Introduction:
If anyone had his ups and downs emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually it was David. When he was running from Saul’s relentless pursuit in order to take his life David fled from Saul and in desperation went to Achish king of Gath for refuge knowing full well that the Philistines may kill him because he had already established a reputation as one who had slain many of them and had taken out their champion Goliath. The servants of Achish reminded their king of the past celebrations of the Israelites who extolled the military conquests of David more than those of King Saul.
When David heard about this being related to King Achish he became fearful for his life and in order to save it feigned insanity before the Philistines by acting like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. When King Achish heard about this he was angry that his officials should even mention David’s ‘madness’ and suggest David come before the king. David knew what the outcome would be so he escaped and went to the cave of Adullam. It was cold and damp and isolated and David found himself feeling alone but never the less found his sense of security and assurance in the LORD who had never abandoned him to his enemies.
God also understood and sent his family members and others who were also outcasts from society to gather around him. This reminds us of the importance of fellowship. When David’s family members loyal to him heard about his plight they went down to him and all those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him and he became their leader. There were about 400 men with him (1 Samuel 21:10-15). Prophetically in this gathering of the outcasts and those who were not accepted by the world standards we see a foreshadowing of all those whom Jesus called to be His followers whom He gathered around him.
The Psalm starts with David praising God even though humanly speaking he was tired, mentally, emotionally and physically and surrounded in an environment that would bring on depression. However, as was his custom “David strengthened himself in the LORD his God” (1 Samuel 30:6). The psalm opens with praise and this sets the focus and the direction for this psalm as it applies to all of us as New Covenant believers when we are faced with depression, anxiety, a sense of apprehension, abandonment by God, or wearied by unanswered prayer even after meeting all of God’s conditions for answered prayer, can be strengthened in that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
As the apostle Paul also wrote; “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Messiah, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
The blessed Holy Spirit was expressing this great spiritual truth through this psalm of David that had been spirit-breathed into his soul and spirit by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16a) As the apostle Peter writes; “For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). Now let’s look at this Psalm of David.
(Psalm 34) Exposition:
(Vs.1-3) “I will extol the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together.
Notice the first words that David utters; “I will.” Humanly speaking he was undoubtedly physically tired and emotionally exhausted and found himself in a stark and damp environment not conducive to making one feel emotionally and mentally stable or feeling some kind of spiritual euphoria. However, David did not have his eyes on his seemingly unyielding circumstances, which are changeable, or on what was visible, but he had his eyes fixed steadfastly on He who is invisible, eternal, unchanging and the source of everything of eternal value and the only one who could comfort David in his difficult time of extremity and spiritual exhaustion (2 Corinthians 4:18).
We walk by faith and not sight and we praise by faith and not by how we are feeling. It is easy to praise God when everything is hunky dory with us and we are on the mountain top of a spiritual high, however when we are down in the depths of the valley of despondency and despair we most certainly do not ‘feel’ we should praise God. However, that is the time when we need to say “I will extoll the LORD” and that at “all times” and that regardless of the situation or circumstances or lack of ‘spiritual feelings’ we are in we praise Him as an action of the will, not the emotions, and that in everything and in all situations we face every day (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).
The emotions are valid and not to be sidelined but follow after the action of the will. At certain times there will be emotions welling up from our inner spiritually regenerated spirit man when we remember when God had used us or met some pressing need in the past, however we cannot live on the spiritual mountain top all of the time nor on past victories and answers to prayers. Each day has trouble of its own to a greater or lesser degree.
Having said this we also need to keep in mind what our Lord Jesus said; ““For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?…Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25-27, 31-34).
This state of heart and mind that praises God is an action of the will no matter what is happening in our lives. It does not come instantly or overnight but is a spiritual discipline cultivated over time as we learn to see God in all of the changing circumstances of life, both the good and the not so good, and that in everything that happens to us God works them together for our good into the lives of those He loves and whom love Him in return, and whom He has called according to His pre-ordained purposes (Psalm 139:16) (Romans 8:28) (Romans 11:29).
Through David the blessed Holy Spirit was empowering his soul, being his mind, his emotions and his will, to boast in the LORD and in what He can do. When we read this psalm in a time of affliction we can hear how God comforted and encouraged David in his time of affliction and rejoice in that God still has everything under control despite what the enemy of our souls and his minions from hades might throw in our way to destabilise our trust and confidence in the goodness and bounty of our Triune God.
