Psalm 34

Blessed Is the Person Who Takes Refuge in God

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By David. When he pretended to be insane in the presence of Abimelek, who drove him away, and David left.^[a]

David’s Thanks for Deliverance

An Invitation to Join David in Praise

The Story of David’s Deliverance

The Application of This Truth to All Believers

The Problem

² “Nothing but vapor,”^[a] Ecclesiastes said. “Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.”

¹⁸ I also hated all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard under the sun, since I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. ¹⁹ And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard and so wisely, under the sun. This too is vapor that vanishes.

²⁰ So I changed my course, and my heart began to despair over all my hard work at which I worked so hard under the sun. ²¹ Sure, there may be a man who has worked hard—wisely, aptly, and skillfully. But he must hand over whatever he accumulated by all his hard work to a man who has not worked hard for it. This too is vapor. It’s so unfair! ²² For what does a man gain through all his hard work, through all the turmoil in his heart, as he works so hard under the sun?

²³ Pain fills all his days. His occupation is frustration. Even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vapor.

The Best We Can Hope For

²⁴ There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. ²⁵ For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him?^{[a] 26} Yes, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man whom he considers good, but to the person who goes on sinning God gives the task of gathering and collecting, but only so that he can give it all to a person whom God considers good. This too is vapor, nothing but chasing wind.

¹⁸ I also hated all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard under the sun, since I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. ¹⁹ And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard and so wisely, under the sun. This too is vapor that vanishes.

²⁰ So I changed my course, and my heart began to despair over all my hard work at which I worked so hard under the sun. ²¹ Sure, there may be a man who has worked hard—wisely, aptly, and skillfully. But he must hand over whatever he accumulated by all his hard work to a man who has not worked hard for it. This too is vapor. It’s so unfair! ²² For what does a man gain through all his hard work, through all the turmoil in his heart, as he works so hard under the sun?

²³ Pain fills all his days. His occupation is frustration. Even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vapor.

The Best We Can Hope For

²⁴ There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. ²⁵ For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him?^{[a] 26} Yes, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man whom he considers good, but to the person who goes on sinning God gives the task of gathering and collecting, but only so that he can give it all to a person whom God considers good. This too is vapor, nothing but chasing wind.

The Fullness That Is Ours in Christ

⁶ Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, ⁷ by being rooted and built up in him, and strengthened in the faith just as you were taught, while you overflow in faith^[a] with thanksgiving.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, which are in accord with human tradition, namely, the basic principles of the world, but not in accord with Christ. ⁹ For all the fullness of God’s being dwells bodily in Christ. ¹⁰ And you have been brought to fullness in him. Christ is the head over every ruler and authority. ¹¹ You were also circumcised in him, with a circumcision not done by human hands, in the putting off of the body of flesh,^[b] in the circumcision of Christ, ¹² when you were buried with Christ in baptism. And in baptism you were also raised with him through the faith worked by the God who raised Christ from the dead.

¹³ Even when you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ by forgiving us all our trespasses. ¹⁴ God erased the record of our debt brought against us by his legal demands. This record stood against us, but he took it away by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ After disarming the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them by triumphing over them in Christ.