Amen. All right, we're there in Psalm 34. And of course, on Wednesday nights, we've been studying the book of Psalms together. And we've been taking one Psalm a week. And we find ourselves tonight in the 34th week of our study. We're here in Psalm 34. And if you look down in your Bibles, I want you to notice that this Psalm has a little bit longer of a superscription. If you remember when we started studying the book of Psalms, We learned about the fact that some of these psalms have what we call a superscription, and it's a writing that's above the psalm, and sometimes it gives us some context. Not always. Sometimes a superscription might simply say something like, A Psalm of David, and it identifies the author of the psalm. But sometimes they give us a little bit more detail. For example, if you're there in Psalm 34, If you look above verse number one, you should have something that reads something like this. And if you remember, we talked about the fact that these superscriptions that you find in these Psalms, they are not added there or written in there simply because they were put there by the person that printed your Bible, but these superscriptures are actually found in the original language. They were translated from the Hebrew into English, and sometimes they give us details, a lot of times they don't give us too much. This psalm gives us not only context, but it gives us a little bit of a conflict. And I'm going to spend a little bit of time talking about the superscription tonight, maybe a little longer of an introduction, but I think you need to understand why it's there so you can understand the psalm. Here we're told that the purpose for the writing of this psalm, Psalm 34, we're told it's a psalm of David. Of course, David is the author, the human author. We know the Holy Spirit is the one who authored it, but David is the human that's being used to give us this psalm. It says when he changed his behavior, before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed. I think we should begin by looking at that story and seeing some context for this psalm. Now you're there in Psalm 34, keep your place there in Psalm 34, that's our text for tonight. But go with me if you would to the book of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel 21. If you can find the 1 and 2 books in your Old Testament, they're all clustered together, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles. Find 1 Samuel 21 and I want you to notice verse number 10. Now just to give you a little bit of context, We are jumping into the life of David here, where David is just freshly and newly on the run. If you remember, David kills Goliath, David gets enlisted into the army of Saul and he becomes a superstar in that army. In fact, he goes up the ranks and he is just a great warrior. But if you remember, Saul becomes envious of David, and Saul begins to go a little crazy, and he tries to kill David, and David is now on the run. And you've got to understand the context of his life. Everything that he's ever known has been taken from him. His life has been completely flipped. And if you remember, he runs from Saul. He has no plan, nowhere to go. He goes to the priest and they feed him a little bit. They actually, he has no, even no weapon. He, if you remember, he runs away in the middle of the night. His wife, Michal, lets him out a window and then she covers for him. He has nothing. And if you remember, when he gets to the priest, he actually needs a sword for protection. And the only sword they have is the sword of Goliath, the sword that the giant Goliath had when David killed him and he takes that sword. And what David does is he flees and he flees to Gath because he is afraid of Saul. Notice there 1 Samuel 21 and verse 10. Notice what the Bible says, Now you may read that and not think too much of it. But I want you to just notice a couple of things. First of all, if you remember, David is known primarily for killing Goliath, killing the giant Goliath. And you may remember that Goliath was from Gath. So where David is running to, we see here in verse 10, David arose and fled that day. Why is he going there? He flees because he's afraid of Saul. For fear of Saul, the Bible says, and went to Achish the king of Gath. So the man who killed Goliath of Gath now is going and fleeing to Goliath, the Gittites' hometown, which is Gath. And by the way, not only is the man who killed Goliath going to the hometown of Goliath, he's also carrying with him the sword of Goliath. Alright? So just understand that. David flees to Gath because he's afraid of Saul. But in verse 11 the Bible says this, And the servants of Achash said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? So immediately they recognize David. Because you have to remember, David is pretty famous at this point. I mean, he killed Goliath the Gittite. And he's famous in Israel, he's famous in the land of the Philistines. But he's definitely well known in Gath. the hometown of Goliath. And David shows up and the Bible says they immediately recognize them. Is not this David the king of the land? They assume he's the king, but he is not the king, of course. And they say, did they not sing one to another of hymn and dances saying Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands? Now, if you remember, that song is what ended up getting David into trouble because the women were singing the song. Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousand. That's why Saul becomes envious of David. But keep in mind, and again I just want you to understand this. Why were the women singing that song? Saul had slain his thousands and David his ten thousands? Because David killed Goliath. David killed Goliath and he leads a victory against the Philistines. Now he finds himself in Goliath's hometown. And they recognize him. And you would have thought that David would have thought this through. But he gets there. They recognize him. It's not this David, the king of the land. They say he's the one that they sung about. Saul has slain his thousands. David has 10,000. Notice verse 12. And David laid up these words in his heart and was sore afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. It sounds a little echoey to me. I don't know if that's me or you. If somebody could help me, my wife or Brother Oliver, just whatever my wife says. Listen, if she says it's good, it's good. I've got ear problems. But I want you to notice that we see that David flees. We see that David fears. He fears in Gath. Why? Because they recognize him. And then I want you to notice, this is an interesting story if you're not familiar with it. Then David feigns. And he feigns to be insane. Notice verse 13. 1 Samuel 21 13. And he, David, changed his behavior before them And fain, the word fain means to pretend, he pretended himself mad. The word mad means insane. It's not a word we use a lot today, but in the UK they would say, he's gone mad. And they're referring to the fact that he's insane. The Bible tells us that David, you know, he shows up to Gath, the hometown of Goliath, the guy he killed with the sword of Goliath. They instantly recognize him and he realizes, oh no, this isn't good. He fears what's going to happen to him in Gath. So he feigns, the Bible tells us, to be insane. He feigned himself mad in their hands. Notice verse 13. And scrabbled. Who likes to play Scrabble? There's your Scrabble word for you. And scrabbled, the word scrabbled, again an older word, means to scratch or to claw or to scribble. And scrabbled on the door of the gate and let his spittle, the word spittle means saliva or drool, fall down upon his beard. So David gets there. He's got Goliath's sword. They recognize him. Instantly he thinks, this was a bad idea. And the only thing he thinks to do is to pretend that he's insane. The Bible says that he's scrabbled. I mean, at the gate, he's like scratching and scrabbling. He's allowing his spittle to, his saliva to fall down upon his beard. I won't, you know, illustrate that for you. And he's pretending to be crazy. Look at verse 14. Then said Achish unto his servant, Lo, ye see this man is mad. Wherefore then have ye brought him to me? Have I need for madmen, that ye have brought this fellow? Now I want you to notice what the king, Achish, says. He says, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman. And that wording, to play, would be something that would be used for an actor, someone doing a performance. I think Akish is indicating here that he understands that David is putting on a show. He said, have I need of madmen that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? Now that's the story. And before you begin to judge David, realize he's been living in Israel his whole life. He's been a hero for a long time now. He's married to Saul's daughter. He has the respect and the honor of the nation. But now he finds himself running for his life. He's fleeing. He's alone, his entire life is crumbling around him. Everything he knows to be true has just been turned upside down. And David, the Bible tells us here that he plays the part of a madman. He feigns himself to be mad or insane. But I would say, I think David maybe is going a little crazy. Now, the Bible says that he played the part. He famed himself. And of course, the scrabble and the spittle was definitely a show that David was putting on. But I would say that David was probably going a little crazy because of the fact that when he's running, why would he decide to run to Gath? Why would he decide to run to the town of the home hero that he killed, Goliath? Why would he show up with Goliath's sword? Why would he even do these things? David, in my opinion, might be having a mental breakdown. I mean, I think there's so much stress, so much disarray and chaos in his life. that he shows up, Goliath's hometown, with Goliath's sword, the man who everyone knows killed Goliath, thinking they're going to save him or help him, and when he realizes, oh no, this isn't going well, he begins to do outwardly what maybe was going on inwardly. I think David might be going a little crazy. And you say, well, why do you bring this up? Well, I bring it up, first of all, I didn't bring it up, the psalm did. Psalm 34, make your way back to Psalm 34 if you would, tells us that this, that is the context in which David gives us Psalm 34. Now I gave you the position of the superscription, I gave you the background and the context, I hope you understand it. But now let me explain this, and this is what I meant, the introduction's gonna be a little longer. Let me explain this, the problem with the superscription. Because the problem with the superscription is this. According to the superscription, this psalm was written on the occasion of when David fled from Saul and acted insane before King Achish, or Abimelech, of Gath. And historically, this is a reality, when David showed up to Gath, David was fearful, David was desperate, David was relying on deception. This was not a moment of great faith for David. In fact, I would say that this is probably the most humiliating story of David up to this point. I mean, up to this point, we've seen David kill a bear. We've seen David kill a lion. We've seen David Kill Goliath. We've seen David kill a hundred Philistines and take their forces. Two hundred Philistines and take their forces just to earn a bride. We've seen David be a great man, a great warrior. Now we watch him scrabbling at the gate, allowing spittle down his beard. This is a low for David. And yet, the problem is that the superscription tells us that the psalm was written under this occasion. when David is at his low, when David is humiliated, when David is fearful and