"Track 34: Taste and See (Psalm 34)", Thad Yessa | 8/10/25
Psalm 34 | 8/10/25 | Thad Yessa
Introduction: Have you ever found yourself in a moment of true despair, hopelessness, aloneness, crushed by an unbearable weight, and uncertainty of the future?
The last Christmas Eve service had ended. Our family piled into the car, ready for a 12-hour overnight drive to spend Christmas with my family. The plan was simple: drive through the night, stop around Nashville for a few hours of sleep and breakfast, then finish the last stretch to arrive by lunchtime on Christmas Day.
The first few hours rolled by without incident. The roads were quiet. Traffic was light. The kids were mildly pleasant. But somewhere in the dark hours right before Christmas Eve would turn into Christmas day, as we neared the Kentucky–Tennessee border, the trip took a turn.
It started with a sound, sharp, metallic, wrong. My stomach sank. Then, in an instant, the car refused to accelerate. We were coasting, powerless, on a pitch-black stretch of interstate with no exits, no streetlights, no sign of help.
I eased us onto the shoulder while Nikki started frantically texting family and friends, and I called AAA. That’s when we discovered this was not going to be simple. Finding a tow truck in the area was one thing; finding one willing to take us across the state line into Tennessee (the nearest place with a hotel and a repair shop) was another matter entirely. And then came the kicker: we weren’t just moving a car. We were moving a family of five, which apparently is far more complicated than I had ever imagined at 2:00 in the morning on Christmas Day.
Minutes turned into hours. One hour became two. Two became four. Our battery finally died. The car grew colder. The kids grew restless, miserable. The sense of being stranded in the middle of nowhere settled over us.
When AAA finally located a tow truck, it came with a catch: it could only take two passengers. I called highway patrol in desperation, asking, almost begging, if there was anyone who could get us all to the hotel we had managed to book.
By God’s kindness, at 4:30 in the morning, wearied, exhausted, we all made it to that hotel. And yes, it was in the back of a police car for Nikki, Margot, and Blaire. Hopefully, the last time that happens.
The car was still broken, our trip still uncertain, and we were only halfway through our logistical nightmare. But looking back now, I can see we weren’t alone, not for a second. While we sat there feeling helpless, people here and all over were praying for us, and God had not forsaken us.
What felt like chaos was covered in God’s quiet care. It’s out of a time of desperation and despair that Psalm 34 is written out of. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word.
Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
I will bless the Lord at all times;
His 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 Oh, 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 Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall 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 delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the 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 Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
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Introduction and Background
David wrote this psalm after one of the most dangerous moments in his life. The superscript tells us this is “when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.” or as other translators put it, “when David acted insane…” It points us back to 1 Samuel 21:10-15
10 That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances:
“‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands’?”12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish, king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hand,s he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? 15 Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”
At this point, David is a fugitive. King Saul, once his ally, now his enemy, has hurled spears at him, sent assassins after him, and made it clear that David is a man marked for death.
In desperation, David flees to Gath. But Gath is not just any city; it is the hometown of Goliath, the very giant David had killed years earlier. Imagine walking into the enemy’s capital holding their most treasured military trophy. And that’s precisely what David did; he carried with him Goliath’s sword. It was the weapon David had used to finish the giant after striking him with a stone. It was the ultimate symbol of Philistine shame. And now here it is again, in the hands of the very man who had defeated their champion.
The people of Gath recognize David immediately. They bring word to the king, called Achish in 1 Samuel but referred to here as Abimelech, a title like “Pharaoh” that meant “my father is king.” David realizes instantly: he has not escaped danger; he has walked straight into the lion’s mouth. And so he does something shocking, he pretends to be insane. He scratches the doors like a madman, lets saliva run down his beard, and acts in such a way that Achish says, “Do I lack madmen? Why have you brought this fellow to me?” And he sends David away.
It is an escape only God could orchestrate. David knows it. And it leaves such a mark on his heart that he writes not one, but two psalms about it, Psalm 56 while he is still in danger, and Psalm 34 after he has been set free. Psalm 34 is also an acrostic, each verse starting with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Why? Because David doesn’t just want to praise God for himself, he wants God’s people to memorize and sing of His faithfulness from A to Z, to have it lodged deep in their souls.
And here is the heartbeat of the psalm: Because the Lord is good and faithful, we Him in every season. This is not just David’s story. It is an open invitation to you.
