Psalm 34:1-8

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

 For tonight’s word of encouragement, the Bible passage is Psalm 34:1-8 (NRSV):

¹ I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
² My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
³ O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
⁶ This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
⁸ O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.

I’m struck first by the unlimited scope of this psalm: “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth”; “he … delivered me from all my fears”; “your faces shall never be ashamed”; “This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.” There are no limits to God’s loving grace and care. Truly taking refuge in God’s powerful love delivers us from all our fears, it saves us from every trouble. Our understandable fears and anxieties over Covid-19 are not exempt. We won’t find relief from these fears by looking at the latest statistics online. Relief from our anxiety will come instead from taking refuge in God’s love in Christ and by crying out to our loving God in prayer. We certainly don’t have to have our act fully together to do so. The psalmist acknowledges that he is a “poor soul” and yet his cry “was heard by the LORD.”

Even more startling is the outcome of this poor soul’s prayer. It’s not just that things turned out better than he expected. Nor is it only that his fears were relieved. Nor did he return to a kind of blah middle ground, no longer debilitated by fear, but still kinda gloomy. The psalm’s promise is of positive radiance (“Look to the LORD and be radiant”) and happiness (“happy are those who take refuge in the LORD”). And that’s exactly what the psalmist experienced: radiant happiness. Read those first three lines: he’s exultant! In the next three, his joy overflows: he calls on other poor souls (“the humble”) to join him in his glad praise of the LORD.

This may sound like too much to hope for, but why not aim high? The outcome’s not dependent on our strength, but on God’s gracious response to a poor soul’s prayer. We can act on the encouragement of this psalm and, like the psalmist, we can encourage others to do so, too.

 At this time in the life of our church, when we are not meeting together for communal worship, we can still invite one another to “exalt [God’s] name together.” We can share our prayer requests by phone, email, or text. We can pray for ourselves and for others “at all times.” This doesn’t mean at every second of every day, but at all kinds of times: mealtimes, bedtimes, times alone, times with other people, not-turning-on-the-TV-or-other-devices times …). We can also support one another in other practical ways and so be ourselves answers to prayer. We can report prayers answered and needs met and invite others to be glad with us.

I believe that we learn more about God’s goodness in times of trial than when everything’s going just great. Or, perhaps our learning comes a little later when, after the trial, we’re able to look back and see how good God has been to us in our trouble. This seems to be how it worked for the psalmist: he’s rejoicing, after the event, over what God has done for him, and calling on others to join him in thanksgiving in the present.

So, I invite you to “taste and see that the LORD is good” and to enjoy the blessed happiness of “those who take refuge in him.”

Grace and peace to you all from your brother in Christ,

Max