desperate and relying on deception. You say, what's the problem with that? The problem with that is that if you read Psalm 34, the tone of Psalm 34 is a psalm of being joyful and confident and it's instructive. It's full of trust in God and praise of God and wisdom. So when I read the superscription, And I understand the story and I think, okay. And then I read the Psalm, immediately there's this tension because David's behavior in 1 Samuel 21 doesn't match the faith-filled tone of Psalm 34. And it would be easy to say, well, there's a mistake in the Bible, but we know there's no mistakes in the Bible. So I look at this and I think to myself, what's going on here? And just out of curiosity, I looked up some preachers preaching out of Psalm 34 to see what they said and what they did with it. Some of them just ignored the superscription and preached the psalm, which is totally fine. I mean, I think if you don't know what to say about it, you're just best not to say anything about it. Some of them try to pretend like even though David was acting one way, even though his actions are deceptive, and his actions are crazy, and this is a low in his heart, he was really trusting God, and really rejoicing in the Lord. And I just don't really buy into that. So let me give you my thought about the superscription in the psalm, and then we'll jump into the psalm, and I'll try to go through the psalm as quickly as we can. But I want you to understand what I think is happening here. When you look at the life of David, and specifically the time that he spent as a fugitive, when he runs from Saul and he's living out in the wilderness as a fugitive, The truth of the matter is that most of that time, David is acting like a faith-filled great man of God. In fact, I think that when we fall in love with David is in the wilderness. Obviously, we love David. We're excited about David when he kills Goliath. I mean, when he stands up to Goliath and he says, is there not a cause? When he stands up to Goliath and says that he's going to take off his head, we love that story. But I think we really grow some deep respect for David in the wilderness. If you remember, in the wilderness is when the 400 men who were distressed and discontented and in debt, they come to David and David turns them and trains them into the great fighting force of the ancient world, David's mighty men. In the wilderness, we see David taking time to protect his parents. Remember, he takes them to Moab to make sure that they're taken care of. In the wilderness, we see David involving himself when this town Keilah was going to be destroyed by the Philistines, though David is being Persecuted and being hunted by Saul, he does the nation of Israel a favor and he takes his 400 men and he delivers the city of Calah, though they end up turning on him. If you remember, in the wilderness is where David spares Saul's life, not once, but twice. When David famously says that he will not touch the Lord's anointing. In the wilderness is where David recovers all that the Amalekites had taken from him, if you remember that story. In the wilderness is where David executes an Amalekite who takes credit for Saul's death. And I think in the wilderness is when we see David living not just in trouble, but in triumph. Not in fear, but in faith. Not being mean, but magnanimous. I mean, I think David at his best is in the wilderness. But that's not how he started. The way he started in the wilderness was the episode we just read in Gath. with spittle on his beard, scrabbling out a gate, fearful and lonely and afraid, not knowing what the next day was going to bring. See, I think that Psalm 34 is written on the occasion of that episode in David's life. But it's not that David is telling us, while this was going on, this is what I was thinking. I think what the superscription is trying to tell us is that David, after that event, after that time in which he humiliated himself in front of the Philistines, he walked away from that thinking to himself, I can never let something like that happen again. I've had the wrong mindset. I've had the wrong fears. I've had the wrong concerns. I've been troubled. I need to have a proper mindset. I need to have a right thinking. And I think Psalm 34 was David's way of writing down some things, maybe committing to himself. I'm going to have, if I'm going to live in the wilderness, If I'm going to live in chaos, with trouble, with distress, with issues that I cannot control, then I've got to make sure that I control the one thing I can't control, my own mind. I think in Psalm 34, David outlines for us the proper mindset. In fact, I titled the sermon, The Proper Mindset for Positive Mental Health. Because I think we see David going from a mental breakdown, literally acting like an insane man, to being a wonderful, valiant, courageous man of God. And how did he do it? He changed his mind. You know the Bible says that the way we think is the way we'll be. The Bible tells us that we should renew our minds, that we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And I think in Psalm 34 we see David go from this low this bad start in the wilderness, this humiliating scribble, scrabble, saliva spittle, scared, afraid, not knowing what to do, to becoming a great man. Nothing changed in his circumstances, but something changed in his mind. So what do we see? Let me give you four thoughts quickly, as quickly as we can tonight. I realize the introduction was a little long, but let's move through this psalm as quickly as possible. Let me give you four thoughts in regards to the proper mindset for positive mental health, the proper mindset for positive mental health, because here's the truth. You and I are going to find ourselves in situations that cause us stress and anxiety. They scare us. We're not sure what's going to happen. David found himself