1. An Invitation to Praise the Lord (vv. 1–3)
David begins with a vow: “I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” This is astonishing. He has just been through a life-or-death crisis, and his first words are not bitterness toward God, but a blessing of God. Praise is not the product of perfect circumstances; it is the fruit of a heart convinced of God’s goodness even in the difficult seasons.
To say “at all times” is to refuse to let praise be seasonal. It is to praise in the sunshine and in the storm. If we are honest, it isn’t always easy to give praise in the storm. But when you have seen the Lord’s faithfulness up close, as David has, praise should become as natural as breathing. This is Job’s heart when he says, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” It is Paul and Silas singing hymns in prison at midnight after being beaten.
Here’s the reality: pain and praise can coexist in the same heart. They are not enemies. Like an injured athlete who stays in the game, the believer may still limp, still ache, but refuses to walk off the field.
Romans 5:3-5 says, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
But David’s praise is not private. Verse 2 says, “My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.” And verse 3 invites us in: “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!” Magnifying God does not mean making Him bigger; He is already infinite. It means enlarging our own view of Him and helping others see His greatness. It’s like a telescope bringing the vastness of a galaxy into sharp focus for the human eye.
This is in part what corporate worship does and why it matters. When we gather, our praise (singing) fuels the faith of others. One believer’s testimony of God’s faithfulness can ignite hope in another’s darkness. As Athanasius said, “The Lord loves thankful people. In both good times and bad times, they offer praise and thanksgiving to God.”
David doesn’t just want you to admire his praise from a distance. He wants you to know why he’s praising like this. So he leans in and says, “Let me tell you what God did when I sought Him. Let me tell you what happens when the desperate cry out.”2. An Invitation to Seek the Lord (vv. 4–7)
“I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” David’s seeking was not casual. It was urgent. He had no army, no allies, no resources, only God. To “seek” here means to turn your whole expectation toward Him, to fix your eyes on Him because you have nowhere else to look.
He uses three words for prayer in these verses: sought, looked, and cried. Each shows a progression from decision to dependence to desperation. And God answered, not by removing all possibility of danger, but by breaking the power of fear. Fear shrinks when you seek and find God, and He fills your gaze.
Verse 5 says those who look to Him are “radiant.” The countenance of those who have found the LORD should be reflective of it. This is the glow of hope replacing the shadow of despair. What fears are you carrying? Not many of us are afraid for our lives like David was. But you may be afraid of losing your job. You may be fearful for your children. You may be afraid for your marriage. You may be fearful for your retirement. Cast all your cares on the Lord, because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).
If you carry around the weight of your fears, it will take a toll on you and affect you physically, emotionally, and spiritually. You can see worry written on someone's face. This is why verse 5 is so precious. Verse 5 should be read more as a command and not a statement: "Look to the LORD and shine, don't let your face be ashamed!" If you turn to God and look to him for help, the peace and joy he gives will be written on your face.
David, in his seeking of the Lor,d calls himself “this poor man” in verse 6, not financially poor, but spiritually needy. He had nothing to bring, nothing to bargain with. And that is the only way to come to God, empty-handed. The poor in spirit are the ones who receive the kingdom.
And verse 7 gives one of the most comforting images in the Bible: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.” To say the angel “encamps” is to picture God’s protection like a fortress wall surrounding His people. It does not mean no trouble can touch them; it means no trouble can touch them apart from His sovereign purpose.
David’s experience was not unique to him. In 2 Kings 6, Elisha and his servant were trapped in the city of Dothan. During the night, the king of Assyria sent his army to surround the city. When they woke up the next morning, Elisha's servant was terrified. "What shall we do?" he cried (2 Kings 6:15). Elisha's answer”
He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (vv. 16, 17)
God surrounds his people and saves them from every danger. This was David's experience as a prisoner in Goliath's hometown. It is your experience, too, if you have sought the Lord for salvation.
David’s testimony is not meant to stay his alone. He’s telling his story to stir up your own hunger for God. It is as if he’s saying, “Don’t just watch me be rescued, come and see for yourself.” Which is exactly where he goes next.
3. An Invitation to Experience the Lord (vv. 8–10)
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!” This is one of the most personal invitations in Scripture. To “taste” is to move beyond secondhand reports. David could have simply said, “Believe that God is good.” And of course, we should believe that; Scripture commands it. But David isn’t merely asking us to agree with a theological statement or check a doctrinal box. He invites us into something far more personal and experiential. He tells us to “taste and see” (v. 8).
