We might describe Peter and David as like-minded, that is, men after God’s own heart.

Of course, Psalm 34 is a Psalm of David. So what does this Psalm have to do with a letter from Peter (where we left off previously by asking, ‘Why Submit?’)?

Psalm 34 would have been familiar to first century believers and Peter quotes David’s message as a unifying foundation of hope for these new believers in Christ.

1 Peter 3:

8 Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, 9 not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.

Stick with this short list of characteristics of relationships between believers.

• like-minded
• sympathetic
• love one another
• be compassionate
• be humble
• do not return evil for evil
• never insult
• bless your brother or sister in Christ.

Remember the church’s persecution as exiles and their hope from many familiar stanzas of this Psalm Peter does not even mention. We have much to unpack from Peter’s instruction to the church here.

For now, because he moves on to the Psalm and we most likely lack the familiarity of the first century believers, I will attempt to open the scripture of Psalm 34, returning later to Peter’s letter.

Psalm 34

Introduction to Psalm 34

Charles Spurgeon provides some helpful insight into this Psalm.

Although the gratitude of the psalmist prompted him thankfully to record the goodness of the Lord in vouchsafing an undeserved deliverance, yet he weaves none of the incidents of the escape into the narrative, but dwells only on the grand fact of his being heard in the hour of peril…

David in view of the special peril from which he was rescued, was at great pains with this Psalm, and wrote it with considerable regularity, in almost exact accordance with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

C.H. Spurgeon

Spurgeon also helpfully points out that this Psalm of David divides into two parts: a hymn [vs.1-10] and a sermon [vs.11-22].

Have you ever been in such a situation as David when your life as you know it is at stake? Did you praise the Lord for saving you?

Perhaps this hymn was sung by the persecuted first century church. And maybe the church receiving Peter’s letter already knew well the sermon David preaches. From this context the Apostle’s recalls Psalm 34 in his first letter to the church.

I will bless the Lord at all times

[[A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.]]

לְדָוִ֗ד בְּשַׁנֹּותֹ֣ו אֶת־֭טַעְמֹו לִפְנֵ֣י אֲבִימֶ֑לֶךְ וַֽ֝יְגָרֲשֵׁ֗הוּ וַיֵּלַֽךְ׃ אֲבָרֲכָ֣ה אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה בְּכָל־עֵ֑ת תָּ֝מִ֗יד תְּֽהִלָּתֹ֥ו בְּפִֽי׃

Psalm 34:1 WLC

I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth. – Psalm 34:1 NKJV

Most contemporary Christians know that David was a man after God’s own heart. Certainly the newly founded and persecuted church to whom Peter wrote knew the same. Bless the LORD at all times! It is a good start.

3 O magnify the Lord with me,
 And let us exalt His name together.
 4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
 And delivered me from all my fears.

6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
 And saved him out of all his troubles.
 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
 And rescues them.

Spurgeon commentary – Psalm 34:6

Once again Spurgeon relates David’s verse from from the Psalm in a way Peter also knew would resonate with Christians in fear for their lives.

Verse 6. “This poor man cried.” Here he returns to his own case. He was poor indeed, and so utterly friendless that his life was in great jeopardy; but he cried in his heart to the protector of his people and found relief. His prayer was a cry, for brevity and bitterness, for earnestness and simplicity, for artlessness and grief; it was a poor man’s cry, but it was none the less powerful with heaven, for “the Lord heard him,” and to be heard of God is to be delivered; and so it is added that the Lord “saved him out of all his troubles.”

Peter then refers to this next stanza [in 1 Peter 3:10]:

8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Psalm 34:8 NASB

Peter’s Psalm 34 Sermon

Peter urges the men of the church to whom he writes:

1 Peter 3:

10 For the one who wants to love life
and to see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit,
11 and let him turn away from evil
and do what is good.
Let him seek peace and pursue it,

Keep your tongue from evil, Peter urges. Also turn away from evil to do what is good. Pursue peace (with each other, between members of the church).

12 because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are open to their prayer.

This too is from the Psalm [v.15].

Do you, beloved believer, pray to the Lord? His eyes look toward the righteous.

Are your actions now righteous because of Christ? His ears are open to your prayers; therefore pray to the Lord in whom you now take refuge. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

And a reminder from Peter as he continues quoting from Psalm 34 [v.16]:

But the face of the Lord is against
those who do what is evil.

1 Peter 3:12b CSB

This is actually encouraging to those who have turned to the Lord. For in Christ we no longer want to do what is evil.

The vengeance of the Lord will prevail against the enemies of God, as when David called on the Lord for help. Again, this Psalm of David will be familiar to the persecuted church of the first century.

Psalm 34 beyond Peter’s quote

9 O fear the Lord, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.

Do we realize that all like-minded servants of the Lord are referred to as saints?

11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man who desires life
And loves length of days that he may see good?

Like Peter, the Apostle John also encourages the church. We are called to be like-minded faithful, ‘children of God.’

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name

John 1:12 NASB

When Peter earlier referred to ‘not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult‘ his advise came from Psalm 34 and other scripture.

13 Keep your tongue from evil
 And your lips from speaking deceit.
 14 Depart from evil and do good;
 Seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
 And His ears are open to their cry.
 16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
 To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
 17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
 And delivers them out of all their troubles.
 18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
 And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Like-minded believers

What do the faithful do with Scripture?

Peter’s readers applied Old Testament Scripture to the promises of their faith in Christ Jesus.

The Lord has done this before and the Lord promises these things; therefore we have faith.

David, a man after God’s own heart, preaches the sermon of Psalm 34 to the church. Yet first century persecuted followers of Christ probably seemed just as crazy to others as David had when he pretended madness before Abimelech.

The Psalmist assures us that God hears the cries of the righteous and sees our suffering. Furthermore, the Lord prevailed and saved David.

The Lord also saves us in spite of humanly impossible circumstances many times; therefore the faithful hear:

Psalm 34:21 Evil shall slay the wicked,
 And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned
22 The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
 And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned

Is your soul saved?

The Lord redeems the soul of His servants.

Are you a servant of the Lord? Will you become like-minded with Jesus in suffering?

Do you take refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Once again, turning to the preaching of Spurgeon:

“The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants”—with price and with power, with blood and with water. All providential helps are a part of the redemption by power, hence the Lord is said still to redeem. All thus ransomed belong to him who bought them—this is the law of justice and the verdict of gratitude. Joyfully will we serve him who so graciously purchases us with his blood, and delivers us by his power. “And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” Faith is the mark of the ransomed, and wherever it is seen, though in the least and meanest of the saints, it ensures eternal salvation. Believer, thou shalt never be deserted, forsaken, given up to ruin. God, even thy God, is thy guardian and friend, and bliss is thine.

Charles Spurgeon commentary Psalm 34:22

Peter continues

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, Peter asks, are you all these things in Christ?

• like-minded and sympathetic?
• Do you love one another?
• Are you compassionate and humble?

Peter will continue by asking the church to be Christlike.

• Do not return evil for evil and never insult anyone.
• Bless your brother or sister in Christ.

Do good, even if you suffer for it.

If we are in Christ we must be like-minded. For we are now children of the Living God through Christ Jesus!

Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified.

Isaiah 8:12b;1 Peter 3:14b CSB

To be continued...