Throughout the psalm, David also calls others to praise and seek refuge in God, highlighting that God hears the prayers of the righteous and saves them from their troubles. The psalm encourages readers to place their trust in God, who redeems and protects His people even in seemingly hopeless circumstances.
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Psalm 34 – A Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.
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I 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..
What did David do in his situation? He sought the Lord and cried out to Him to save him.
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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..
As a result David, saw for himself once again that God is good – and that He showers that goodness especially on those who fear Him and take refuge in Him.
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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..
David then gives a little thumbnail sketch on how to fear the Lord. First, keep your tongue from evil and deceit. Second, stop doing evil things. Third, start doing good things. Fourth, seek and pursue peace – with yourself, with GOD, and with others.
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.
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David then once again encourages the righteous to cry out to Him for HELP! Even though He is against evildoers He very much hears and will listen to the the righteous and those who are brokenhearted and crushed in spirit. The first step in dealing with an N is to cry out to GOD for help. You may not see the answer in the next 10 minutes, but it can be the start of GOD leading you through your situation.
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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 brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
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David ends by reminding himself and others – as proven by his rescue from Abimelech – that GOD will ultimately deliver the soul of the righteous and deal retribution to the evil.
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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.
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Yes, your situation with your narcissist is very different that David having to flee from Saul and then escape from Abimelech. But the basic principles which David applied can be revelant to you. Give it some thought.
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Note 1: I want to emphasize that David’s solution with Saul was to flee for his life. That does not mean that David’s solution is our solution. This website has various blog posts discussing this.
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Note 2: In spite my good intentions I have not been blogging much due to the ongoing press of everyday life. I’m also working hard on a book with a title along the lines of “Do Not Become Slaves of Men: A Biblical Perspective On Codependency” (or something like that). I’m peddling as fast as I can :).