At All Times — Including Right Now

Psalm 34:1, 4, 18 (Background: 1 Samuel 21:10-15)

Right now, at the start of this morning, I want to ask you one thing.

What is in your heart as you begin this day? Is there heaviness? Fear? A problem from yesterday that is still unresolved today? If so, this Word is especially for you.

Look at the superscription of Psalm 34. "A psalm of David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away." This is not simply background information. It is this psalm's astonishing secret.

When David wrote this psalm, 1 Samuel 21 shows us his condition. He was Israel's hero — the man who killed Goliath. But now he is a fugitive. To save his life, he is acting mad before a foreign king. He is scratching at the gate. Drool is running down his beard. This is where David is when he writes this psalm.

And the first words from his mouth are these.

"I will bless the LORD at all times."

The word "at all times" in the Hebrew is בְּכָל-עֵת (b'khol-'et). The word עֵת (et) does not mean merely the passing of time. It means a specific appointed moment — a particular, defined season. So b'khol-'et carries this weight: "In every appointed season — in the good times, in the bad times, in this season of humiliation, in this very moment when the drool is on my beard."

The "at all times" David speaks of is not the comfortable times. It includes this time — the time of drool, the time of running, the time when no one recognises who he truly is.

Then what enabled David to do this? Look at verse 4.

"I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears."

The Hebrew root of "I sought" is not a casual prayer, but an intense, desperate, whole-hearted pursuit. David was letting drool run down his beard — and simultaneously running with his whole being towards God. In that wretched situation, the one thing he was holding on to was God alone.

And God answered. He delivered him from all his fears. Not by immediately changing the circumstances. But by being present with him in the middle of those fears.

Verse 18 ties all of this together.

"The LORD is near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

The Hebrew for "broken-hearted" is נִשְׁבְּרֵי-לֵב (nishb'rei-lev). Lev is heart, the centre of a person. Nishb'rei means shattered, smashed to pieces. Not simply someone who is sad or struggling. Someone who is completely broken apart. And it is precisely to that person that God draws near. He does not withdraw. He comes closer.

David did not learn this in a classroom. He discovered it in his body, in his soul, in the moment when the drool was on his beard.

Take this Word with you into this day.

Praise is not something you do after things get better. Praise is the act of holding on to God in the middle of things. David's praise was not a song sung after rescue. It was the means of rescue.

Today, whatever door is closed before you, whatever fear lies ahead, whatever humbling place you find yourself in — make this your confession.

"I will bless the LORD at all times. Including right now."

God is near to the shattered heart. He has not drawn back. Not today. Not right now.

Amen.