Meditation Marathon, Psalm 34:1-3

For the last few days, I've been mining riches from Psalm 34 in a meditation marathon.

In God's providence, a good friend led a Bible study this week and was struck by several verses that she emailed me: from Psalm 34.

And in the votive silence of this morning's early communion with God, his revealed truth filled my soul with calming warmth and dazzling light.

Psalm 34 come alive for me; I was tasting and seeing that the Lord is good!

God showed me that the work I was complaining about was just what I need, in fact, it was the very thing I enjoy.

Psalm 34 is an acrostic poem in Hebrew; each verse begins with the successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I'd love to be able to memorize it--in Hebrew.

The entire Psalm is priceless and I am incapable of communicating all its riches. I feebly attempt a beginning.

Psalm 34 starts with a verse that struck me this morning as a personal command from God:

I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

We are commanded to persevere in praise.

My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.

Our persevering praise is to be directed to the Lord in humble adoration. We must not boast in ourselves or do anything for our own glory and recognition. Our boast must be in the Lord alone (echoed in Jeremiah 9:24, 1 Cor 1:31, 2 Cor 10:17, and Gal 6:14). It is the humble heart that can hear this command and be glad. God enables the humble spirit not merely to "hear and obey" like an emotionless zombie or robot, but to "hear and be glad."

This glad hearing and praising ought not be limited to the individual. From the wellspring of a humble heart, this solo joy overflows:

Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!

That is my plea to you today. The Lord willing, I'll continue with Psalm 34 in my next post.