The Same But Different
Psalm 34
A line in a movie my mother sometimes quoted from 70 or 80 years ago was, "He ain't crazy Ma, just different."
Sometimes we think that that isn't EXACTLY likewhat happened to me so it's not the same. You wouldn't understand. For some this is how different people think when going about seeking counseling. While someone experiencing events in similar circumstances can be very helpful in understanding sometimes it just requires sharing with someone who is willing to listen.
This psalm is prefaced with a very unique heading.
A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.
Psalms 34:1 GNV
We might wonder why would anyone want to put that as a title for a psalm praising the Lord. Changed his behaviour? Look, He acted like he was a mad man foaming at the mouth and acting really weird. (1 Samuel 21). It might be like Buzz Aldrin telling about being on the moon. When people looked at him with blank faces he replied, "I guess you had to be there."
But throughout Psalm 34 the focus is on the Lord, not David and what he had done. He writes:
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The Angel of the Lord pitcheth round about them, that fear him, and delivereth them.
Psalms 34:6 - 7 GNV
And his view is inviting others...
Taste ye and see, how gratious the Lord is: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Psalms 34:8 GNV
What a reminder that it isn't what we've done, but more, so much more who God is. Though we may not see that as "what we've been through", whether for our own stupidity, our own missing God's direction, or whatever we have been through no matter how difficult it is to think "I just can't face God", He, and He alone can and should be praised. Sometimes we may be embarassed, ashamed,or maybe mad, even angry at God, maybe even failing to see Him in anything. It is so easy to praise Him, honor Him when all seems well, Oh to see Him even in what seems like abandonment. Read this psalm, Psalm 34 for yourself. See the things in your life where you are whether you feel like it or not. Ask Him to show Himself. Don't miss His replied. Sometimes we may still not think He hears or cares We miss what He has for us because He doesn't answer how we expect to be answered. No doubt Jesus learned this psalm and in some hard times cried it out to His father.
The Lord is near unto them that are of a contrite heart, and will save such as be afflicted in Spirit. Great are the troubles of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
Psalms 34:18 - 19 GNV