Intro: as you read the life of David you realize that God came through for him over and over and over again. Because of God’s faithfulness to David, he wrote psalms of God’s goodness to him. As you read the Psalms, David is thankful for God’s love, forgiveness, grace and mercy, and His power to deliver the righteous. This is seen in Psalms 34, where we see David giving praise for God’s ability to deliver the righteous. We see the Lord’s power to deliver in three mighty ways.
Signed, Sealed and Delivered
Psalms 34
I. Delivered From All Fears—v.4 David is thankful to the Lord that God is able to deliver us from fear. As you see David’s life, and the many times he was in situations where fear was overwhelming his life, God always came through for him. So David, the voice of experience praises God for delivering him from all his fears.
Here is why David sings this song:
· There isn’t anything in your life that God doesn’t know about before it happens, and is already providing a way of escape, a way of victory for you.
Ill) when we found out 7 years ago about Lauri’s brain tumor it was a shocking discovery. Sister Mangum, a good friend and saint of God gave us this comfort, she said, “this may have come as a surprise for you, but it didn’t catch God off guard, because He knows the end from the beginning.
· You will never get God to worry with you. Fear is wrong anticipation about something that is going to happen. God doesn’t operate in the realm of our fears, but in the realm of His power. He says, no weapon formed against you will prosper.
Ill) a few years ago I got into an elevator that shut down between floors. The phone didn’t work in the elevator, and my cell phone wouldn’t dial out. I was trapped there for about 10 minutes before someone heard me banging on the door. The next time I went to the hospital I took the stairs, but then realized, that was fear. So, I got on the elevator and have never been stuck again. God will help you overcome your fears, so your fears won’t overcome you.
· 1 John 4:18—states that fear has torment—many times the fear of the thing is worse than the thing itself. Most of us won’t admit it, but we would cry and scream and fight our parents all the way to the doctor’s office out of the fear of getting a shot, then after it was given, we would say, that wasn’t that bad.
· There is one more amazing thing about fear and worry- most of the time the thing that we are fearing is about to happen, never happens, and we lose a lot of sleep over something that never takes place.
Ill) one year in college I took an exam and it seemed so difficult that I was sure that I had failed the exam. I was sick the entire week-end just picturing a big fat F—but on that Monday I got my grade an I had made a B, so I ruined a week-end over something that wasn’t real.
* one last thing about fear, it always causes us to make the wrong decision. The children of Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness because they gave into fear. Hebrews says they couldn’t enter into rest because of unbelief. Saul lost his throne because he feared the people. I guess most of us have been invited to go skating when we were younger. I had a friend that would go but never get out on the rink. He would sit with his skates on and watch. When he gave it a try, he fell a few times, but in short order he was skating with everyone else.
II. Delivered from your troubles—v.17 David had gotten into trouble many times throughout his lifetime. But God was faithful to deliver him out of his troubles.
· You can’t get yourself into anything that God can’t get you out of it. Sometimes troubles will seem like a mountain, but God is able to get you out of trouble.
· The righteous cry: you have to call out for God’s help and not try to fix everything by yourself. Psalms 46:1- God is a refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. When you get into trouble, call out to God.
· All of your troubles—this is very comforting, there isn’t anything impossible for God. God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.
Ill) years ago a man here at Bethel had been given the news that he was going to be terminated from his position where he made very good money. In the natural it seemed impossible, but the very next week after he had been prayed for at church, another company offered him a job making more than he had ever made at the other company.
III. Delivered from Afflictions—v.19 Afflictions can be so many things, rejection from others, sorrow over a loss, sickness in the body, emotional strains from difficult times, many afflictions. David had experienced all of these, especially family difficulties that are some of the hardest to be able to handle. But God is faithful, and will not allow any thing to crush you.
· Maybe you have been hurt and feel you will never get over it, give it to God, cast your cares to the Lord, for He cares for you.
· You might be faced with sickness in your body, don’t give up, don’t give in, the Lord can deliver us out of them all.
· You may be in the valley, you may feel like there’s just no light at the end of the tunnel. David says, why are you cast down oh my soul, hope in God.
Ill) years ago at Bible College I worked on a paint crew and there was a senior, ( I was a freshman) who was a thorn in my flesh, his name was Bruce Watson and he didn’t like me, and I didn’t like him. These feelings escalated to the point we were shoving each other and had to be pulled apart. He said, I’m sorry, I said, me too—and God did something amazing, we both broke down, hugged each other, and when he graduated that year, he left Central Bible college as a great friend. We even found out we both played table tennis and won the school’s doubles tournament together. In the natural, things like that don’t happen, but God can make lemonade out of your lemons, and can deliver you out of all your afflictions.
Close: tonight, maybe you are facing fears, maybe you have troubles galore, or maybe you are burdened with afflictions. God is able, God is faithful, and He will deliver you. When God is all you have, He will prove to be all you need. I think the man’s prayer in the hurricane tells it like it is.
Ill) When a hurricane devastated the South Carolina coast one time a group of Christian huddled together in a small-frame church. In the midst of the violent storm, an old preacher prayed, “Most omnipotent, gracious, Heavenly Father, send us the spirit of the children of Moses. Send us the spirit of the children of Israel. Send us the spirit of the children of the promised land.”
Just then the wind howled even louder and the preacher was interrupted by another old
man who had less eloquence in his prayer. He prayed, “LORD, DON’T SEND NOBODY! COME YOURSELF! THIS AIN’T NO TIME FOR CHILDREN!”
