His Praise Continually in My Mouth

In one paragraph

Pastor Carl walked through all of Psalm 34, tracing how a song David wrote after escaping the Philistine king Achish still speaks directly into grief, celebration, fear, and uncertainty. The context was David on the run from Saul, slipping into enemy territory and faking madness to get away alive. From that unlikely place came one of Israel's most enduring songs of praise. The sermon opened with...

Read together

1. Psalm 29 opened the service, quoted 'the Lord rules over the floodwaters, the Lord reigns as king forever, the Lord gives his people strength, and the Lord blesses them with peace'
2. Psalm 34 primary text for the sermon, walked through the entire psalm
3. Psalm 34:8 quoted 'taste and see that the Lord is good, oh the joys of those who take refuge in him'
4. Psalm 34:20 cited as messianic, 'he keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken', fulfilled at the crucifixion
5. Psalm 34:21 quoted 'evil shall slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned'
6. 1 Samuel 21:10-15 background context for Psalm 34, David fleeing Saul and feigning madness before Achish king of Gath
7. 2 Corinthians 1:20 quoted 'for all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding yes, and through Christ our amen ascends to God for his glory'
8. Ephesians 5 Paul instructs speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart unto the Lord, always giving thanks
9. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 quoted 'in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus'
10. 1 Corinthians 1:31 quoted 'let him who boasts, let him boast in the Lord'
11. Jeremiah 9:24 quoted 'let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness and justice and righteousness on earth'
12. Psalm 9:10 quoted 'those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you oh Lord have not forsaken those who seek you'
13. Jeremiah 29:11 quoted 'I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a hope and a future', with surrounding context about the Babylonian exile
14. Philippians 4:11 referenced Paul saying he had learned how to be content in abundance and in severe need
15. 2 Peter 3:9 referenced 'he does not want any to perish but wants all to come to repentance'
16. Matthew 5:3-4 quoted 'blessed are those who are poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn' in connection with the Lord being near to the brokenhearted
17. Philippians 4:6-7 closing blessing, quoted 'be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus'

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl opened Psalm 34 by noting that David wrote it after faking madness to escape from Achish, king of Gath. When have you found yourself turning to God or to praise in an unexpected or desperate situation, and what did that look like for you?
2. The sermon pointed to the line 'his praise shall continually be in my mouth' and connected it to Paul's instructions in Ephesians about speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and to the command in Thessalonians to give thanks in everything. What does it actually look like, day to day, to keep praise and gratitude going during a hard season rather than just in good times?
3. Pastor Carl walked through the Jeremiah 29 passage and noted that God told the exiles he was the one who sent them to Babylon, that the difficult place they were in was part of his plan, and that they should put down roots there. Has there been a time when you felt stuck somewhere difficult and later saw God's hand in it? How did that change the way you understood what you were going through?
4. The sermon described David as recognizing other people around him who trusted God and said 'they looked to him and they were radiant.' How much do you think the faith of people around you has shaped your own trust in God, and how conscious are you of the effect your own visible trust might have on others?
5. Near the end of the sermon, the passage 'many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all' was applied both to Christ and to those who suffer for Christ. Where do you personally land on the tension between trusting that deliverance is real and honest about the fact that some deliverance only comes on the other side of this life?