Boasting in the Aftermath
Introduction: Praise Forged in Fear
We have a tendency to sanitize our heroes, particularly our biblical heroes. We imagine David writing his psalms in a quiet, well-lit study, with a nice cup of tea, reflecting peacefully on God’s past deliverances. But the Word of God does not permit us this pious sentimentality. The superscription to this psalm yanks us out of any such daydream and throws us headfirst into the gritty, embarrassing, and frankly bizarre reality of David’s life. "Of David. When he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him away and he departed."
Let us be clear about what is happening here. David, the anointed king, the giant-slayer, is on the run for his life from Saul. He flees to the Philistine city of Gath, the hometown of Goliath, which was a masterstroke of poor judgment. Recognized by the servants of the king, David is terrified. So what does this great man of faith do? He pretends to be a raving lunatic. He scratches on the gates like a madman and lets spit run down his beard (1 Samuel 21:13). This is not a glorious moment. This is a moment of profound humiliation, born of sheer terror. And it works. The king, disgusted, throws him out. And it is immediately after this sordid affair, with the spittle likely still drying on his beard, that David composes this magnificent psalm of praise.
This context is everything. This is not praise born on the mountaintop. This is praise forged in the crucible of fear, failure, and frantic desperation. This is not the worship of a man whose circumstances are all pleasant. It is the worship of a man who has resolved to worship God regardless of circumstance. And in this, David teaches us a fundamental lesson about the nature of true Christian praise. It is not a fair-weather disposition. It is a rugged, disciplined, theological act of the will. It is a decision to bless God when everything in your situation tempts you to curse your luck and trust in your own cleverness.
The Text
I will bless Yahweh at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul will make its boast in Yahweh;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
O magnify Yahweh with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
(Psalm 34:1-3)
A Stubborn Resolution (v. 1)
David begins with a declaration of intent, a fixed purpose of his will.
"I will bless Yahweh at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." (Psalm 34:1)
The first two words are crucial: "I will." This is not "I feel like it" or "I might if things improve." This is a decision. Christian worship is not primarily about catharsis or chasing a particular emotional state. It is a duty, a discipline, and a declaration. David binds himself with a vow. He is going to bless Yahweh. And the scope of this vow is absolute: "at all times." This includes the time when he was terrified in Gath. It includes the time when he was acting like a madman. It includes the times of sorrow and the times of joy, the times of victory and the times of humiliating escape.
If our praise is contingent on our circumstances, it is not praise of God at all; it is praise of our circumstances. But if God is God, then He is God "at all times," and therefore worthy of praise "at all times." This is the logic of robust faith. God does not change when our situation does. His worthiness is a constant, and so our praise ought to be a constant.
And this praise is not a quiet, internal sentiment. "His praise shall continually be in my mouth." It is audible. It is spoken. It is declared. Why? Because praise is testimonial. It is a witness to the goodness of God, not just for our own benefit, but for the benefit of all who hear. A silent Christian is a contradiction in terms. Our mouths were made to declare the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. David understands that his personal deliverance demands a public proclamation.
The Right Kind of Boasting (v. 2)
Next, David clarifies the content and the audience of his praise.
"My soul will make its boast in Yahweh; The humble will hear it and rejoice." (Psalm 34:2)
The natural man, after such a clever escape, would be tempted to boast in himself. "Look how shrewd I was! I outsmarted the king of Gath." But David directs the boast entirely away from himself and onto God. "My soul will make its boast in Yahweh." This is the great reorientation of the heart that the gospel accomplishes. We cease from boasting in our own strength, our own wisdom, our own righteousness, and we learn to boast only in the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 1:31, Gal. 6:14). David recognizes that his deliverance was not ultimately due to his own pathetic stratagem, but to the overruling providence of God who delivered him in spite of his fear and foolishness.
And notice who appreciates this kind of boasting. It is not the proud, the self-sufficient, or the arrogant. It is "the humble." The Hebrew here is anawim, which means the afflicted, the lowly, the oppressed, those who know they are in need. The proud hear someone boasting in God and they roll their eyes. But the humble, the person who is at the end of their rope, hears this testimony of God’s deliverance and they "rejoice." Why? Because it gives them hope. It tells them that the God who delivered David from his mess is the same God who can deliver them from theirs. God-centered testimony is a profound means of grace to the struggling believer. It is corporate encouragement.
An Invitation to Corporate Worship (v. 3)
David’s personal resolution and testimony now overflow into a corporate invitation. Praise is not meant to remain a solo activity.
"O magnify Yahweh with me, And let us exalt His name together." (Psalm 34:3)
To "magnify" God does not mean to make a small God big. God is infinitely great already. It means to make a great God appear as great as He truly is. A telescope magnifies a distant star, not by enlarging the star, but by making it rightly visible to the observer. This is what we do in worship. We are adjusting our own perspective, and the perspective of those around us, to see God in His true, magnificent proportions.
And this is a group project. "Magnify Yahweh with me." "Let us exalt His name together." The Christian life is a corporate reality. We are saved individually, but we are saved into a body, a family, a kingdom. Our worship is meant to be choral, not just a collection of solos. When we gather as the church, we are joining our voices to "exalt His name together." We are collectively lifting up the name of Jesus Christ, declaring His lordship and His worthiness above all things. David’s private experience of deliverance becomes the occasion for public, corporate adoration.
Conclusion: From a Drooling Fugitive to a Worship Leader
The journey from 1 Samuel 21 to Psalm 34 is the journey of the gospel in miniature. A man in desperate, mortal peril is delivered, not by his own righteousness or strength, but by a deliverance from God that is frankly unmerited. And the proper response to that deliverance is not self-congratulation, but God-glorification.
David’s deliverance from Abimelech is a type and a shadow of our far greater deliverance in Christ. We too were in mortal peril, slaves to sin and facing the wrath of God. We had no clever plan to save ourselves. But God, in His mercy, sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who entered into our desperate state. He did not feign madness, but He took upon Himself the full weight of our sin and shame, and He was crushed for our iniquities on the cross.
And because He has delivered us, our response must be the same as David’s. We must resolve, as an act of the will, to bless the Lord at all times. Our praise must continually be in our mouths. Our boast must be in the Lord alone, in the cross of Christ. And this boasting must be a joy and encouragement to the humble, to all those who know their need for a savior. Finally, this must drive us together, as the people of God, to magnify our great Deliverer, and to exalt His name, the name of Jesus, together. This is the logic of grace, the only sane response to salvation.