To MAGNIFY GOD-II—Psalm 34:1-2a(:1-10 )
[VBS Theme—‘Magnified’—Psalm 34:3]
Attention:
•Last week I told you that the vast majority of my time Skidaway Institute of Oceanography marine research lab, was spent seated & looking thru a ‘stereo-microscope’ to identify & tabulate the numbers of individual species of zooplankton—with a particular interest in ‘copepods.’
*So, by ‘Magnifying’ the zooplankton(copepods, etc.) with that microscope, I was able to observe the fine-points about their physiology that could never be comprehended with the naked-eye! Magnification was needed to specifically identify them.
*WITHOUT ‘Magnifying’ the zooplankton, the research would have been pointless, because it would have only been guesswork!
•Whereas, Trustworthy science, is first-&-foremost about direct observation of, & discovery of what actually exists. Good science & good scientists even on a secular level, are honest & upfront about hypotheses they make. Good scientists are honest & upfront about any ‘suppositions’ that lead them to their tentative conclusions!
*Likewise, the Church must Magnify God, ‘make much of’ God, & otherwise elevate God, so that God’s reality—His nature, His character, & His workings—can be easily seen & understood by the world at large! As with scientific observation, any ‘guesswork’ on the’ Church’s part, is dangerous & deceptive!
•So, the job of God’s people, both individually & gathered, is:
To MAGNIFY GOD!
Need:
By God’s design, what is expected of every person on earth & what every person is called to, is to personally ‘Magnify’, make much of, elevate, & exalt YHWH-God.
However, that expectation for mankind, & God’s calling to mankind, is left to each person’s personal choice, so that every person becomes personally answerable to God, for whether they follow God’s design or not!
David was a recipient of YHWH-God’s protection(deliverance/rescue), & so David made much of & ‘magnified’ Him.
God’s people magnify God.
When do we truly magnify God?
When is God magnified in your life?
6 realities necessary for magnifying YHWH-God in your life.
The last time we were in Psalm 34, we found that in order:
To Magnify God In Your Life, God must be...
2. SHARE-WORTHY To You(:2b-3)
Today, we’ll discover that:
1—To Magnify God In Your Life, God must ALSO be...
BOAST/BRAG-WORTHY To You(Intro + :1-2a)
Explanation:(Intro + :1-2a)
INTRODUCTION:—<<A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, & he departed.>>...”
The occasion for David’s writing of this Psalm is recorded in 1Sam. 21:10-15; 22:1. David was fleeing persecution by King Saul(the 1st king of a united Israel) & David had actively gone into hiding.
After acquiring Goliath’s(whom David had single-handedly defeated(1Sam. 17:40-51)) sword from Ahimelech the priest at Nob(1Sam. 21:8-9), David then fled from Saul, by entering Philistine territory(outside Israel). And once there, we are also told that David specifically entered the city of Gath(1Sam. 21:10).
In Gath, we are told that David approached Achish, who was the king of Gath... “Abimelech” was ‘probably’ a general title that was given to rulers among the Philistines. And the particular Philistine ruler that David encountered had the ‘given name’ of Achish(1Sam. 21:10).”(David Guzik)
•1Samuel 21:10--22:1—“Then David arose & fled that day from before Saul, & went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?” Now David took these words to heart, & was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, & let his saliva fall down on his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?” David therefore departed from there & escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers & all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.”
Even though David had intentionally fled to Gath, it is also stated that David soon became afraid of the king of Gath(1Sam. 21:12).
•David became afraid in Gath largely because the servants of king Achish, reminded their king, that David had ‘folk hero’ status in Israel(due to his defeat of the Philistine warrior Goliath). And that in Israel, David was celebrated with song & dance.(Robert D. Bergen in NAC)
•So David was ‘caught-between-a-rock-&-a-hard-place’ as it were.
Due to his fear, David initiated a plan to protect himself. He did that by, “changing his behavior/appearance & “pretended madness” before the Philistines(1Sam. 21:13). To sell his ruse to the Philistines, David openly “scratched on the doors of the” city “gate” of Gath, & he also “let his saliva fall down into his beard”(1Sam. 21:13)—a huge social ‘no-no.’
