  lot of reform thinking. This isn't just any created
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  Angel. It's the covenant Angel.
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  The Preincarnate Christ himself at the head of heaven's armies.
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  Why is that distinction so important for the kind of
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  security David is talking about? Well, if your protector is just
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  a created being, your safety depends on a creature's
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  strength. But if the commander of your
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  guard is Christ himself, your security is rooted in the
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  absolute sovereignty of God. He's the captain of Salvation.
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  So the guarantee is divine. Exactly.
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  And the image of the camp is just so vivid, hosts entrenched,
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  it sounds like a military perimeter.
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  It is the source material gives us that cultural context.
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  Arab tribes would pitch their tents in a circle, with the
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  Prince safe in the middle and all the tents facing inward
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  toward him. A defensive formation.
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  A perfect defensive formation. And that's the picture we're
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  given. The Saints are in the middle,
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  safe, and the invisible armies of heaven are encamped all
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  around them, watching. A divine celestial security
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  detail. And they don't just stand guard,
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  the text says they deliver. And it's interesting.
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  This Angel is an Angel of mercy here.
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  But in the very next Psalm, Psalm 35, he's an Angel of
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  judgement. It shows both sides of God's
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  sovereign power. OK, so that brings us to Section
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  3. And this is where David makes
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  that big experiential call, verse 80.
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  Taste and see that the Lord is good.
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  It's a sharp turn, isn't it? He stops recounting what
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  happened and turns to a listener and says now it's your turn.
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  You've you have to move past just hearing about it.
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  You have to get personal. This can't stay theoretical.
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  No, it has to be inward. Personal faith is like the souls
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  taste. You can't know how good the
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  banquet is by just reading the menu.
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  You have to actually eat. You have to participate.
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  And you have to taste first and then you see.
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  Yes, the enjoyment comes before the full understanding.
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  It's like some truths can only be understood once they're
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  experienced. You have to taste God's goodness
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  in your own life, and then you'll truly see and apprehend
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  how good He is. And this experience is
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  immediately linked to security. Blessed is the man that trusteth
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  in him. Faith is the test.
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  If you trust, you will inevitably taste and see that
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  God is good and that experience brings blessedness.
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  The promise is the argument for the command.
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  He's saying I'm urging you to taste because I know what you'll
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  find. So if that's the experience,
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  what's the practical response? That's verse 9.
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  O fear the Lord, ye his Saints. This is the proper response to
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  tasting His goodness. And this isn't a cowering,
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  slavish fear. It's a holy, childlike
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  reverence. You tremble to offend Him.
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  You hurry to serve Him. And paradoxically, this fear of
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  God is what cancels out the fear of man.
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  If you properly fear the Lord, you don't have to be afraid of
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  King Akish or King Saul. And then comes the tangible
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  reward for that reverence where there is no want to them that
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  fear him. This is such a solid promise of
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  provision. Now we have to be clear,
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  Spurgeon is quick to point out. This means necessities, not
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  luxuries. It doesn't mean every whim is
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  fulfilled, but every real want will be supplied.
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  Godliness has the promise of this life.
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  Right now it's just better policy to trust God and live
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  rightly than to try some crafty human scheme like David did it
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  Gaffe. Then David drives this home with
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  that amazing contrast in verse 10 with the Young Lions.
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  Yeah, the Young Lions do lack and suffer hunger.
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  And lions, they're the picture of strength, of power, of
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  cunning. The world's winners, right?
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  The oppressors, the self-sufficient, the ones who
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  take what they want by brute force.
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  And yet even they end up howling in hunger, their violence
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  doesn't guarantee their provision.
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  Why Young Lions specifically? Because they're at their peak,
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  they're not old or weak. They have every natural
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  advantage. But the Cloop Terry points out
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  that the life of a predator is actually pretty wretched.
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  It's marked by starvation and desperate fights.
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  The powerful of this world, who rely only on themselves,
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  eventually find their strength fails them.
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  Which makes the other side of that verse so powerful.
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  But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.
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  It just completely reverses the world's power dynamic.
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  No truly good thing will be denied to them.
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  They'll succeed where the world's strong men fail.
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  And if a believer seems to lack something, a job, a comfort,
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  they can be sure that for them, right now, it's just not a good
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  thing. That's a challenging thought.
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  Lack can be a disguised. Blessing it can be a want that
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  is sanctified, as Spurgeon says is often a good thing.
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  It's the tool God uses to stir up prayer, to correct our lives,
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  to build faith and patience. We learn gratitude when we
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  receive, and we learn submission when we don't.
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  And we need both. The source note about Columba is
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  a perfect way to end that thought.