there. He said, I can't go back to that. I can't go back to that. So what does David do? Let me give you four thoughts. Number one, if you're taking notes, I always encourage you to take notes, maybe on the back of your course so we can write down some things. Number one, the proper mindset. We must first praise the Lord. Notice how the Psalm begins. David says in Psalm 341, I will bless the Lord. Why don't you notice what he says? He doesn't just say, I will bless the Lord. That's easy. In fact, you would expect, if you read a psalm, to read those words, because a lot of psalms kind of read that way. I will bless the Lord. But I want you to notice, within the context of David just got thrown out of his hometown, David is a fugitive, David is running for his life, David had his wife take him out, help him escape out a window, and then his wife lies about him and makes him look bad. David has his father-in-law, the king of the nation, hunting him down. David has nothing going for him. And in that context, when he has his mental breakdown, where he's scrabbling at the gate, spittle on his beard, he leaves that, and he says, I can never have that happen again. How can I make sure to never let that happen again? David says, I will bless the Lord. But he doesn't just say, I will bless the Lord, period. He says, I will bless the Lord at all times. See, it's easy to bless the Lord when things are going well. But David says, I will bless the Lord at all times. What about when they're lying about you, David? I will bless the Lord at all times. What about when they're hunting you down, David? I will bless the Lord at all times. What about when things aren't going well, David? I will bless the Lord at all times. Notice the emphasis here. He says, His praise shall continually be in my mouth. You say, how can I have a proper mindset for positive mental health? You and I need to learn to bless the Lord at all times. We need to learn to have His praise continually in our mouth. Notice verse 2. He says, my soul shall make her boast. Not in myself, not in my accomplishments, not in what I've done. He says, my soul shall make her boast in the Lord. See, the truth is this. Even when you can't brag about how things are going in your life, you know what you can always brag about? God. Even when you can't praise the Lord for anything that might be going on in your life, you can always praise the Lord for His goodness, praise the Lord for His salvation, praise the Lord for His deliverance. Here David says, I'm going to go through some time. David didn't know how long he was going to spend in the wilderness. David didn't know if he was ever going to come back home. He knew that he'd been anointed, but he didn't know how things were going to play out. But David makes a decision here, and he says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. So what's the proper mindset for troublous times? What's the proper mindset for a positive mental health? Number one, we must praise the Lord. I want you to notice that we should praise the Lord continually. We should praise the Lord continually at all times. Look, our joy and our contentment should not be found in our circumstances. It should be found in something that never changes. And the Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So we should praise the Lord continually. But I want you to notice in verse 3, not only should we praise the Lord continually, we should praise the Lord corporately. Notice verse 3, O magnify the Lord with me. and let us exalt his name together. See, now David is speaking to a crowd. And when we find ourselves in the context in which the superscription tells us, we know that David runs, he's got a few people with him, he runs away from Saul, he has that whole episode in Gath, and when he comes back away from the land of the Philistines, that's when, according to the chronology in scripture, the 400 men meet him. I think right when David needed a friend, God sent him 400 friends. And I imagine that David is telling this story to those men. Remember, those men are in debt and those men are discontented. Those men are in distress. David is running because he has no choice. He's being forced to run. These men, they had nothing to stay for. They had nothing to live for. Nobody was chasing them out of town. They just said, we might as well go in the wilderness with David. And I can imagine David sitting down and looking at those men and saying, I know you're distressed. I know you're discontented. I know you're in debt. I know things haven't gone well for you. Things haven't gone well for me. But let me tell you something. I'm going to bless the Lord at all times. I'm going to praise continually. I'm going to boast in the Lord. And we need to do it together. He says in verse 3, oh, magnify the Lord with me. and let us exalt His name together. See, if you and I are going to have the proper mindset, we not only need to praise the Lord continually, but we need to praise the Lord corporately. You say, what does that mean? That means the best thing you can do when things aren't going well is to get around other people that love God. It's to get around other Christians that love the Lord and praise the Lord together. Speak of the Lord together. Magnify the Lord, David says, with me. Let us exalt His name together. Let me highlight for you there that David says magnify. In Philippians 1.20, you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says Philippians 1.20, the apostle Paul said, whether it be by life or by death. David says, O magnify the Lord. Paul said, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body. The Bible teaches us the idea that we should magnify the Lord. Your life should be like a magnifying glass that makes God. What does a magnifying glass do? It takes something that's small and it makes it bigger. It takes