What’s the difference? We got back from Youth Camp two Sundays ago and had a great time! If you ask any of the students or leaders to tell you about camp, I don’t think any of them would say anything different, with one caveat: we had the worst food, and it was truly a beautiful place. I could describe to you the chicken tenders the first night and how they were as hard as rocks. I could tell you that it was like they had cooked them, dehydrated them, and then deep-fried them again. I could insist with the other students that they were inedible, but you would still have to take my word for it. I could show you pictures of how beautiful it was where we were, but even then, these pictures don’t do justice to how truly beautiful it was.
That is where many live, in the realm of secondhand experience of God’s goodness. They’ve heard sermons about it. They’ve sung about it in worship. Their parents have told them about it. They believe in their minds that God is good, but they have never honestly tasted and seen it for themselves.
Why not? One of two reasons, they have not experienced God in any salvific capacity, OR Because when fear closes in, they don’t run to God for refuge. They may trust Him in theory but not in practice. They’ve believed with their intellect, but not with their heart and whole lives. They haven’t discovered firsthand, as David had, that God cares for His people and delivers them from every trouble and fear. So they remain splashing in the shallows of hearsay when they could be diving headlong into the vast ocean of God’s goodness. David’s invitation is to act on what we know about God’s goodness in the moments of crisis. Only then will we taste for ourselves how good He really is.
The Bible assures us repeatedly that God will protect and provide for those who fear Him. David invites us to think about the lion, one of creation’s most powerful and capable hunters. It’s hard to imagine such a beast going hungry. Lions represent strength, dominance, and self-reliance, the very traits our world often admires. Yet even these mighty predators sometimes go without food.
In contrast, God’s people, however weak they may feel, will lack nothing essential. He may not grant every desire, but He will never fail to give what is truly needed. And beyond this life, He promises the ultimate provision: to bring us home into His presence, where He will dwell with us forever, wipe away every tear, and make all things new (Revelation 21:1–4). On that day, we will once again taste and see that the Lord is good, this time in a fullness and depth we could scarcely have imagined here.
David has tasted. He has found God faithful, not only to rescue but to provide. And now he urges others to take refuge in Him. This is not a one-time event but a lifelong posture, again and again choosing to hide ourselves in His care.
The promise is stunning: “Those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.” This is not a blank check for all we want; it is the assurance that God will never withhold what we truly need for our eternal joy and His glory. The greatest good He gives is Himself.
But tasting God’s goodness is not about consuming His blessings while ignoring His holiness. To experience Him is to be shaped by Him. And that brings us to the fear of the Lord.4. An Invitation to Fear the Lord (vv. 11–14)
David now takes the role of a teacher: “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.”
In wisdom literature, the students of the sages are known as "sons" or "children". He gives three marks of such a life: desire what is good, speak what is true, and pursue what is right. The one who fears the Lord desires life, is not craving mere survival but the abundant life Jesus came to give, a life marked by joy in God, not just comfort in circumstances. Speaking what is true means guarding the tongue, refusing deceit, and speaking in ways that reflect God’s truth and love. Pursuing what is right means turning from evil, doing good, and seeking peace, not a fragile peace at any cost, but peace built on righteousness.
Our culture calls evil good and good evil. Without the Word of God, our moral compass will spin aimlessly. But the fear of the Lord steadies it. It tells us what is good and gives us the strength to walk in it.
Our moral life, however, is not simply to be lived as a negative.
Too often, being a follower of Jesus has been thought of only as following a list of "don'ts." David instructs us to "do good." The negative call to leave evil behind is for the sake of positive action. As Paul tells the Colossians, we are now "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light" (1:12).
"Good" is defined in the Old Testament by the law of God. It is moral living, not merely to be known or contemplated, but to be done, there is action. "If you love Me," Jesus said, "keep My commandments." (John 14:15).
Since we live in such an amoral age, we need the Word of God to instruct our minds and to sharpen our consciences. Our world is filled with double-talk. Adultery and fornication are called "sexual freedom." The murder of unborn children is "pro-choice" or “caring for women”. Selfishness is "self-affirmation" or "self-realization." Thus, God must tell us what evil is so that we can depart from it, and God must tell us what good is so that we can pursue after it. To learn the fear of the Lord, then, is to learn the moral will of God. It is to guard our tongue and our behavior from evil. It is to do the good work of God in the world.
In light of the New Testament, the call to do good is not simply a call to moral living, but also to eschatological living or living towards one’s final destination. It is a call to do the very works of Jesus, to proclaim His kingdom, restoring God's order over this fallen, disordered creation.
