Psalm 34
June 15, 2025 Heavenly Father, thank you for the many promises you make in this psalm—promises to King David and his people, promises to the Son of David, Jesus, and to us who are in union with him. You promise protection, deliverance, salvation, rescue. You promise provision—every good thing that we need. We turn afresh to your promises and take you up on them, repenting of unbelief and false trusts. We join with David in magnifying you and exalting your name for your promises.
Thank you, too, for your invitations in this psalm. We take you up on these invitations: to call on you, to cry out to you, to take refuge in you, to listen to King David and learn from him the fear of the Lord. For ourselves, for the children of our church family, for the children and grandchildren of our earthly families—we want to love life and see good over the span of their lives. So bring forth the fruits of fearing you: good and honest speech; turning from evil and embracing the right; seeking peace and pursuing it. We admit and repent of our sinning in words, in actions, in relationships.
Heavenly Father, may we sing this psalm, recite this psalm, believe this psalm, respond to this psalm over the long haul. May we treasure your promises in it while we sometimes have to wait a long time for their fulfillment. We praise you that, above and beyond every instance of rescue and deliverance that you wonderfully bring about in our day-to-day lives, you have effected a much greater, better, lasting, and comprehensive deliverance for us: the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the Son of David. This rescue from sin and Satan and death you secured in the past. This rescue you will complete at our future resurrection. And so we wait, praising you as we wait, and embracing your nearness when our hearts are broken and our spirits are crushed.
How glad we are, Lord, that the New Testament points us to Jesus in this psalm. Not one of his bones was broken, even on the cross. When his body was lifeless, and all seemed lost from the human point of view, this psalm of deliverance was yet being fulfilled. The last word was not death, not defeat, not disillusioning promises. The last word was, and remains, resurrection, victory, and promises kept. O Lord, renew, refine, and mature our faith. Sustain our faith to the very end. Because of that faith, may we shine light, offer hope, extend kindness, and practice generous love in our world, where armed conflict escalates far away and shocking murders erupt nearby.