something that's small and it makes it clear. The Bible says that my life and your life ought to be a magnifying glass that magnifies the Lord, that as people see us and they see our lives and they see our responses to the difficulties of life, that it would make God bigger and clearer for them. This is why the Bible says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, not glorify you and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So your life and my life should be a magnifying glass. We should make God bigger and clearer. And how do we do that? We have to praise Him. Praise Him continually, praise Him corporately. You got to get around people that want to praise God with you. You need to get around people that want to speak of God with you. The Bible says that iron sharpeneth iron. We need to be around people that want to magnify the Lord. We want to magnify the Lord. To have the proper mindset, we must praise the Lord. Hebrews 13, 15. You have to turn there. Just you stay in Psalms. But in Hebrews 13, 15, the Bible says this, By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. we should offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. Not just when things are going well, continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. See, just giving thanks to God is a praise of God. You say, I don't know what to praise God for. Well, you woke up this morning, didn't you? You got out of bed this morning, didn't you? Your lungs breathed something this morning, didn't you? If you're saved, you always have something to thank God for. Praise is a choice of mindset. We should do it purposely and we should do it perpetually. And I'm telling you that a principle for a proper mindset, for positive mental health, like all that alliteration, is to praise the Lord. But I want you to notice the second thing that David tells us to do. Not only do we see David here coming out of a really traumatic and embarrassing situation, and I don't think that David was thinking these things while he was going through that, but I think when David left, he said, I can never go back there again. I can never go to that dark place again. I can never let my mind take me there again. So I'm going to praise the Lord. I'm going to praise Him continually, and I'm going to praise Him corporately. But I want you to notice the second thing that David does with his mindset. Not only does he praise the Lord, I want you to notice number two, he seeks the Lord. Look at verse four. I saw the Lord, David declares. I saw the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. Look at verse 5. He says, and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. He said, when they looked unto him, who's the him there? That's the Lord. He said, I sought the Lord. Remember, he's talking to a group, because he says, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. He's talking to a group, and he says, when they, that group, looked on him, the Lord, he says, and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. That word lightened means that their burdens were taken away. You know what Jesus said? Jesus says to lay our burdens upon him. Cast your care upon me, he says. The Bible tells us to cast our care upon him, for he careth for you. He says that we can lay our burdens on him. And they were lightened, and they were not ashamed. The word ashamed there means disappointed. When they came to God, God did not disappoint them. The truth is this, when you and I draw nigh to the Lord, he does not disappoint. Notice verse six, he says, he says, this poor man cried. I think that's David talking about himself. He's looking back at that story and he says, that was a poor sap back there. That was a mess back there. I mean, if I was David, I'd be thinking to myself, that happened in Phil, I hope that story never gets back to my hometown. I mean, when David went to Gath, I mean, he killed Goliath. People like to, you know, there's tabloids, there's no new thing under the sun. People like to talk about famous people and people that are well-known. And David is someone that is in the eye view of people. If I was David, I'd probably be thinking to myself, I really hope nobody tells that story back home. I really hope nobody back home hears about when I scrabbled the gate and I let the spittle fall in my beard. I'm sure David was probably not too happy when this was documented in Holy Scripture. David looks back at that time and he says, that poor sap, he says, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. See, the proper mindset is to praise the Lord. The proper mindset is to seek the Lord. You say, why should we seek the Lord? First of all, because He hears our cry. Look at it again there, verse four. I sought the Lord and He heard me. Look at it in verse six. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him. Not only does He hear our crying, but He helps our troubles. Look at verse four again. He says, I sought the Lord and He heard me, but that's not it. It wasn't just that He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. Why did David go to Gath? Because he was afraid. Why did David act insane? Because he was afraid. He said, but when I turned to God, not only did he hear me, he delivered me from all my fears. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him. Look at the words here, verse 6, and saved him out of all his troubles. Why should we seek the Lord? Because he hears our cry. Why should we seek the Lord? Because he helps our troubles. But notice in verse seven, why should we seek the Lord? Because he hedges us with protection. Look at verse seven. This is within the context of seek the Lord. Why should we seek the Lord? Here's why, David says, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. David said, not only does God hear our cries, not only does God help our troubles, but God hedges us around with protection. He says, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth him. Sometimes people ask the question, does the Bible teach that there are guardian angels? And I believe that this psalm teaches that there are. He says, I'm sure David is looking back at that story of himself and Gath, and he says, there must have been some guardian angels on extra duty. I mean, there are some guardian angels that got overtime that day. Because I was making a mess of things and I ran to the worst place and I put myself in the worst situation and I have to act insane. Not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. Here Jesus said, hey be careful how you treat the little ones because he says their angels. That seems like possessive. Like there's an angel assigned to them. It seems to me that maybe God has angels assigned to every believer and their angel, he says, one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father. David's guardian angels that day must have been on duty with that little episode in Gath. David said, how do I keep my mind right? He says the proper mindset is a mindset of praise. And the proper mindset is a mindset of seeking the Lord. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says in Jeremiah 29, 13, you don't have to turn there. It says, and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. You know that seeking the Lord brings real answers? It's not empty effort. God says draw nigh to me and I'll draw nigh to you. God says, call unto me, and I will answer thee, and I will show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. What you and I need during times of anxiety, during times of stress, during times of difficulty, when it seems like the whole thing is just falling apart. We need the proper mindset. What is it? A mindset of praise the Lord. A mindset of seek the Lord. But I want you to notice the third thing that David tells us that he does here. Not only does he praise the Lord, not only does he seek the Lord, notice in verse 8, we're going to come back to verse 8, he says, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts in Him. We're going to come back to that in a minute, but look at verse 9. He says, Oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints. You know what David says? David says the proper mindset to get you through troublous times is not only praising the Lord, not only seeking the Lord, but he says also we must fear the Lord. It's interesting to me that today there are people who teach against this. They say, you don't have to fear the Lord. Well, David says, oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints. For there is no want to them that fear Him. You say, why would you want to fear the Lord? Here's the thing. The Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. To tell somebody you don't have to fear the Lord is to tell them you don't need wisdom and you don't need knowledge. Because the only way to get wisdom and the only way to get knowledge is to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the truth is this, that God knows, you say, well, why would God tell us to fear Him? Here's why God would tell us to fear Him, because God knows that we're going to fear something. God says, I'd rather you fear me and not fear everything else. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, listen to this, David, and of a sound mind. When you and I fear God, we don't have to fear everything else. We don't have to be in fear of anyone else. We can have the power and the love that comes from the wisdom of God, and we can have a sound mind. The proper mindset is to fear the Lord. O fear the Lord, O ye saints. O ye His saints. You say, why would I want to fear the Lord? Well, there's a few reasons. I'd like you to notice them here in our Psalms. First of all, notice the provision of the fear of the Lord. He says in verse 9, O fear ye the Lord, O ye saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. The word want means you're not lacking in anything. Remember Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I shall not lack. There is no want to them that fear him. When you and I fear the Lord, God says, I may not give you everything you want. We use the word want like what we desire. He says, but you're never going to want, which the older use of that word is you're never going to lack. He says, for there is no want to them that fear him. Notice verse 10, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Here's what David is saying. David is saying, even a lion, even the strongest of animals, even the king of the jungle sometimes goes hungry. Now don't miss the context. Don't miss the context. David is not writing this from a palace with a spread of food in front of him. David is writing this from a cave. David is writing this on the run. David is writing this, he doesn't know where the next meal is going to come from, but he knows he's gonna fear the Lord, and he knows that there is no want to them that fear the Lord. He knows that the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. You know what David knows? David knows that every good gift, it comes from above, from the Father of lights. He knows that when the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. So David says we should fear the Lord because of the provision of the fear of the Lord. But notice in verse 11 we see the instruction of the fear of the Lord. Again, today people are teaching, you don't need to teach people to fear the Lord. Well Psalm 34 11 says, We see the provision of the fear of the Lord. We see the instruction of the fear of the Lord. We ought to teach people to fear the Lord. We ought to remind ourselves to fear the Lord. You say, why? Because not only the provision, not only the instruction, but also the direction. Look at verse 12. