A Word in Season: Delivered from Fears (Psalm 34:4)

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Psalm 34 does not record one of the most glowing occasions in the history of David.

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It was when he was among the Philistines and he pretended to be mad before Abimelech and Abimelech drove him away and he departed.

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David resorted to what seems to have been crass and carnal means to try and deliver himself from a situation which he'd got himself into.

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And yet Psalm 34 as a whole shows us at least something of what lies behind these things.

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A man who despite his confusion, despite his errors of judgment, is still crying out to the

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Lord. And the very fact that David did pray under these circumstances and David was heard under these circumstances is a wonderful testimony to the merciful kindness of David's God, the

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God whom we serve if we are true believers. In Psalm 34 and verse 4,

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David records it like this. David sought his

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God. David turned his face toward the Lord. When he finally got rid of the expectations perhaps that he would help himself, he looked to the

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Lord God alone in order to deliver him. And sometimes we need to find that our own schemes and notions do fall apart before we finally look to God.

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But David sought him. David went after him and God was willing to be found by him.

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And God is willing to be found by us when we call upon him. Are you seeking him?

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Are you earnestly pursuing him? Have you reached the point where God and God alone will do?

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When David sought the Lord, the Lord heard David. David's cry rose to the ear of the

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Lord of hosts. The distance, whether in terms of the geography of it, if you want to think of it in those ways, or even the relational issues, those things did not prevent

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God from hearing David. And David cries out in thankful wonder in this

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Psalm in which he blesses the Lord that God did actually hear him. And again, this ought to stagger us if we understand it properly.

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Our feeble cries from our sinful hearts, they rise up and God takes notice of them.

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He is a heavenly father to those who call upon him. If you're a father, your child may be weak, may be sick, may be troubled, may be disobedient.

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But when that child calls out to you for help, is your ear not turned toward them and your heart not primed to help them?

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If we then being evil respond to our children in that way, how much more when we seek the

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Lord will he hear the cries of his needy and troubled people? And you see the wonderful answer that David received.

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He sought the Lord, the Lord heard him and delivered him from all his fears.

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Now, it's at least worth noting there that David doesn't say that all his troubles disappeared.

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What he says is the Lord delivered him from all his fears. Now, fear cripples us so often and so easily.

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It's the fear of what is happening, or even sometimes the fear of what may happen that so often afflicts us and holds us down.

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When David sought God and when David was heard by God, the Lord's answer was first and foremost not to make

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David's life easy, but to make David easy in his life, to take away the fear that was hindering him, to take away the fear of man that was driving him into the follies that he was pursuing at that time.

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And you and I might say, well, if the Lord took away the causes of the fear, the fear itself would go.

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Ah yes, but then would you seek the Lord? Would you go after him in the way that you ought to?

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Would you be taught the lesson not to rely on your own devices, but to rely upon God and his saving strength and mercy?

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So if you are in distress, if you have reason to fear, let us not turn to our own devices, let us not assume that our own wisdom will find a way through.

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Let us seek the Lord God, the God of heaven and earth, in all his gracious mercy.

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Let us call upon our Heavenly Father, who hears the cries of his children. And God, in his goodness and in his kindness, is well able to deliver us from all our fears, and to keep us safe and secure in soul, through whatever difficulties or challenges we may be passing.