The Lord will rescue his servants
Psalms 34:19-22 - David’s message from God was a shining beacon of hope.
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“The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.”
Psalms 34:19-22 NIV
We’ve visited Psalm 34 before, although not these specific verses. It is an interesting psalm for several reasons: it’s written as a Hebrew acrostic (“a series of lines or verses in which the first, last, or other particular letters when taken in order spell out a word, phrase, etc.”), and it takes place just after David pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away. In case you’re wondering why David would go through the mental exercise of writing this as an acrostic, it was most likely designed to encourage learning and memorization by those who heard it.
In this verse, Daniel is speaking to a group of equally desperate men, all gathered with him in a cave at Adullam. Daniel frequently calls upon the Lord to calm his fears in this type of situation, and like any good leader he is passing along his wisdom and trust in the Lord to his worried men.
David knows that he — a very righteous man — is not without troubles in his life. Without David’s many troubles, the Bible would be missing a lot of interesting stories like those found in 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, and 1 Kings! He comes right out and tells the men the truth, that “the righteous person may have many troubles”. Then he immediately reassures them that “the Lord delivers him from them all” and even goes so far as to tell them “he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken”.
I found that reference to “bones, not one of them will be broken” to sound somewhat odd, but fortunately this commentary from Enduring Word explained it well:
David could look at his own body and see that though he had endured many battles, accidents, and hardships — yet not one bone was broken.
i. According to the Gospel of John, David spoke not only of his own experience. He also spoke prophetically of the Messiah to come, Jesus Christ. John explained that the Roman soldiers who supervised the crucifixion of Jesus came to His body on the cross, expecting to hasten and guarantee His death in the traditional way — breaking the legs of the crucified victim. When they looked carefully, they learned that Jesus was already dead and they pierced His side to confirm it. John wrote, for these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken” (John 19:36).
ii. “Christ’s bones were in themselves breakable, but could not actually be broken by all the violence in the world, because God had fore-decreed, a bone of him shall not be broken.” (Fuller, cited in Spurgeon)
Isn’t that amazing? David’s not just telling the men about his personal experiences, but making a prophecy of what would occur during the crucifixion of Jesus!
The next verse (“Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned”) is a description of divine justice. Evil acts lead to the destruction of those who commit them. In other words, sin has consequences! Moving forward in time to the New Testament era in which we are living, this is still an ultimate truth. Romans 6:23 hammers home this point: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This verse also points out that God judges and condemn “the foes of the righteous”. To believers, it can sometimes feel that the world is against us in many ways, and in some parts of the world, persecution against Christians is so bad that people are murdered for their belief and the “foes of the righteous” are never brought to earthly justice. We can rest assured that the persecutors will receive their justice from God.
Finally, David repeats the important message that “The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned”. For the group of anxious men David was speaking to, this was something they needed to hear repeatedly.. and believe. Huddled in that dark cave, probably lit only by small, smoky fires or torches, and knowing that they were marked men, David’s message from God was a shining beacon of hope.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Lord, as your righteous servant, I know that I will face many troubles in my earthly life. My faith in You gives me the assurance that I will be delivered from all of the trials and tribulations I will experience. Knowing that You are always with me, I have the confident strength and courage to conquer any troubles that I may face. I thank You always for your faithfulness and deliverance from evil, AMEN.