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  It's beautiful, isn't it? The old Irish Abbot transcribing
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  the Psalms right before he died. He copies right into this verse.
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  They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.
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  And then he just stops. Yeah, he says.
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  The next verse, which starts the sermon, is for his successor to
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  write. It's like his final living
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  testimony to God's complete sufficiency, pausing his life's
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  work right at the peak of the hymn.
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  So now we make that turn that Columba left for his successor.
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  We move into the second-half the royal sermon.
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  David completely shifts his tone in verse 11.
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  Come, ye children, hearken unto me.
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  It's a huge shift. He's not the warrior anymore,
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  he's the teacher, the sovereign, and he calls his audience
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  children, taking on that nurturing role.
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  It's amazing that a king, a man dealing with state policy and
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  war, wasn't ashamed to stop and teach the young.
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  It really elevates the work of teaching.
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  It does. The source puts teachers of
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  youth in the true peerage. Their work is honorable.
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  And notice how he invites them. He says come, he's making it
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  attractive, not harsh. And what's on the syllabus?
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  Not war strategy. Not court politics.
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  No, it's the fear of the Lord. It's basically all the duties of
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  religion, a whole education and piety, and he presents this as
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  being better than all the Arts and Sciences, better than any
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  other kind of knowledge. The source calls it the language
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  of Canaan. It's the main point of all
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  instruction and the. Goal.
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  The practical outcome of this lesson is laid out in verse 12.
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  He's giving a receipt for leading a happy life, right?
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  It speaks to that universal human desire.
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  And he's not promising a long life necessarily, but a happy
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  one. Good days, the art of living
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  well, joyfully. That's what this instruction is
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  all about. He's using the rewards of virtue
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  to draw the young in. The sermon then gets very
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  practical, starting with our words in verse 13.
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  Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
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  He wants a diligent guard posted over the tongue.
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  Evil talks, slander, curses. It always comes back to bite the
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  speaker. It ruins your enjoyment of life,
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  and guile or deceit is especially dangerous.
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  The person who lives by lies is in constant fear of being found
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  out. It makes life a nightmare.
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  And this warning comes with so much personal weight from David
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  himself. It does.
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  He just tried the torturous policy at Gath.
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  He knows first hand the shame and fear that comes from
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  deception, so when he denounces it, it's not theoretical.
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  He's begging others not to make his mistake.
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  True repentance makes you want to warn others.
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  Verse 14 then moves from words to actions with a negative and a
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  positive command. First, depart from evil.
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  And that's not passive, it means get away from it.
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  Put some distance between yourself and temptation.
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  Don't live near the pest house. As the commentary says, actively
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  separate yourself from the source of the problem.
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  But just avoiding bad things isn't enough, is.
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  It no negative goodness is insufficient.
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  That's the Pharisee patting himself on the back for what he
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  doesn't do. So David adds the positive
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  command and do good. You have to be active.
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  Practical, energetic, persevering positive virtue is
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  actually the best way to promote negative virtue.
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  If you're busy working in the vineyard, you don't have time or
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  energy to get into trouble. The last piece of advice in this
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  part is probably the hardest. Seek peace and pursue it.
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  It requires so much active effort.
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  Peace with God, peace with yourself, peace with others.
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  It doesn't just happen. You have to hunt it down, chase
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  after it even when it runs from you.
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  Strife just eats away at your heart.
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  The source quotes Augustine Fiat Justicia at Habezpakam.
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  Live righteously and you will live peaceably.
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  That's the key. You can't have true peace
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  without righteousness. First, we have to actively seek
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  reconciliation, showing the love of Christ even to those who
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  resist it. OK, that brings us to the final
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  section of the sermon covering God's Providence and redemption,
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  verses 15 to 22. David starts with this stark
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  contrast in how God relates to the righteous and the wicked.
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  For the righteous, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.
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  That's not just observation, it's approval, tender care.
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  He's watching each believer as if they were the only person in
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  the universe. And his ears.
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  His ears are open unto their cry, even a faint spiritual
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  groan. The father's ear catches it like
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  a mother hearing her sick child from another room.
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  But for the wicked it is a completely different posture.
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  The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
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  That is a terrifying thought. It means God is actively
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  determined. They will not succeed.
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  They will be thwarted and the end result is total erasure.
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  God will cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
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  Their legacy will fail. After that chilling contrast,
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  verse 18 brings this incredible comfort for the convicted.
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  The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.
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  This is so necessary because when your heart is broken, you
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  often feel like God is 1,000,000 miles away, but the Psalm says
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  that's when he is nearest ready to console.
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  Salvation and contrition are tied together.
