Scripture reference;

Psalm 34 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Psalm 34

The LORD Delivers the Righteous

Concerning David, when he pretended to be insane in the presence of Abimelech, ^{(A) [a]} who drove him out, and he departed.

¹ I ^[b] will praise the LORD at all times;
His praise will always be on my lips. ^(B)

² I will boast in the LORD; ^(C)
the humble will hear and be glad. ^(D)

³ Proclaim with me the LORD’s greatness; ^(E)
let us exalt His name together. ^(F)

⁴ I sought the LORD, and He answered me
and delivered me from all my fears. ^(G)

⁵ Those who look to Him are ^[c] radiant with joy; ^(H)
their faces will never be ashamed. ^(I)

⁶ This poor man cried, and the LORD heard [him]
and saved him from all his troubles. ^(J)

⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear Him, and rescues them. ^(K)

⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good. ^(L)
How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him! ^(M)

⁹ Fear the LORD, you His saints,
for those who fear Him lack nothing. ^(N)

¹⁰ Young lions ^[d] lack food and go hungry, ^(O)
but those who seek the LORD
will not lack any good thing. ^(P)

¹¹ Come, children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD. ^(Q)

¹² Who is the man who delights in life,
loving a long life to enjoy what is good? ^(R)

¹³ Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from deceitful speech. ^(S)

¹⁴ Turn away from evil and do what is good; ^(T)
seek peace and pursue it. ^(U)

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and His ears are open to their cry for help. ^(V)

¹⁶ The face of the LORD is set
against those who do what is evil, ^(W)
to erase all memory of them from the earth. ^(X)

¹⁷ The righteous ^[e] cry out, and the LORD hears,
and delivers them from all their troubles. ^(Y)

¹⁸ The LORD is near the brokenhearted;
He saves those crushed in spirit. ^(Z)

¹⁹ Many adversities come to the one who is righteous,
but the LORD delivers him from them all. ^(AA)

²⁰ He protects all his bones;
not one of them is broken. ^(AB)

²¹ Evil brings death to the sinner,
and those who hate the righteous will be punished. ^(AC)

²² The LORD redeems the life of His servants,
and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished. ^(AD)

I crawled in bed around 1:00 in the morning after a 3 day long adventure. My husband told me that he wanted me to write about our experience. Truth be told, I probably would have wrote “a little” about it even if he hadn’t made this unusual request. So here goes:

Psalm 34

The LORD Delivers the Righteous

Concerning Theresa, when she pretended…no, wait…when she actually was temporarally  insane in the presence of her family (including a sweet 15 year old “member” of her family),who patiently endured the entire spectacle, and responded by loving her and speaking kind and tender words of encouragement to her through it all and also for the remainder of the family trip.

Friday, December 17th my 22 year old son graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia, Missouri. He now has a Masters Degree in Business Administration. He also starts his new job in a few days.  He will be an Account Administrator of Fixed Income Operations with an investment advisor firm in Missouri. We were so proud. The university is a 7 hour drive from where we live. We decided to make hotel reservations for two nights and go up there Thursday. My parents came up on Friday. The big night came and we were there somewhere in the city (who knows where), but not at the graduation. We got lost on our way and missed the whole thing. Below are two facebook statuses where I explained to my friends what happened.

“Actually it was a big mess. My parents drove up, too. We all had a bite to eat, and then I drove my son over there, because he had to be there an hour early. I dropped him off and was going back to get my husband and the girls, and let my parents follow me. It was dark, and Columbia is a difficult city to navigate. I got lost. Then as I was frantically trying to turn around in a parking lot I backed into a parked truck. Then I finally made it back to my family, and we headed to the graduation and I got lost again. Mom and Dad some how made it there just in time. I was almost in two more wrecks, and finally pulled into a Dairy Queen parking lot (the graduation was over by then), and I just sat there and cried. Can you believe it? I drove over 7 hours to see my son graduate and missed the whole thing! 😦 “

“Just pray that we will have a nice (and safe) trip home.The worst part was that while I was lost I got frantic, because I was in a big strange city after dark and I can’t see well at night, and they have U-turns here (they are against the law in our state so I had made Left turns at lights that were really u-turns…was so scared and ended up raising my voice at my daughter who was only trying to help me, and made her cry…all of this in front of my daughter’s friend (I pride myself as being one of those moms who does not raise her voice at her kids…well I did a few times with my son when he was in his teens/and even after he turned 20, but basically really try to be a nice polite lady). Then when we were safely in a parking lot who knows where I broke down and cried and cried…in front of everybody. I have probably only yelled and made my daughter cry 3 or 4 times in her whole life, but it wasn’t even her fault. I hate guilt. Luckily I had a bottle of nerve pills the doctor in the emergency room gave me last May. It said on the bottle that I could take 1-4 tablets every 6 hours, so I took 3 or 4 and went to bed. I woke up and my eyes were so swollen.

Now I am packing and going to try to make the trip home special somehow for my husband and the girls. All three of them are so sweet. I am so thankful for that.”

I can’t remember if it was on our way up to Missouri or on our way home that the subject of guardian angels came up. Our daughter’s friend, who is also a Christian, was sharing her thoughts on how they are all around. Then I mentioned the passage above. I believe these words are true:

“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.” Psalm 34:7

The Lord does deliver “the righteous“. I used to have a really hard time with that title, because I felt like it was a title that I could never claim to be mine. That is because my definition was not Biblical. When I read about Abraham and David and all of their sins and then read the words below it helped me to see how the Bible defined righteousness.

¹What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

²For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

³For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

⁴Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

⁵But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

⁶Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,

⁷Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.  Romans 4:1-8 KJV

Based on what the Bible says, those who have placed their faith in Christ are “the righteous”,  even though they are sinners and sometimes act very foolishly. We all do that. Abraham did:

Abram in Egypt

¹⁰ There was a famine in the land, ^(K) so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine in the land was severe. ¹¹ When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live. ^{(L) 13} Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.” ¹⁴ When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.

¹⁷ But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ^{(M) 18}So Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here’s your wife. Take her and go!”²⁰ Then Pharaoh gave [his] men orders about him, and they sent him away, with his wife and all he had. Genesis 12:10-20 HCSB

I behaved badly in the car. Does that change anything? No. I am in good company. We can act awfully strange when we are afraid or upset. David was a man after God’s own heart, but look how he behaved:

David Flees to Gath

¹⁰ David fled that day from Saul’s presence and went to King Achish of Gath. ^{(K) 11} But Achish’s servants ^(L)said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances:
Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands?” ^(M)

¹² David took this to heart ^[c] and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath, ¹³ so he pretended to be insane in their presence. ^(N) He acted like a madman around them, ^{(O) [d]} scribbling ^[e] on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

¹⁴ “Look! You can see the man is crazy,” Achish said to his servants. “Why did you bring him to me? ¹⁵ Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?” ^(P)

1Samuel 21:10-14 HCSB

…So there you have it. God’s people can be afraid and act strange (down right weird at times), but our sins will be forgiven. The Lord might have to chasten us (discipline us) from time to time, but He loves us with an unfailing love.

I am sitting here safe and sound in my home. It is New Years Eve, and I have much for which to be thankful. We are all in reasonably good health. In addition to that, my husband passed his classes and is looking forward to the next semester of college. He is still working part time at the restaurant, too. I still am driving him to and from it all and sometimes my daughter drives (won’t be long before she gets her driver’s license). I am just a wife and mother whose hope is in the Lord.  🙂

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