King David knew that his escape from King Achish(AKA-“Abimelech”) was not due to his own cleverness. David’s escape was due to God’s working in His life...And so David writes:
:1—“I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
Once a person is saved—by God’s grace thru faith in Jesus Christ— he/she too will “bless” YHWH-God(The ever-existant ‘I Am’) “at all times.” God’s “praise” will not be held back, or ‘checked’, or quenched by those who belong to Him. God’s “praise” will rather flow freely from the “mouth” of His people, thruout their lives.
•Rom. 10:9-10—“...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus & believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, & with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
God will be “blessed” by His children, & servants “at all times.” They “will bless” Him constantly!
•God’s people don’t just “bless the LORD” on Sundays during worship... They don’t just “praise” “the LORD” on Wednesdays during prayer meeting...Nor do God’s people just “bless” & “praise” Him in the church-house only...But God’s people “bless” & “praise” God whenever&wherever they are— at work, school, play, & at home, etc.!
God’s people do not merely “bless the LORD” within the confines of their hearts alone. They “bless” Him openly with all their being!
Ps. 103:1—A Psalm of David.—“Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!”
Mk. 12:30—“‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, & with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.”
God’s people “bless” God by “continually” “praising” Him with their “mouths” as well(with every aspect of their lives). Our trust in the Lord & our thankfulness to Him, “is not to be a silent thing; it should be one of the daughters of music.”(Spurgeon)—David Guzik
:2a—“My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;...”
David declares that within his very “soul”—that is, at the very core of his being—is where his “boasting in the LORD” originates or flows from.
•We know that David was a man after God’s own heart(1Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22). And so Christians, having been sealed for heaven eternally thru & by the Holy Spirit, we are also God’s people. We like David, are those who are ‘after God’s own heart.’
•So, in & from the very “soul” of each believer & truster in YHWH-God thru Christ Jesus, is any “boast in the LORD” “made” & maintained!
•Your “soul” describes the center of your being, & is relationally key to the totality of the nature of your existence as body, soul, & spirit(1Thes. 5:23).
•That is, as far as David was concerned, YHWH is openly & unashamedly declared as the ONE in Whom all David’s trust resided!
YHWH-God is the first & foremost in every aspect of the lives of God’s people! He is indeed their God, in distinction from every other ‘god’ possible.
Argumentation:
Rom. 15:14-19—“Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word & deed, to make the Gentiles obedient-- in mighty signs & wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem & round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.”
1Cor. 1:27-31—“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, & God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; & the base things of the world & the things which are despised God has chosen, & the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--& righteousness & sanctification & redemption-- that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”
1Chron. 16:10(Ps. 105:3)—“Glory in His holy name....”
Jer. 9:23-24—“Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands & knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, & righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.”
Gal. 6:14—“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, & I to the world.”
Illustration:
My 1969 VW Beetle. It was Hunter/Forest Green. I added ‘fat tires’ & ‘mag’(-nesium) wheels to it. And in order to have the ‘fat tires’ & ‘mags’, I also had to install air shocks to keep the fender wells from rubbing.
I made no ‘improvements to the original air-cooled VW engine, so it wouldn’t ‘burn rubber’ in any gear.
But I did install a ‘Pioneer’ 8-track with twin ‘Jensen Tri-axial’ speakers, so that I could play my music loudly for others to ‘enjoy.’ Wow! It was ‘the stuff’ in my eyes! In my eyes, my modified VW was ‘brag-worthy’! I would ‘drag town’ on weekend nights, showing it off to others. The whole time, I was calling attention to myself by calling attention to my VW bug.
•BOAST/BRAG-WORTHY To You
Our brother Mike K. is always reminding his Bible-Study class about the pitfalls of being ‘a self-made man’ versus being ‘a God-made man.’
•BOAST/BRAG-WORTHY To You
Application:
?Is YHWH-God BOAST/BRAG-WORTHY To You?
?Are YOU someone by & in whom God is MAGNIFIED?
?Do YOU MAGNIFY God in your life?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
*Likewise, the Church must Magnify & Exalt God, so that He, His nature, His character, & His workings can be easily seen by the world at large!
•So, the task that all of God’s people are called to, both individually & gathered, is To MAGNIFY GOD!
Action:
To Magnify God In Your Life, God must be...
1. BOAST-WORTHY To You(:1-2a)
2. SHARE-WORTHY To You(:2b-3)
Pnt# 1 only! presented 06/15/2025am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 29512
Pnt# 2 only! presented 06/08/2025am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 29512
