Those who look to him are radiant
Psalms 34:5-7 - As believers, we should always try to reflect God’s glory to those we encounter each and every day.
Image of a man looking reverently to God, created by ChatGPT AI.
“Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”
Psalms 34:5-7 NIV
David was in top form when he wrote this psalm, which is titled “A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.” This situation is detailed in 1 Samuel, and after this feigned craziness, he went to a cave (at Adullam) where he was joined by other desperate men. All these shenanigans were prompted by King Saul’s distrust of David’s popularity (see painting below) with his subjects after the young man slays Goliath. It’s thought that David wrote and sang this psalm in that cave as a way to inspire them.
David before Saul, Painting, Oil on Canvas. Jusepe Leonardo, ca. 1600s. Via Wikimedia.
This is another psalm written as an acrostic — each verse starts with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet (except one, pronounced waw). Why would David go through the mental gymnastics to write a song as an acrostic? To encourage the men with him to remember the words.
Much of the psalm is written in first person (“I”), but in verse 5 David suddenly switches to the third person (“they”). By doing this, David is showing that this isn’t just an experience that has happened to him — most of the other men with him also know with unshakable certainty that they can place their trust in God and receive His help.
“Those who look to him (God) are radiant”. Believers envision God’s glory as intensely bright, shining light, and here David is saying that all who trust God reflect that radiance. The Hebrew word for “radiant” — נָהַר or nāhar — is also used in Isaiah 60:5. In that verse, it’s describing the glow of a mother’s face when her children, given up for lost, return.
“Their faces are never covered with shame”. These men would not be ashamed; God would not forsake their trust, and He would provide them with confidence and eventual vindication.
At this point (in verse 6), David jumps back to the describing his own personal experiences. He is the “poor man” who “called” out to God, and God quickly answered! He had acted like a crazy person in the midst of the Philistines to save his own life; David most assuredly felt like the “poor man”. But God heard David’s cry for help and “saved him out of all his troubles.” What a powerful personal testimony!
David Guzik of Enduring Word had this to say about today’s final verse (Psalm 34:7):
The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him: David narrowly escaped death among the Philistines. He was still a hunted, wanted man with King Saul determined to kill him. A rag-tag group of desperate losers gathered to him at Adullam. David was at a genuine low point; yet he was still filled with praise and trust, even knowing that God had an angelic camp all around him.
i. The triumph and joy of this song is so clear that it is easy to forget the life context of the psalm. “It is for people who find themselves at the absolute low point in life, which is where David was. Or find themselves between a rock, which in this case was King Saul, and a hard place, which was King Achish. It is for you when everything seems against you.” (Boice)
ii. David’s protection was real, even if it was invisible. He could not see the angelic presence around him, but it was real. Many times in the Old Testament, the angel of the LORD was an actual material appearance of Yahweh Himself (as in Judges 13). We don’t know if David meant an angelic being sent by God, or God Himself present with the believer. Both are true.
iii. “The fugitive, in his rude shelter in the cave of Adullam, thinks of Jacob, who, in his hour of defenceless need, was heartened by the vision of the angel encampment surrounding.” (Maclaren)
iv. Psalm 34:7 is one passage that gives support to the thought of a guardian angel for everyone, or perhaps at least for believers. One can’t say that this passage proves the idea, but it is consistent with it. “Let the consideration of these invisible guardians, who are also spectators of our actions, at once restrain us from evil, and incite us to good.” (Horne)
Looking back at the miraculous ways God kept Barb and I safe and sound in the midst of our years of disbelief, we know for certain that He — or one of His “invisible guardians” — was there to try to “restrain us from evil, and incite us to good.”
As believers, we should always try to reflect God’s glory to those we encounter each and every day.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
My Gracious and Loving God, I thank You that I know that I am always able to receive Your protection, Your power, and Your comfort when I call out to You. Your goodness, mercy, and grace are always around me, and I pray that You continue to send Your comforting love to protect me from the evil one. I look forward to the day that You bring me into Your kingdom eternally for Your praise and glory. AMEN.