Sept 12 - Psalm 34:10

Even strong young lions

sometimes go hungry,

but those who trust in the Lord

will never lack any good thing.

Psalm 34:10

Can you picture in your mind strong young lions? 

 

Why might such powerful creatures occasionally go hungry? Was the gazelle too fast? (Sometimes.) Might a drought sweep the savannah? (Vanishing herds make for hungry cats.) Thus, in spite of the cunning and power of even "the king of beasts," disappointment is a very real possibility. 

 

Is disappointment an occasional (or very real) possibility for us too? 

 

Out of context, David appears to say, "God's people should never be disappointed, because 'those who trust in the Lord will never lack any good thing.'"

 

But look at the context! Look at the tiny little print that looks like a footnote at the beginning of this Psalm. In your Bible, this "pre-note" or annotation is not a modern editors musings. These small print words are part of scripture, and scriptures explains David's context and circumstances like this ...

 

A psalm of David, regarding the time he pretended to be insane in front of Abimelech, who sent him away. 

This obviously points to the time in 1 Samuel 21:10-15 when "David escaped from Saul and went to [the] King ... of Gath. But [the king's] officers weren't happy about him being there ... and David [began to be] afraid of what [the king] might do to him. So he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard."

 

Do you hear of all the disappointments? He was a fugitive. His king (Saul) was chasing him. He was an unwelcome refugee. He began to fear for his life ... to the extent of needing to drool down his beard as a "¹⁴ madman" to avoid execution. Disappointments abounded. So how can David be singing in Psalm 34:8, "Taste and see that The Lord is good"?

 

How? He has a "food" that those who rely on up and down circumstances know nothing about. 

 

It's the same "food" that the Apostle Paul had in Philippians 4:12. "I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need."

What is the secret of surviving any and every up and down and circumstance? In the next verse, Paul puts it like this: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." 

 

In other words, he was focusing on a truth and a reality that transcended his circumstances -- in prison and chained to a Roman guard 24/7. Instead of focusing on this life which is temporary and transient, and filled with both blessing and woe, Paul was focused on Heaven. His eyes were on God and the greater reality of hope and light and permanent joy!

 

David too. 

 

Instead of dwelling on circumstances -- good or bad -- David experienced a transcendent reality: "8 the Lord is good   [and] those who trust in the Lord will never lack any good thing."

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who seeks the peace of Paul and David --

"^34:4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me,

freeing me from all my [circumstantial] fears"