And so the Holy Spirit is saying through David to all tried and tested saints to glorify God, reminding Him of His promises, remembering past deliverances, extolling His perfect and divine attributes, His pure and eternal wisdom and knowing that His name can do anything He can do, and knowing that what is impossible with man is possible with God, and that with God nothing is impossible! (Luke 18:27) (Matthew 19:26).
This also tells us how vitally important to our spiritual survival corporate fellowship in the Holy Spirit is around the Word of God and the Lord’s Table and that corporate praise will slap shut the mouth of the accuser of the brethren, that diabolical enemy and predator of mans’ soul (Psalm 8:2). Praise primarily then is an action of the will, not the emotions and offered up to God by faith and it is this kind of faith that pleases Him and gets a rapid response! (Hebrew 11:6) (Luke 18:7-8). And then we read…
(Vs.4-5) “I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame”.
It is written; “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10). While we cannot know God’s name, as it is eternal and far above human comprehension and shows He is eternal and infinite, we can know and experience His divine attributes at work in our daily lives as New Covenant believers. David was in a time of extremity surrounded by a dark, damp and rocky place and in this situation sought the LORD and ran to Him as his fortress against spiritual attack and to allow the LORD to do for him what he could not do for himself.
David presented his fears before the Lord by rolling off his burden onto God’s shoulders and casting continuously all and every anxiety onto Him and that by an act of faith, not the emotions knowing that God would sustain him (1 Peter 5:7). As David also wrote; “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken” (Psalm 55:22). It may be we will sometimes find ourselves in a situation where even the scriptures do not comfort us or change our inner feelings and despondency and despair being engulfed in the swirling maelstrom of our tiring, debilitating and unrelenting adverse circumstances, however, we can praise God and reflect back to Him the promises of his Word that apply to our circumstances. We can also reflect on past answers to our prayers and how God has delivered us in the past.
This is why praying in the Holy Spirit will increase our confidence in Him and our waiting on Him by faith will enlarge of expectancy from Him and build us up in our most holy faith (Jude 1:20). As David also wrote; “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah (think and ponder upon this) (Psalm 62:5-8).
Those who look to Him for their very life both spiritually and physically will in time reflect the very radiance of God that is fully manifested in the Lord Jesus whose very life and light will shine forth from the enlightened soul even in trouble, but whose heart is steadfast in Him! David was learning that the LORD delivers from all and every fear, not from some but not from others.
Deliverance from every fear and every anxiety is our privilege as sons and daughters of the Living Triune God when we roll off our burdens onto the shoulders of the good shepherd who will carry them at all times and safely place us into the eternal sheepfold of God when our sojourn and service for Him on this earth has finished. And then we read…
(Vs.6-7) “This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.”
It is when we are aware of our spiritual deficiencies and past failures and sins and spiritual setbacks that we should call out to the LORD because He hears us and will rescue us out of all our troubles and while His timing may not be our timing, when He does answer our pleas and petitions He will be praised and glorified in and through us, our testimony will be encouraging to others and He, not us, will get the credit which is His due! The Angel of the LORD is the pre-incarnate Messiah our Lord Jesus before He took upon Himself a flesh and blood body, being fully human yet also fully divine as God the Son in the one body.
In the Hebrew the Angel of the LORD is rendered with a definite article. He was not just “an angel” but “The Angel of the LORD” with the capacity to forgive sin (Exodus 23:21). What angel has ever been given or has had the authority to forgive sin?
David knew from his past experience as a shepherd boy that when a lion or a bear sought to maul one of his sheep David would take the predator out with his staff or his sling and that by the power of God! The LORD was training him in the open fields behind the scenes for the public task He had set for David’s life and that prepared him to confront Goliath and to take him out and by this act saving the nation of Israel from the clutches of the Philistines.
