This post is based on a message from Pastor Todd Cosenza, given at Hope Church on Sunday, February 4, 2024. Click the link at the bottom of the page to watch the entire message.
The Word of God is filled with promises — it holds at least 8,810 promises that God made to us. If He fulfilled one promise per day, it would take over 24 years to get through them all just one time. When we go through life walking with God, we realize He fulfills many promises every day! The Psalms that David wrote are filled with many promises. David praised God for the power of His promises.
In Psalm 34:1, King David has a flow of worship and praise because of God’s perfect faithfulness to His promises:
“I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.” (Psalms 34:1 NIV)
David has a testimony in verse 2 to share of God’s goodness, so those who are hurting can get encouraged and believe with him.
“I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.” (Psalms 34:2 NIV)
David puts a call out for all of God’s people to join in and taste of God’s goodness, to experience God.
“Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together.” (Psalms 34:3 NIV)
Why was David so full of praise and testimony? David sought the Lord because he had difficult circumstances coming against him, and fear was building in his heart. God delivered him from all his fears.
“I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalms 34:4 NIV)
Think about it — the Lord delivered him from all his fears. God didn’t deliver David from what he feared; he delivered David from the fear of what was coming against him. God didn’t deliver David from Goliath (the giant), but from the fear of Goliath. All the other men in the army were afraid of Goliath. There were likely 3,000 soldiers who all were afraid of one large man, but not David! God delivered David from the fear of Goliath so he could fight Goliath! This is a promise that God has given to His people. He wants to deliver us from the fear of giants so we can defeat the giants in our life.
Looking to God means we are free to live without shame. In the next verse, David explicitly says:
“Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.” (Psalms 34:5 NIV)
The word radiant in Hebrew means “a flow, a stream.” This verse means that those who look to the Lord have a flow of glory, a stream of God’s favor and radiance coming from them. Jesus promised that there will be a river of living water flowing from whoever believes in Him (see John 7:37-39). When we believe God for His promises, it’s not about what we can get from Him, but how God wants a river of life to flow out of us, touching the lives of others.
Shame and fear and anxiety cannot cover us when we are believing God’s Word and living in that flow. Consider this — a flowing river cannot be covered with litter because the flow of the current will sweep away the trash. You can’t easily plug a flowing river! As we seek the Lord and continually live in His presence, all of the shame, guilt, and fear that the enemy may try to throw on us will get washed away. God’s people have to get back to flowing in God’s current again — living in the current of God and flowing in the power of the Holy Spirit. That only comes by believing God’s promises!
In the last verse, David teaches us that God saves us out of our trouble, not necessarily from trouble.
“This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles.” (Psalms 34:6 NIV)
Jesus never promised to save us from trouble; in fact, He said in this life we would have trouble. God gave us these promises so we would be saved out of troubles. God gave us His promises because He doesn’t want our life dominated or defined by troubles. He’s encouraging and challenging us — hold onto a promise, speak it out and stand on it, even to the point that everyone around you might get tired of hearing it. Remind yourself of His promises. Remind those around you — your spouse, your kids, and especially remind the Lord. He loves to hear us speak His Word back to Him!
For every situation we are struggling with, God has a promise for us to believe! As we do, we will be filled with praise and testimony like David was. Life and joy will flow from us as we take hold of God’s promises by faith, and see Him work on our behalf!
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