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days, that he may see good? Doesn't that sound good? Doesn't verse 12 sound good? I think a man on the run in a cave with a ragtag group of, excuse me, losers following him around, he says, What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? He says, but you know what the fear of the Lord does? The fear of the Lord not only gives provision, not only gives instruction, but it also gives direction. He says, when a man fears the Lord, David says, verse 13, he says, it'll keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile, He says, depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. See, sometimes we depart from evil and we do good because of God's provision, because of God's goodness. Sometimes we depart from evil and we do good because of God's instruction, because we've been taught, maybe even from a child, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. But you know, sometimes we keep our tongues from evil and the lips from speaking guile. Sometimes we depart from evil and do good and seek peace and pursue it. for one reason, the fear of the Lord. You say, what is there to fear? Isn't fear reverence and awe of God? Yes, it's all that, but it's also this, a fear that he's going to correct you. So not only do we see the provision of fear, and the instruction of fear, and the direction of fear, but we see the correction of fear. Look at verse 15. He says, That's the fear of the Lord. To cut off the remembrance from them from the earth. David says, What will keep my mind sound It's not just praising the Lord continually and corporately, although that's true, it's not just seeking the Lord and seeking him out because he hears and he helps and he hedges, but he said, it's also having a healthy fear for the Lord. Not just the provision that wisdom and instruction bring, not just the instruction, not just the direction, but just a healthy fear of the correction of God. God is a heavenly father, and as a good heavenly father, he chasteneth whom he loveth. So David says, that'll keep me sound. That will actually produce a positive mental health outcome in my mind while things are falling apart. To have the proper mindset, I must have the praise of the Lord, and I must have, I must seek the Lord, and I must fear the Lord. But then there's the last thing, and we'll look at it quickly. Not only does David say for a proper mindset, we should praise the Lord, and seek the Lord and fear the Lord. Actually, let me give you one more verse on that fear of the Lord. You don't have to turn here. Proverbs 14, 27. The fear of the Lord. People act like, oh, fearing the Lord, this is a bad thing, it's a negative thing. Wait a minute. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, the Bible says. To depart from the snares of death. See, the fear of the Lord will bring life. It brings life-giving wisdom and protection. So we see the fear of the Lord. Then lastly, Remember, this is David. Not sitting in a palace, not being victorious, not being rich and famous and wealthy. This is David when he's lost everything. He's lost everyone. He's running for his life. I think he even had some sort of a mental breakdown because I cannot explain how somebody as smart as David, why they would show up in enemy territory when he's a war hero for the other side, not just any town, but Gath, not just with any sword, but the sword of Goliath. I think he was having some issues up here. And his behavior was just reflecting his outward scrabble and spittle was just be, it was just reflecting what was going on inside. And David said, I can't ever go back there again. And he did it. He was magnanimous. He was triumphant. He was helping, and he was loving, and he was courageous. He was generous. How'd he do it? Well, his circumstances didn't change, but his praise did. He began to seek the Lord. He began to fear the Lord. And then number four, I want you to notice, David tells us here in Psalm 34, the proper mindset. Not only must we praise the Lord, not only must we seek the Lord, not only must we fear the Lord, but we must also trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. Why? Well, notice here several reasons. First of all, because God delivers the hurting. Look at verse 17. He says, We'll come back to that in a minute. Look at verse 19. Why should we trust the Lord because He delivers the hurting? You say, but can God really save many of the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers Him out of them all? Well, here's the thing, even if your affliction causes you to be martyred, even if your affliction causes you to be put to death, when you get to heaven, didn't God deliver you out of them all? Why should we trust the Lord? Because He delivers the hurting. Why should we trust the Lord? Because He draws near to the humble. Look at it again in verse 18. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. I think David had a broken heart at this time in his life. And put yourself in David's shoes. Never done anything wrong to Saul. Never said an ill word of Saul. He had done nothing but be loyal and faithful and helpful to that man. And because of all his good actions, Saul turns on him, tries to kill him, takes everything from him. I think David has a broken heart, but David reminds us here that the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. You know that the Bible says that God draws near to the humble. And we're going to talk about this on Sunday night with Adonijah as well. And I might just preach a whole sermon on this. But you know, what's interesting to me is the way that you and I can become attractive to God is through humility. The Bible says that God resists at the prowl. When we exalt ourselves, when we're arrogant, when we're big and bad, the Bible says God resists that. But the Bible tells us that the Lord is nigh, He's near to