Exalt The Lord

Psalm 34:1-11

1 I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak His praises.

2 I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are discouraged take heart.

3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt His name together.

4 I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me, freeing me from all my fears.

5 Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.

6 I cried out to the Lord in my suffering, and He heard me. He set me free from all my fears.

7 For the angel of the Lord guards all who fear Him, and He rescues them.

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who trust in Him!

9 Let the Lord's people show Him reverence, for those who honor Him will have all they need.

10 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will never lack any good thing.

11 Come my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the Lord.

Psalm 34, has SO much good packed into one chapter. As I prayed about what the Lord wanted the focus to be, He gave a few of the verses as the spotlight. Though they were not the typical life verses, they have so much truth we can glean from!

Verse 3: Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt His name together.

In the midst of chaos in our nation and world, the Lord is steady. His ways are so much higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts [Isaiah 55:8-9]. We cannot see or understand all that He is doing, but we can agree that He deserves to be exalted. Let us remember and holdfast to the fact that Jesus Christ our Father is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! He is the name above all names. He founded the world and everything in it. He is the everlasting Father. In much more intimate ways, I am sure that the Lord has met you in deep places of need in your lives. He deserves the praise for that too! I know He has put on my heart to share big ways He has worked in my life and I encourage you to do that too. As we, His Church, join together and exalt the Lord above all (ourselves, our agenda, recognition, power, worldly authority, merit) we come into agreement with His word and that is powerful!

Verse 4: I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me, freeing me from all my fears.

While our human minds try to comprehend all that is being presented to us, it can be so overwhelming and confusing. I’ve found myself in certain moments just dwelling on what is going on and I stop myself because my first resort should be PRAYER. Our lifeline is Jesus. Let us go before Him regularly, minute by minute if we need to, and talk to Him. We have such a privilege to be able to communicate with the One True God whenever we want to! Let’s take advantage of this! Surrender our fears, worries, questions, praises, needs, and cares. His word says that He will answer! As we take them to Him, He literally takes them upon Himself and sets us FREE! Matthew 11:30 says that “His yoke is easy and His burden is light.” When we try to carry our own baggage, it is heavy and burdensome, just like the yoke that cattle bear as they work. But, when we choose to give it all over to the Lord, the yoke He has is EASY and LIGHT! I don’t know about you, but I would much rather walk through my days without His yoke instead of mine! Find rest is knowing you CAN give it all to Him.

Verse 7: For the angel of the Lord guards all who fear Him, and He rescues them.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” [Proverbs 9:10] This type of fear is not the hunkering back and being scared of what could happen, it is a respect, reverence, and recognition of who God really is. That He has ALL authority and IS the authority. In one breath He can cause something to come into existence. The fact that He is this mighty does invoke a healthy FEAR because He is our authority. It does not mean that God is a scary Father who is looking out to get us, NOT AT ALL. He loves us and wants to protect us. He GUARDS us and rescues us. We must believe this for today!

Verse 9: Let the Lord's people show Him reverence, for those who honor Him will have all they need.

In this time, the Lord is asking for His people to revere HIM. Sometimes we over complicate what it looks like to live out the Christian life - me included. Like did I say the right thing? Did I help them enough? Was I kind enough? But really the #1 priority should be to put and keep God in His rightful place. When we humble ourselves, He is exalted and that is exactly where He needs to be in our lives (mind, heart, soul, strength). The verse could end with the first phrase, but it doesn’t, David goes on to tell us that if we honor the Lord, we will have all that we need. Praise the Lord for provision of EVERYTHING we need.

Verse 11: Come my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the Lord.

You are invited by your Heavenly Father to come right to Him! Let us go to HIM FIRST, not others, not your own reasoning, not the news. This is something that can be easy to let slip through the cracks because when we can talk to another human being, we often get immediate feedback. When we go to God, we must quiet our spirit to really listen, and that is a GOOD thing! Listen to Him, like really let it sink in. Take the moments to sit quietly and let the Holy Spirit SPEAK to you. Write down what He says and hold onto it. The Father is our teacher! It’s like being in training and getting trained by the ONE and ONLY, BEST OF THE BEST, Sovereign God! In verse 7, fear of the Lord is also mentioned. We can rest in knowing that we do not have to figure out how to practice that daily because this verse shares that HE will teach us if we listen to Him!