The Blessings of Fearing God

Psalm 34 is a special psalm, especially, because we have some insight into its context. The inscription points us to 1 Samuel 21 where we see David’s failure when he feared the thoughts, words, and actions of people more than He feared and trusted the LORD. Deception became David’s way of dealing with danger. Out of this fear (1 Samuel 21:12), an ingenious plan came to David’s mind. Concealing his sanity, David began to act like a lunatic (1 Samuel.21:13). It was after this and because of this colossal failure that David wrote Psalm 34. 

The key to our understanding of the relationship of 1 Samuel 21 to Psalm 34 is that David was forgiven by faith in the Lord and renewed by his fear of the Lord. David could teach others about the fear of the Lord because he was understanding it more fully from his own failures. Reflecting on how he responded to his fears of men, David could now see clearly the blessings of fearing the Lord – more!