them that are of a broken heart. He's save and touch that be of a contrite spirit. God loves a humble individual. Why should we trust the Lord? Because He delivers the hurting. Why should we trust the Lord? Because He draws near the humble. Why should we trust the Lord? Because He defends the harmed. Look at verse 20. He keepeth all His bones, not one of them is broken. By the way, that could be a messianic prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you remember on the cross, none of His bones were broken. In fact, when they went to break the bones of the other two there, they did not break his bones. Why? Because God defends the harm. He keepeth all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Notice in verses 21 and 22, not only did he deliver the hurting, not only does he draw near to the humble, not only does he defend the harm, but I want you to notice that God destroys the hostile. Look at verse 21. Evil shall slay the wicked. We see that God delivers and God draws and He defends and He destroys. This is how David kept his mind right. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says in Isaiah 26.3, it says, Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust brings mental and emotional peace. It gives us a settled mind. And maybe you haven't been there, maybe you'll never be there, but I think that we all are going to, at some point in our lives, come to the place where we're just at our wit's end. We just feel like we're going crazy. We don't understand what's happening and why it's happening, and we don't know what to do about it. But David tells us here, David tells us, I was there. David says, in fact, I wish you didn't know about it. I wish it wasn't documented in the Holy Scriptures for all of eternity. But David says, there was a time in my life when I was so in disarray and just so confused that I, David, the slayer of Goliath, I mean, people that don't know the Bible know David slew Goliath. I mean, people, even sports announcers, when some team comes out that nobody expects to beat some big team, they'll say, it's a David and Goliath story. I mean, David says, everybody knows about me and Goliath. And I showed up at Goliath's hometown with Goliath's sword. I was going a little crazy. He said, I scrabbled and I spittled. How do you get out of it, David? He said, I realized that I need to praise the Lord continually. I need to praise the Lord corporately. I need to get around people that are praising God. I realized that I need to seek the Lord actively. Why? Because God hears our cries and he helps our troubles and he hedges us with protection. It's not vain to seek the Lord. He hears and he answers. He said, I got a healthy fear of the Lord, of his provision, instructions, his direction, and his, yes, his correction. And he said, I learned to trust the Lord, even in the wilderness, even in the cave. Why? Because he delivers the hurting. He draws near to the humble. He defends the harm. He destroys the hostile. And I want you to notice that David gives us an invitation. I just want you to see it. It's the one verse we didn't cover. We'll cover it right now. Psalm 34, 8. This is a very well-known verse. In fact, it's quoted in the New Testament by Peter. We won't look at that. But notice Psalm 34, verse 8. David says, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. When David says these words, taste and see, the idea is, and again, keep in mind, he's in the wilderness. He just got done with probably the worst, lowest, most humiliating event of his life. He's now in the wilderness. These 400 men who are in debt and discontented and distressed have come to him. And I think David is preaching the psalm to them. And he's telling them. Look, you need to praise the Lord and seek the Lord and fear the Lord and trust the Lord. And I know that maybe you're not trusting what I'm saying. And he says to them, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. You know what he was saying? He was saying, why don't you try it? Try it. Try God, he won't disappoint. In the New Testament, Jesus said it this way. When people would come to him and they would say, why should we believe in you? Why should we follow you? He would say, come and see, come and see. Here David says, taste and see. He says, why don't you try praising the Lord? Choose to worship over worry. Why don't you try to seek the Lord? Turn to God, not away from Him. Why don't you try the fear of the Lord? Live with reverence, not panic. Why don't you trust the Lord? Rest in His strength, not in your own. Now David didn't get this right the first time. He ran, and he panicked, and he failed. but he learned that God delivers and protects and restores. And his invitation to us at our lowest is simple, taste and see that the Lord is good. So why don't we try praising instead of panicking, seeking instead of scrambling, fearing instead of freaking out, trusting instead of trembling. Try the Lord when things aren't going well. And David promises, he says, that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. Lord, we thank you for this psalm. It has a confusing superscription. It tells us that it was written at the time or connected to the event. when David is probably at his lowest. And yet, the Psalm is full of praise and confidence and trust. And I think what we're seeing here is what David learned during that process. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to learn those lessons as well. Help us to get the proper mindset for positive mental health. I think sometimes we can all have a little bit of a mental breakdown. And we need to just put our minds on the Lord. Thank you for this lesson. Thank you for this story. Thank you for this psalm. In the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Well, God bless you. Thank you for being here this evening. We're going to have