Psalm 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.
I love the words David uses here when he says, ‘I sought the Lord.’ When is the last time you sought after something? When you look at the meaning of the word sought I love the progression of the words it gives. It means to seek, to study, to consult and to follow. I find that interesting because those words in them self mean something different. First we have to seek after something. We have to attempt to find something. David is trying to find the Lord. Just as we should daily be trying to find the Lord. To find the Lord we need to spend time in study and prayer.
When is the last time you really sought after the Lord in this way? When is the last time you spent time reading is word and praying to Him? The best way we can find him is through spending time in His word and speaking with Him. The problem is so many of us let the business of life keep us from spending that time seeking Him. Our schedules get so wild and crazy that we seldom have time to sit down and take a deep breath let a long spend an hour with our Lord and Savior. Be honest with yourself, when is the last time you spent a straight hour studying and praying?
I know what your saying, “Matt my schedule is so crazy I don’t have that kind of time!” Trust me I know your saying it because it is an excuse I have used myself! However, think about yesterday or maybe the last couple days. How much time did you spending watching tv, or maybe staring at your computer screen or surfing Facebook on your phone? Maybe you had the time to sit and watch your kids basketball or soccer practice. I am guessing there are some things in your schedule, just like there are mine, that could be moved down the priority ladder. Many of us don’t find Jesus in our day because we don’t spend time seeking for Him!
Seeking doesn’t just stop with studying it is also defined as ‘to consult.’ Have you ever gone to someone for consultation. Often times we go to a dr for a second opinion or consultation. What they think we should do regrading a health issues we are dealing with. When I was coaching high school football and basketball I often consulted with other coaches. I went to them because they knew more than I did and I knew they could help me do a better job of coaching and preparing my players to be successful. That is what we need to do with Jesus. We need to go to Him seeking advice. We shouldn’t just read the bible but we should be looking at it as a way to help us grow closer to and more like Christ. We should go to Him in prayer for guidance in how we can better walk the path he has for us!
Then the final part of seeking is to follow. The best coach in the world, which is debatable for sure, could tell me what to do and how to do it but if I don’t listen to him then the seeking, studying and consulting did me no good. I have to follow what he says. As Christians it is the same way. Many times we do study, pray, consult, but we aren’t willing to follow. We feel the Lord pulling on our heart strings to make changes in our lives or step out and reach out to others but we don’t take that final step of following. This is the toughest of all of seeking. It is the part that takes trusting in our Lord. As Christians this is when we take our relationship with Christ to the next level. When we die to ourselves and are willing to give Him control of our life!
Are you at this point?
David says that when he sought the Lord two things happened. First he says that the Lord answered Him. I thought this was interesting to read coming from David. In the Bible we see God speak to different people in different ways. Sometimes he spoke verbally as he did with Moses. Sometimes he spoke through dreams as he did with Jacob and Joseph along with many others. However, when you study David we never see God speak to him directly or through a dream. For me this is kind of reassuring to know that David feels the Lord answered him because I have never had the Lord speak directly to me or through a dream either. However, I have had the Lord speak to me through the Holy Spirit. Again through study and prayer I can feel the Holy Spirit leading and directing me in the way He would have me to go. As a Christian it is so wonderful to have the Holy Spirit, the same power that rose Jesus from the grave, living inside of us to hear us and lead us.
The second thing David says happened was that the Lord delivered him from his fears. We are going to see that word fear pop up some more as we worth through Psalm 34. The word delivered here means to snatch away. When we seek and find Jesus he answers us and snatches us away from our fear! That is a pretty awesome promise. We can be snatched away from the fear in our life when we give our life to Christ. When we believe and accept Him the fear can be removed!
How can following Him remove our fear? John 10:28 says ‘I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.’ He snatches us from our fears and puts us in his hands. He also gives us eternal life. How wonderful it is to know that we are saved and secure! That alone should drive out so much of the fear in our life. It that isn’t enough though read one of my favorite verse Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ Again a promise from the Lord! A promise not to harm us, a promise to prosper us, a promise of a hope and future.
The problem is as christians we often read that verse and think of our definition of harm and prosper. We go through pain, suffering or loss and say “wait a minute God you said this wouldn’t happen.” That isn’t what the verse is saying! In fact scripture tells us that we will have pain! The wonderful thing is that there is nothing in this world that can touch us when it comes to eternity. So many of the things we fear are temporary! They may sting for a while but in God’s timeline they are nothing! Romans 8:10 ‘I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
So there it is. When we seek Him, find Him, consult Him, and follow Him completely we can be delivered from whatever this world throws at us because we know it doesn’t compare to what is to come! So think of this life as a dollar coaster (which I do not like.) It may have its ups and downs and scary hard parts but if we know God has it all under control we can sit back and enjoy the ride knowing when this part of the ride is over it will lead us to something our mind can’t even begin to imagine!
Things to Think About
1.) Are you living a life of seeking after God, how? How much time in a day do you spend
seeking after him?
2.) What are two changes you can make in your life to allow this to become a bigger part of your life?
3.) What do you fear? List at least three! How do those fear reveal your lack of trusting God?
Find two verse to memorize that helps you overcome those fears.