God’s people who share His special favor should concur in His praises and magnify His name together.
Upon every fresh occurrence of His mercies, let us renew our praises, thus encouraging others to trust Him.
The true and only way to happiness is to walk in the love and favor of God.
Psalm 1
1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 34:1-10 – “Magnify the Lord with Me”
The event associated with this psalm is recorded in I Samuel 21. It was not a very creditable incident. David, however, realized the goodness of God, notwithstanding his own failures and mistakes.
In the original the verses begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Psalm 34:1: At all times… continually. It is a sign of great grace to bless always, in dark as well as bright days.
Psalm 34:3: “Birds,” says Trapp, “when they come to a full heap of corn, will chirp to call their fellows.”
Psalm 34:4-6: All the time David was feigning madness, his soul was going out to God in prayer.
Psalm 34:7: Compare Acts 12:6-10.
Psalm 34:8: Some experiences must be enjoyed to be understood. There are not words adequate to tell of them.
Psalm 34:10: “We will leave thee nothing!” said plundering soldiers to a widow. “I care not,” returned she. “I shall not want so long as God is in the heavens.” Columba—an early Celtic missionary—spent his last afternoon in transcribing this psalm, saying when He reached Psalm 34:10: “I will stop here. The following verse will better suit My successor.” —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 34:11-22 – The Salvation of the Contrite
Psalm 34:11-14: The gist of this exhortation is quoted by Peter in his first Epistle. See 1 Peter 3:10. We need not fret to defend ourselves or to answer false accusations. Let us refrain our lips, hold our peace, as Jesus did, and go on doing what is right and good. God will see to it that our needs are supplied, that our enemies are silenced, and that our soul is redeemed.
Psalm 34:15: Do you feel unable to claim the designation of righteous? Remember that Paul was glad to reject his own, that he might be clad in Another’s righteousness. That still avails for us. See Philippians 3:9.
Psalm 34:17: We are not kept from trouble, but delivered out of it.
Psalm 34:20: You do not recognize Him, but the Great Gardener passes by the plants that have braved the wind and storm to bend over you who are beaten to the earth. See the literal fulfillment of this in John 19:36. How much we owe to God’s continuous care!
Psalm 34:22: Observe the present tenses in which the psalmist records God’s redeeming love. It never grows old. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 34:18—The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.
What broke your heart? Unkindness? Desertion? Unfaithfulness on the part of those you trusted? Or did you attempt to do something which was beyond your power, and in the effort, the heartstrings snapped? A bird with a broken wing, an animal with a broken leg, a woman with a broken heart, a man with a broken purpose in his life—these seem to drop out of the main current of life into shadow. They go apart to suffer and droop. The busy rush of life goes on without them. But God draws nigh. The Great Lover of man is always at the best when the lights burn low and dim in the house of life. He always comes to us then. He shall sit as the Refiner.
Where do you see love perfected? Not between the father and his stalwart son who counts himself independent, or between the mother and the girl in whom love is awakening in its first faint blush: but where the crippled child of eleven years lies in the truckle-bed, pale and wan, unable to help herself. There the noblest fruits of love ripen and yield refreshment. The father draws nigh to the little sufferer, so soon as he gets home at night, and the mother is nigh all the time to sympathize and comfort and minister. So brokenness attracts God. It is dark; you think yourself deserted; but it is not so. God is there—He is nigh; call to Him—a whisper will bring a response.
“There, little one, don’t cry;
They have broken your heart, I know
And the rainbow gleams
Of your youthful dreams
Are things of the long ago;
But heaven holds all for which you sigh–
There, little one, don’t cry.” —Our Daily Homily