Psalm 34[1]
A Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech,
who drove him away and he departed.
1I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul will make its boast in the Lord;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
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 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be 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 encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
9 O fear the Lord, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man who desires life
And loves length of days that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
And His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the broken-hearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.
The British sculptor Sir Anthony Gormley has created a clay model entitled ‘Hold’. It is inspired by the experience of lockdown. It is solitary figure resting its head between tightly wound arms, clasping bent knees and shoulders. He told BBC News (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52296886) : ‘I wanted to make this self-contained body, looking at itself, at the resource that one has within oneself.’
He has shared the image online via London's White Cube gallery. ‘I suppose that, for me, was trying to make an objective equivalent for the state that we're all in. Most of us live our lives in ridiculous obligation to a machine that… is always telling us to do more, have more, go to more places, make more money. This is a wonderful time in which those imperatives are loosened. And we have to ask ourselves: What do we care about? What do we value? What do we love?"
Psalm 34 is a prayer of thanksgiving and gratefulness which spills over with praise because of a real experience of the psalmist. He has gone through an unspecified trial (though some link this to a specific experience of David - see the prefix at the top of the page). ‘This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all of his troubles,’ he reports in vs6. ‘The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,’ he continues in vs18, ‘And saves those who are crushed in spirit.’
Gormley’s figure ‘Hold’ perhaps expresses in physicality, incarnate in a lump of clay, that tremendous sense of crushed spirit and heart-brokenness.
But out of this experience of despair comes something vividly life-giving. It is like a good meal, a feast, to one who has known only famine. And in his great enthusiasm, the psalmist says: ‘O taste and see that the Lord is God: how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.’ (vs8) In other words, the psalmist invites all who will hear him to also share in the experience of being loved by God. Come and experience deliverance (vs4), salvation (vs6) and life (vs12).
Sir Anthony Gormley echoes something of the psalmist’s reflection, when he suggests that this lockdown time is an opportunity for deep inward reflection on what is really important in life. Is it greed or gratitude? What do we truly value? What do we desire with all our heart? How might we grow in wisdom? And what are the resources we can draw upon from within ourselves?
For people of faith, the scriptures are a central resource. These scriptures speak truthfully of and into human experience. They also speak of the spiritual power God gives the humble person of prayer. This crushed person who cries out moves from inward navel-gazing (rather like the figure Hold) towards something more uplifted. The psalmist describes in vs5 the experience of having a ‘radiant face’ looking outwards towards God – no longer hunkered down with shame but released, rescued, and under God’s refuge of grace.
This psalm has echoes of the wisdom literature of the bible, in particular the book of Proverbs. After encouraging us to ‘taste and see the goodness of God’ borne out of experience, the psalmist set out (vs11-14) to teach from out of the wisdom he has learned: ‘ Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.’
Out of the lockdown for each of us might come a deeper sense of wise living and a shaping of character, like a sculptor accomplishes with clay. And perhaps we might live by one of the one of the most profound mantras of this psalm and have our character formed by it: May we become people who 'seek peace and pursue it.' From solitary imprisonment to active, fluid living pursuing peace.
[1] New
American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971,
1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The
Lockman Foundation
This psalm, with its intimate and warm tone, is a very significant one for me as it is the one scripture that God gave me to sustain me when my “poor soul cried”, and through it, and particularly through v7, God spoke powerfully to me when I was brokenhearted. This verse spoke and continues to seek to me of God being with us in our troubles for the long haul. The angel of the Lord encamps around us always reminds me of John’s Prologue (Jn 1:14) when the author so poetically writes that the Word of the Lord dwelt among us” - or “pitched his tent”. God incarnate comes to us, pitches his tent right by us, and stays with us. The Lord does this now in this marathon of the coronavirus pandemic. He encamps around us, enfolding us, surrounding us in love. He’s with us for the long haul.
ReplyDeleteBeing broken hearted and crushed in spirit (v18) is the experience of too many as the numbers of deaths now reach over 20000. It was so sad to hear the news of the death of 2 twin sisters, Katy and Emma Davis, both nurses, within 3 days of each other. Such a terrible loss for any family to bear. How the newsreaders continue to tell us such stories of grief and pain without themselves welling up I do not know. Maybe the Gormley sculpture can express their despair and the closing inwards that grief can bring.
However, that is not how I respond to this piece of art. When I first saw it I immediately thought of an extremely similar yoga pose that I sometimes do in my daily practice and one that I enjoy doing and find helpful. It is a restorative pose in which you allow yourself to bring your attention inward. Your feet are grounded on the floor and the weight of your head is relaxed on your knees. It is a slowing down and held pose. For some it is a pose that can lead to tears of release. For me yoga is a form of bodily prayer and this pose restores me as I journey inwards into the life giving love of God. It is like a coming home to God and I am restored. It is where i can discover again that “the Lord is near” (v18)
The psalms, whilst being aids to personal devotion and contemplation, are, however, also always leading us to live righteous lives. Psalm 34 begins with praise and worship of God’s goodness and glory and ends with a call to live speaking truth, doing good and pursuing peace. Living like that would be restorative to our world. It would make known the Lord’s presence and goodness.