8. A Call for an Adventure Trip with God

A Meditation of Psalm 34

Psalm 34 is a well-thought-out and well-constructed hymn that inspires and teaches. It is acrostic, which means that each verse begins with a letter of the 22 Hebrew alphabet. Thus the first verse begins with aleph, the second with beth, and so on. Hence this psalm has 22 verses, one for each alphabet in Hebrew. 

The author, believed to be David, invites people to learn from him— those people who have a goal in life. The goal is to have a successful life— a life of good days (v. 12). It is of supreme importance to have a goal about life, and one has to set the highest possible goal. It should not be temporary goals such as to become a rich person, or to lead a comfortable life, or to become a famous person. But it should be the ultimate goal to lead one’s life with all its richness, for what it was intended by the creator— to be one with God and to be as perfect as the heavenly father.  

Once we have set the goal, the next question is this: how to achieve the goal? This psalm gives some clear guidelines as answer: Do good, and seek peace.  Depart from evil, and do good. No evil thoughts, words or deeds; nothing evil of any kind. It is not enough to pretend to be good. One has to be truly good inside out. Pretending is deceit; it is hypocrisy. 

In order to be truly good, one needs peace— within and without. One needs peace both within one’s own mind and also in his/her relationship with others. It is of primary importance for one to have peace with God. God’s eyes always see us, and His ears always listen to our call. If only we look toward God, we become radiant; if only we call God, divine protection comes to us. It is not possible to be good by being an enemy to God. One needs to be fully open to God and be a friend to God. God is good; the only way for us to be good is to be with God.  

The author shares his first-hand experience of God. He claims, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me”. He also advices us: “Taste God and see that the Lord is good”. Although we can know many other things from the others, we can’t know God that way. The only authentic way to know God is first-hand experience in our own life. We can’t know God by listening to others or by reading books. Although they all help, the real knowledge comes only by first-hand, direct experience.  

A life with God is not a life free of afflictions, but a life through afflictions. A life with God is not a trouble-free life, but a life through troubles. The righteous people become stronger and saintlier as they face the troubles day after day, but the wicked ones become weaker and weaker when they face the troubles. The righteous ones face the troubles as opportunities to learn and grow, but the wicked ones face troubles as misfortunes.  

In short, psalm 34 is a call for an adventure trip with God. We have the choice to live this life with God or without God. What will we choose? 

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