Prophetically the awesome event was a foreshadowing of how the Messiah our Lord Jesus would take out Satan at the cross to save Israel from their sins and from Satan’s clutches which will be completely fulfilled at the end of this present age when the Messiah returns to rescue the remnant of His faithful saints being His bride as the Israel of God (Romans 11:25-29). If we are seeking to reverence (to fear) God then the Lord Jesus will surround us through the presence of His Spirit in us and deliver us every time we need to be delivered! (Psalm 119:169-171). And then we read…
(Vs.8) “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
The way to taste God is to read His Word. When we feed on the Word of God we are feeding on Him because He is the living Word of God in His Son Jesus Messiah and the Bible is Him in print form. Feeding our spirit on His Word is feeding on Jesus flesh and drinking His blood. It is speaking about spiritual food and drink, not about His physical body and blood as taught in the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation in the mass.
The whole section of John Chapter 6 related to this eating Jesus flesh and drinking His blood is directly related to eternal spiritual life, the very nature of the Triune God Himself. It has nothing to do with eating literal bread and drinking literal wine being transubstantiated to become Jesus’ literal flesh and blood (John 6:51-59). The Lord’s Table is a memorial meal directly related to His atoning saving work at the cross.
In the Bible the prophets were told to eat the scroll of God’s Word. It was given in a vision or a dream but not to be taken literally. One example is seen in what God said to Ezekiel; “Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you”. Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth” (Ezekiel 3:1-3).
As the psalmist also declares; “How sweet are Your words to my taste— sweeter than honey in my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103). When we taste and digest God’s Word we will find that He is a good God who has only our best interests at heart, and as we continue to take refuge in Him, we will be blessed with every spiritual blessing available to us in the unseen heavenly realm in the Messiah Jesus (Ephesians 1:3). Only in the Messiah our Lord Jesus will we have everything we need that pertains to life and godliness through getting to know Him personally (2 Peter 1:3). While God does not always give us what we want He will always give us what we need spiritually and materially when we need it! Now let’s read on…
(Vs.9-10) “Fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”
To fear the LORD is to reverence Him, to stand in awe of Him, to honour and to respect Him and not to treat Him flippantly or lightly or without due honour. This is the way to approach Him at all times and even when we enter His presence with thanksgiving and praise, giving thanks to Him because He has made us and we are His and the sheep of His pasture and also knowing that He is good and that His love endures forever and His faithfulness continues through all generations (Psalm 100).
When we approach Him in this way we will find that we lack nothing we need in the spiritual and the physical realm. Did not Messiah our Lord Jesus say; “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33). When we seek to promote His kingdom and prioritise this in our lives then whatever we need in the physical realm He will supply.
The Gentiles in the context of Matthew 6:31-33 are not non-Jews ethnically but those who are unsaved and who chase after the things of this world but have no regard for the righteousness God requires if one would enter the kingdom of God. “The young lions” are those in the world who are busy chasing wealth, fame and success in business and go after the pleasures and pursuits this world offers them. They are the “wheelers and dealers” striding through this world who have no time for God or for the things of eternal value. They drink of this world’s pleasures and accomplishments but find constantly that deep down on the inside of them they are never satisfied. While saying they are free in fact they are slaves to sin and unrighteousness and under Satan’s control and headed for the lake of fire if they do not get saved.
However, those who seek the LORD without wavering and keep seeking Him will lack no good thing that they need for life and for godliness. Their spiritual and physical needs will always be provided for. As the Lord Jesus also said; “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). In the Greek text it says; “Ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking” in other words don’t give up but keep at it by faith and God will surely act because He is always pleased with expectant faith and rewards it (Hebrews 11:6). The “Gentiles” of this world know of no such security. And then we read…
(Vs.11-14) “Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”
The blessed Holy Spirit must teach us how to fear the Lord because by nature and birth all of us are great rebels and sinners in God’s sight, violators of His commandments and do not fear Him and go chasing after the world, the flesh and the devil and all the things this world can offer that replace God. The only remedy for any one of us is to repent and believe on Him who shed His blood for us to atone for our sins, and to be willing to turn away from everything that displeases Him and to embrace Him as our personal Saviour and Lord of our life here on earth. This is when the fear of the Lord takes root in the repentant and contrite heart and life. It is a sovereign work of the Spirit of God, not earned or merited by anything we can do, who makes one spiritually alive to God who was spiritually dead in rebellion, lawlessness and sin (Luke 18:26-27) (Ephesians 2:1-5) (Colossians 2:13) (Ephesians 2:8-10).
