PRAISING GOD FOR ALL THINGS NEW
“Behold, I make all things new”! This resounding promise emanating from the throne in John’s vision of heaven has stuck in my mind from the beginning of my “walk with the Lord in the light of His Word. What a glory He has shed on my way! While I do His good will, He abides with me still, and with all who will trust and obey”!
Life Review is one of the therapeutic techniques counselors use with clients wrestling with thoughts of past failures while contemplating readiness for the life to come. In doing so, it’s better to accentuate the positive rather than the negative.
If negatives continue to be bothersome, we seek to mitigate anxiety by the use of the scriptural prescription of turning negatives into positives.
David, whose lifetime of “ups and downs” even though in a close walk with the Lord, felt bothered by his past problem of “fearing man rather than God” and, as a result, found peace of mind, heart and soul by renewing his trust in God – a renewal expressed in one of his most eloquent psalms of praise – Psalm 34 . . .
Obviously this acrostic of praise came out of the heart and from the lips of a remorseful servant whose bad experience - failing to trust the Lord just when he needed Him most - had preyed on David’s mind until he got it right.
Here’s what had happened: Out of fear of Saul, David had fled to Gath where he lied about who he was but was found out and placed under house arrest whereupon he deceived Achish the king by pretending to be insane, and consequently was expelled from Gath.
As fearful as David might have been back then, nothing can be more painful to a servant of God than a conscience that haunts him about lies, deceptions, and denials that contradict profession, and goes on haunting until there is confession.
What a different person we see in David after he looked back and saw how God had been faithful to provide in spite of his faintness of heart . . . reluctance to let go and let God . . . unfounded fears. With God on his side, how could he lose?
Once David came to grips with his failure, and renewed his trust in God, he no longer dwelled on his bad experiences but rather fixed his faith in and focus on the Lord God who had kept, and will keep, his promise to provide for His own!
Frequency of praise and focus of praise are great lessons to learn. David made a promise to praise. Will you make that promise? Be a fellowship of praise!
Notice the interweaving of the specific (David’s deliverance, vv. 4, 6) with the general (God delivers those who look to Him for salvation, vv. 5, 7). What this means is: what God has done for David, God does for all His servants (children). Praise God!
And talk about “protection”! Just as Elisha (you remember) was confident of the protection of the angelic hosts when he and his servant were surrounded by the army of Syria, so David sees the “angel of the Lord” (Would you mind if I told you I understand this “presence” to have been the pre-incarnate Christ) who encamps around those who “fear” (respect, honor, reverence) the Lord.
Such protection is “unseen” under normal circumstances, but nonetheless present. By the “eye of faith” we are assured of divine protection. David feared Achish because he had forgotten that his protector was ever present. Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need not fear, for the Lord is near.
In the Old Testament the Son of God was near - to reassure God’s people. In the New Testament the Son of God came here in human flesh to dwell among His people and to save them, yet few recognized him. Folks: That (not recognizing the Lord’s presence) is a mistake I never want to make.
I believe with all my heart: He is near . . . here . . . He is there when I need Him most. He will be there when I go to dwell in the place where He is making all things new.
Don’t just take my word for it. Do what David suggested: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” I love to go to “tastings” especially in Amish country, and after that, in Hershey, Pennsylvania – to experience the goodness of it!
To experience God is to experience His goodness that has been and still is evident in so many ways. The more we reflect on the goodness of God in our lives, the more we crave God’s blessings . . . We, “Like newborn babies, crave spiritual milk, so that we may grow up in our salvation, now that we have tasted that the Lord is good.”
Who were those people about whom David desired with all his heart that they would “taste and see that the Lord is good”? Wouldn’t they be the folks he was in a close relationship with? Fellow worshippers of God? Family and friends who trust in God? They were certainly not pagans, nor were they half-hearted (apathetic).
David’s heartfelt desire was that the people closest to him – those he really cared about – recognize God’s goodness . . . protection . . . provision – and thereby be blessed as he had been. David desired for them the fullest experience of God’s blessings. He earnestly wanted them to be blessed and be a blessing!
David became a “coach” and called this defensive play: “Stop going through the motion of devotion, as so many are prone to do.”
As a coach, he then called this offensive play: “Start cultivating a deeper personal relationship to God, and be blessed beyond expectations!”
Apparently, many of his fellow Jews were lacking in spiritual quality of life, despite a rich religious heritage and deep devotion to religious rules and rituals.
Like young lions, they trusted in their own strength rather than God’s, and wound up suffering from acute dissatisfaction with their situation – when, if they had sought, or would now seek, a closer walk with God, they would not lack “any good thing” – meaning: things God provides for our benefit (not that we are promised everything we want).
Because many of God’s people deny themselves spiritual benefits provided by the Lord, it is incumbent upon mature folks who have truly tasted and seen to become a mentor . . . a coach . . . a caring friend to encourage or coach them as if they were “little children” in need of nourishing or nudging. So:
David asked all of God’s children to “listen” - and he’d reveal the secret of learning (sometimes the hard way) the “fear of the Lord” - demonstrating the respect and reverence of God - that leads to a right relationship that yields positive results in the here and now . . . the reward of redemption in the hereafter.
David leads off with a rhetorical question: Who wants to enjoy a long, good life? Now, let me say that, to some folks, a long life is not a good thing; for others, the longer the better because they have learned what “good” truly is.
Those “others” are just delighted to be here! We may not have much in the way of material wealth . . . the freedom to do whatever we want to . . . luxuries afforded by worldly success, BUT we enjoy the satisfaction of possessing peace, joy and hope that belong to all those who love and serve the Lord with gladness.
The happiest folks I know are believers who belong to and trust the Lord in all their ways . . . respect God their Maker . . . reverence God their Father . . . keep His commandments . . . turn away from evil and do all the good they can do, living at peace with each other. For, the fear of the Lord is not merely learned; it is lived!
As it was said by his pastor at my friend's Fred Moore memorial service:
Fred's philosophy of ministry was: “Be a witness for Christ, be a minister of His Gospel, be a doer of His Word wherever you are; and. if necessary, use words!”
Let us continue: Live a life of reverential fear of God, motivated by a review of God’s goodness to us, resulting in our goodness to others, the joy of which is but a preview of all things new that Jesus promised to make for us to enjoy as a reward for all those who “fear the Lord”. Amen.
