Reasons To Praise In Your Cave! Series

The superscription placed upon this Psalm, that it was written in a very trying season of David’s life…

A time when… When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.

And we looked in brief as to why he pretended to be insane before Abimelek…the scripture tells us that his father in law, King Saul was trying to kill him, and so…he fled in fear of Saul…on two different occasions Saul threw his spear at him trying to pin him to the wall the scripture says, on the second attempt the bible says that…

1 Samuel 21: 10 That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. ( Gath – Goliath’s hometown!)

1 Samuel 21:11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”

He had just slain their champion Goliath, and rallied the troops of Israel to slaughter the entire Philistine army!

1 Samuel 21:12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. 14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? 15 Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”

1 Samuel 22:1 David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. 2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.

And so last week I metaphorically referred to the cave of Adullam as a cavern of fear, because it was fear, fear of losing his life…that led him into that cave and it was distress, debt, and discontentment that led 400 others to join him in that cave of Adullam.

Well what do you do when you holed up in a cave because of fear?

Well last week we saw that David who wrote this Psalm during this episode of his life:

1. Praised

a) He get’s out his journal (Book of Psalms) and he writes…

Psalm 34:1a 1 I will extol the Lord at all times; NIV

Psalm 34:1a I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually…NKJV

Psalm 34:1b on my lips.-NIV

Psalm 34:1b in my mouth.-NKJV

i. He Praised Personally – I will…

ii. He Praised Continually – Bless the Lord at all times…

iii. He Praised Audibly – His praise shall continually be in my mouth!

b) And he encouraged others to do so..

2. Encouraged other's to do so

Psalm 34:2a I will glory in the Lord;

Psalm 34:2b let the afflicted hear and rejoice…

Psalm 34:3 Glorify the Lord with me;[COME ON] let us exalt his name together.

3. Prayed

Psalm 34:4a I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

Psalm 34:4b he delivered me from all my fears.

a) Not problems – fears!

b) Purpose Behind Your Problems

i. God uses problems to DIRECT you - Sometimes God must light a fire under you to get you moving. Problems often point us in a new direction and motivate us to change

ii. God uses problems to INSPECT you - People are like teabags if you want to know what's inside them, just drop them into hot water!

iii. God uses problems to CORRECT you - Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure.

iv. God uses problems to PROTECT you - A problem can be a blessing in disguise if it prevents you from being harmed by something more serious.

3. Perspective ( He gained a new perspective in his cave!)

Psalm 34:5a Those who look to him are radiant;

Psalm 34:5b their faces are never covered with shame.

a) Reason?

4. Pardoned?

a) Possibility?

i. Cave could have been one of condemnation!

1 Samuel 22: 9 But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul’s officials, said, “I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelek son of Ahitub at Nob. 10 Ahimelek inquired of the Lord for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” 11 Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelek son of Ahitub and all the men of his family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king. 12 Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” “Yes, my lord,” he answered. 13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?” 14 Ahimelek answered the king, “Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king’s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household? 15 Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Of course not! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father’s family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair.” 16 But the king said, “You will surely die, Ahimelek, you and your whole family.” 17 Then the king ordered the guards at his side: “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.” But the king’s officials were unwilling to raise a hand to strike the priests of the Lord.