If we love life and want to live out our days until God’s appointed time when we leave this earth to be absent from the body and present with the Lord, we must fear the LORD by keep our tongue from evil and deceptive speaking knowing that the power of life and death are in the tongue being that small ‘rudder’ that steers the ship of our life. To fear the Lord is to actively turn from evil when it presents itself to us and to do what is good and pleasing to God. To fear God is to seek peace and pursue it continuously. As Paul the apostle writes; “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Romans 12:18). Once again to seek peace and to pursue it is an act of the will, not the emotions, and there will be circumstances and other people at times that will disturb our peace. We walk by faith, not by sight and most certainly not by our feelings which are so changeable and are not a barometer for our true spiritual state or standing before God. And then David writes…
(Vs.15-16) “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.”
God does not miss anything. If He takes notice of a little sparrow that falls to the earth dead, and if He knows the numbers of hairs on our heads, then He most certainly know all about us. As it is also written; “For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). Just as a mother is attentive to the cry of her baby so the LORD is attentive to the cries of His children. As it is also written; “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out” (Isaiah 43:2). As David also wrote; “O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me” (Psalm 131:1-2).
And again it is written; “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). Whatever concerns and troubles us, whatever causes us anxiety and whatever circumstances we find ourselves in is important to the LORD. No matter is too small for Him to handle! As for the wicked who do not want God and could not care less about violating His commandments and statutes God is against them, not them as persons, but against what they do and the attitudes of their hearts towards Him. These may strive to be remembered but like the flower that blooms today and fades and withers tomorrow, so is the life of the wicked. However, the Word of our God abides and remains constant forever! (Isaiah 40:8). The apostle Peter actually quotes the prophet Isaiah; “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Peter 1:24-25). Now let’s continue…
(Vs.17) “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”
When the righteous cry out to God He goes into action! (Luke 18:6-8). He is never too early but never too late but always on time. Whatever troubles us troubles Him because He has compassion for His own righteous ones living by faith in Him. Whatever it is, whatever the circumstance we face that causes us to buckle over at the knees with an anxious heart, God will always bring the solution. He does it in His way and in His own time but will always show Himself strong on behalf of those who are trusting and looking to Him for the rescue. There will be occasions when it seems He is delaying but when the time is right He will act decisively (Revelation 6:9-11). David had learnt this spiritual principle which increased his faith and the certainty of complete victory assured; “For in You I can charge an army, and with my God I can scale a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?” (Psalm 18:29-31). God’s delay does not always mean that He will not answer. As we wait on the Lord our faith of expectancy grows and when the answer finally comes God gets the praise and the glory and we get to give a good testimony to encourage others!
We are also told in this psalm that “the LORD is close to the brokenhearted.” A broken heart in this context primarily refers to a heart in deep sorrow because of sin and one that needs spiritual healing. Our need for spiritual healing may go very deep and something that is beyond human help or the power of self will. At such times God is not only closer to us more than we can ever imagine or think, but rescues the trusting and tried saint crushed in spirit, mentally exhausted and with a sense of heaviness through manifold temptations. And then we read…
(Vs.19-20) “ A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; He protects all His bones, not one of them will be broken.”
This is a Messianic Prophecy directly related to the physical crucifixion of Messiah Jesus and affirmed in the New Testament (John 19:36). The two thieves crucified on either side of the Lord Jesus had their leg bones broken to hasten their deaths but when they came to break Jesus’ leg bones He was already dead. David’s troubles afflictions and his bearing the hostility of his enemies in some way mirrors God’s righteous one our Lord Jesus the Messiah, being afflicted, not only by our sins and by experiencing broken fellowship with His Father in heaven, but also bearing with those who were verbally, mentally and physically treating Him with distain, hostility and scorn. Many of the psalms reflect this future suffering of the Messiah to come in the afflictions David and the other writes of the psalms wrote about. One of the most relevant psalms is Psalm 22 which describes in detail and gives us insight into the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual sufferings of the Lord Jesus at the cross. And then we read…
(Vs.21-22) “Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems His servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in Him.”
Right now it seems that the wicked are succeeding in their persecution of the righteous saints of God. However, their evil will itself slay them in the end and that without reprieve. Their evil attitudes and acts will condemn them in God’s court of law. In fact without a saving faith in Jesus as their personal Saviour and Lord they stand condemned already.