But living this way does not mean we are spared from hardship. In fact, it often means we will face more of it. That’s why David closes by calling us to trust the Lord in every season.5. An Invitation to Trust the Lord (vv. 15–22)
“The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, and his ears toward their cry.” This is the comfort. Here is the realism: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” Following God is not a way out of suffering; it is the way into deeper fellowship with Him in suffering. Jesus promised tribulation. Paul told the churches, “Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.”(Acts 14:22)
Being God’s people, “the righteous,” is no promise of earthly ease. In fact, with it comes promises of affliction. And not just “some” but “many.” “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” So we might say, Well, that’s pretty poor treatment from an all-powerful God toward his people. Why, then, be his? Why bother being righteous?
Verses 21–22 make clear that affliction serves two contrasting purposes for the righteous and for the wicked, for God’s people and for his enemies. Verses 21–22:
“Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.”Affliction ruins the wicked. It’s the end of their story. But affliction makes the righteous, and is not their end. It reveals their true colors. It has a humbling effect, rather than a hardening effect. Affliction has a purifying effect for the righteous, while having a punitive effect for the wicked. The wicked will be condemned at the final judgment. The righteous, though afflicted, and through affliction, will not be condemned, but the Lord himself will redeem their life.
But we need to ask more about “the righteous” here. Who are “the righteous” in verse 15? Who are God’s people, his “servants” in verse 22, his “saints” in verse 9? Psalm 34 tells us far more about God’s people than that they are righteous, but also what makes them righteous:
Verse 2: they are humble: “Let the humble hear and be glad.”
Verse 5: they are “those who look to him.”
Verses 7 and 9: “those who fear him.”
Verses 8 and 22: “those who take refuge in him.”
Verse 10: “those who seek the Lord.”
Verse 14: they “turn away from evil and do good.”
Verse 18: he calls them “brokenhearted” and “crushed in spirit” (not the unbroken and uncrushed, but the broken and crushed).
So, as the whole psalm implies, and as verse 19 makes explicit, God’s people will suffer. The afflictions of the righteous are many. We do not pretend that Christianity frees us from afflictions in this world. In fact, we assume it brings more, for now, not less. Many afflictions.
Who does it mean to be brokenhearted?
Desertion: neglect or betrayal by a spouse, family member, pastor, or friend
Bereavement: Ailment or death of one we love.
Poverty: Job loss, financial strain, poverty of basic needs
Disappointment and defeat: Dreams unreached, goals blocked, tired of failing, foes that won
Guilt: regrets, pains we’ve caused others, sin against God and others.
If you want one verse to memorize from this passage, let it be verse 18:
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.But here is the good news and the gospel: When God saw a broken world, He didn’t keep His distance. He didn’t send advice from afar. He came. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus didn’t enter the world in a palace, but in a stable. He was born into poverty, raised under oppression, and acquainted with grief.
All through His life, Jesus gravitated toward the hurting:
He touched lepers no one else would touch.
He wept with friends at a funeral.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and welcomed sinners.
And on the cross, He went lower still. The One who was high and holy was crushed for our sin, in our place, so that the crushed in spirit you and I could be lifted up and saved.
The incarnation is God keeping Psalm 34:18. In Jesus, God stepped into our brokenness so we would never be alone in it. And because He rose again, His nearness is not just a moment in history, it’s a present reality.
The promise is that “the LORD delivers him out of them all.” Deliverance may not come on our timetable, but it will come, finally and fully, in the resurrection. Verse 20 says, “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.” In the Old Testament, unbroken bones were a sign of preservation and future restoration. The Passover lamb’s bones were not to be broken, pointing forward to Christ, whose bones remained unbroken on the cross (John 19:36). This is resurrection language; God keeps His people for the day He will raise them.
Affliction destroys the wicked, but it purifies the righteous. And verse 22 gives the gospel in miniature: “The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.” Why? Because Jesus bore the condemnation in our place.
Conclusion
Psalm 34 is not just David’s story; it is Christ’s invitation to you. Praise Him continually. Seek Him earnestly. Experience Him personally. Fear Him reverently. Trust Him completely. You can go through moments of affliction, of feeling aloneness, of emotional distress, of being brokenhearted, of being crushed in Spirit, because Jesus, the righteous one, took the ultimate affliction for you. He was forsaken so you could be welcomed, condemned so you could be redeemed, killed so you could live.
Come, taste and see that the Lord is good.