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  Let's unpack the language there. The source says.
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  Contrite spirit in Hebrew is literally the beaten out spirit.
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  That metaphor of the hammer is so important for understanding
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  real repentance. The Word of God is the hammer
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  that breaks the rock. It shatters the old self and
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  separates the pure metal from the ore.
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  It's the Holy Spirit striking the heart.
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  And having a broken heart, in this sense, is actually a good
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  thing. A very good thing.
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  It makes the soul acceptable to God.
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  It makes it a fit place for God to live.
• 19:17
  As Isaiah 57 says, if we chasten our own spirits, the Lord spares
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  us. It's a necessary condition for
• 19:23
  Christ's healing to come in. Then in verse 19 we get this
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  dose of reality that Scripture never shies away from.
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  Many are the afflictions of the righteous.
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  Yes, this is the expected earthly lot of the elect.
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  The path will have thorns. Troubles will come from all
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  sides. Scripture doesn't promise an
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  easy life. In fact, if you follow Christ,
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  you're guaranteed to have trouble from the world.
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  But wait, how does that square with what he said earlier about
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  the Young Lions lacking but the Seekers wanting no good thing?
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  Seems like a contradiction. It's not a contradiction.
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  It's a distinction between want and affliction.
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  Want is about your ultimate provision, your essential needs.
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  Affliction is about the trials you go through for your
• 20:04
  sanctification. The righteous may suffer many
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  afflictions, but they lead to a good end because of the most
• 20:10
  important word in the verse. But but the Lord delivereth him
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  out of them all. That but changes everything.
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  It's the guarantee Jehovah will lead his people through all of
• 20:19
  it, scatheless and triumphant. In the end, no trouble is so
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  great that God cannot free us from it.
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  And this promise gets even more specific in verse 20 with the
• 20:27
  image of the bones. He keepeth all his bones.
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  Not one of them is broken. We have to understand this
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  figuratively. It points to substantial safety.
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  Good men have broken their legs. Obviously.
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  It means the real self, the essential fabric of your being,
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  is safe. The covenant Angel ensures no
• 20:44
  fatal spiritual injury can. Happen, and this points directly
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  to Christ. Yes, the primary fulfillment is
• 20:49
  Christ on the cross. It echoes the rule for the
• 20:52
  Passover lamb. Not a bone was to be broken, and
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  that's what happened is John 19 notes, applied to us, the
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  church, his mystical body. It means we will be presented
• 21:02
  whole in the end, kept safe by God's power.
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  The contrast with the wicked in verse 21 is so sharp, evil shall
• 21:09
  slay the wicked. Notice the difference.
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  The righteous man has external afflictions that God uses for
• 21:15
  good. The wicked man is slain by a
• 21:17
  single internal thing, his own evil.
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  His sin becomes its own executioner.
• 21:21
  It's a poison, not a medicine, and those who hate the righteous
• 21:24
  will end up desolate alone. Which brings us to the final
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  verdict in verse 22, which really wraps it all up.
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  The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants.
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  This is the definitive statement.
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  This redemption is accomplished by price, the blood of the
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  covenant Angel, and by power, God's act of deliverance.
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  And because He bought them, they belong to Him.
• 21:43
  They are His servants. And the final guarantee, the
• 21:45
  last word of the sermon. None of them that trust in Him
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  shall be desolate. Faith Faith is the non
• 21:52
  negotiable mark of the ransomed. If that trust is there, even in
• 21:55
  the weakest St. it ensures they will never be deserted, never
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  given up to ruin. David starts with his own
• 22:01
  personal fear and folly, and he ends with this universal,
• 22:04
  absolute promise of security through faith.
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  Wow, this deep dive has been so clarifying.
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  We started with David's failure, his mess at Gath, and we ended
• 22:13
  with God's perfect preservation. We've really broken down that
• 22:16
  two-part structure, the personal hymn and then that public
• 22:19
  sermon. And I think the core lesson here
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  is the complete sufficiency of God's preservation.
• 22:24
  It's so central to Reform thought.
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  It's not our perfect behavior, David proves that, but the
• 22:29
  perfection of our Redeemer, the covenant Angel.
• 22:32
  His protection is what guarantees that even with many
• 22:35
  afflictions, not one essential part of us will be broken.
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  Spurgeon said David's goal was to mark our mercies with well
• 22:41
  carved memorials. This Psalm was David's.
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  So the question for you is what specific well carved memorial,
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  not a physical one, but a personal spiritual marker, can
• 22:51
  you erect today reflecting that truth that God provides when
• 22:55
  even the Young Lions do lack? Thank you for sharing your
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  sources for this deep dive. Until next time.