As the apostle John writes; “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18).
The wicked we are told will be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God (Psalm 9:17). It is also written; “Man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Also those who persecute God’s saints will themselves be condemned by God, victims of their own wickedness and rebellion and banished to the lake of fire to be tormented forever, a sentence from which there is no reprieve (Revelation 14:9-11; 20-8).
Finally we read that the LORD redeems His servants through the Messiah our Lord Jesus and that they have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of His unearned and undeserved favour (Ephesians 1:7). They are justified and acquitted of all offences against God by the blood of Messiah and also saved from the wrath to come by that same blood (Romans 5:9). Through the blood of Jesus their conscience is purged from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14). They have been set apart to God for His exclusive use by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 13:12).
They have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and are kept clean as they walk in the light of God’s Word with a desire to obey it (1 John 1:7). They also know that on the basis of the Messiah’s shed blood they can confess their sins when they do fall through temptation and by that same blood be cleansed from all unrighteousness and from all defilement of flesh and spirit so that they may continue to perfect their walk of holiness in their reverence for God (1 John 1:9) (2 Corinthians 7:1).
They also have that confidence to enter the most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19-20). They know that because of Jesus’ love and by the power of His shed blood they have been loosed, set free, and liberated from the satanic tentacles of sin (Revelation 1:5). They are those who overcome Satan by the blood of Messiah our Lord Jesus through testifying to what the Word of God says the blood of Jesus does for them and in them and by seeking not to love their lives in this world even if it means martyrdom (Revelation 12:11). They are redeemed because they take refuge in God!
Epilogue:
Whatever situation we are in and whatever lies down the path for us may we take to heart the words of David to extol the LORD at all times and in every situation we face and to work at having His praise always on our lips with our soul boasting in the LORD because He always hears the cries and the sighs of His afflicted ones so that together as His body and bride they might glorify Him and exult His name together, also knowing that no good thing does the LORD withhold from those who walk uprightly before Him, and that He will meet every need they will ever have for the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with uprightly with integrity (Psalm 84:11).
The LORD’S redeemed saints know that He will deliver them from all fear and anxiety and that His radiance can been seen in their lives. They also know that they are spiritually impoverished but that the Spirit of Jesus is with them and inside of them to deliver them from whatever it is that afflicts them. They are able to taste the goodness of the LORD and are blessed by taking refuge in Him knowing full well that those who fear Him will lack nothing they need in life and that if they continue to seek Him they will have every good thing God sees fit to bestow on them as those He has accepted in the beloved Jesus (Ephesians 1:6).
The LORD’S redeemed saints know that being taught the fear of the Lord will add years to their life enabling them to finish the pre-ordained race of life God has appointed for them to run, keeping their tongues from speaking evil things and from lies. They work at turning from evil to doing good things that the LORD commends and seeking to pursue peace will all men.
The LORD’S redeemed saints know that His ears are always open and attentive to their cries and that He will always deliver them from their troubles and rescue those who are crushed and broken hearted with a spirit of heaviness through manifold temptations. They know that He will deliver them from all of their troubles in His time and in His way. They know that the evil of the wicked will ultimately slay them but that the LORD will redeem His servants and that those who take refuge in Him will never be condemned.
So as redeemed children of God through the atoning blood of Messiah and the righteousness we have received through faith in Him, let’s keep working at extolling the LORD at all times with His praise always on our lips, and with our soul boasting of His grace and when afflicted learning to rejoice in our affliction.
As the LORD’S redeemed saints we will be strengthened when we glorify the LORD in fellowship with other New Covenant believers especially when we meet together around the table of the LORD that we might be encouraged to hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And that we might consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds and not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but encouraging one another, and all the more as we see the Day approaching when we will be redeemed out of this resent evil age at the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus!
So then let us work at extolling the LORD at all times, in all places and in every way we can and not to give up, because it is praise that will shut the devils’ mouth every time and drive him out of our affairs and give us the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil and deliver us from the lust of the flesh, from the lust of the eyes and from the pride of life and from fear and anxiety In light of so great a salvation have much to extol the LORD for! Selah!
