1 Samuel 21:10–15
David is running from Saul, he’s so desperate he flees to Gath — Goliath’s hometown — carrying Goliath’s own sword.
- The servants of King Achish recognize him instantly: “Isn’t this the one they sing about?”
- (Note: The superscription says “Abimelech,” while 1 Samuel says “Achish.” Abimelech is likely a Philistine royal title — like “Pharaoh” — with Achish as the personal name.)
- His reputation, the thing that made him famous, is now the thing that could get him killed.
- So David performs. He scratches at the doors, lets spit run down his beard, acts insane until Achish throws him out: “Do I lack madmen, that you bring this fellow to behave like a madman in my presence?”
The title tells us Psalm 34 is what David wrote after that.
The man drooling in his beard to survive is the same man who writes, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
Think with me this morning ….. What’s our version of the act? The face you put on to survive at work, at church, at home?
One of the most repeated phrases of scripture is “fear not – it’s the first thing out of the mouth of nearly every angel and the risen Jesus himself.
Psalm 34 is David’s “fear not” testimony; Jesus is the “fear not” in person.
Many of us grew up learning to read the room and become whatever it takes.
- Perform confidence,
- perform competence,
- perform “fine.”
Life seems to teach us to believe that success goes to the best actor.
Psalm 34 challenges us to come out of the act.
The God who sees the real you is the only audience that can actually deliver you.
Matthew 10:31
“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows”
(Psalm 34 is an acrostic — each verse starts with a successive Hebrew letter. David bringing order to chaos: he processes the most chaotic moment of his life by writing the most structured kind of poem.)
Psalm 34:1–4
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3 Oh, 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.
I. Fear Creates Actors – Performance is exhausting
I love the honesty embedded in v. 4 — “delivered me from all my fears.”
Not “from all my enemies.”
- David’s enemies were real, but the psalm names the deeper problem.
- Achish wasn’t the biggest threat in Gath; the fear inside David was.
- Fear is what pushed him into the performance in the first place.
A: Halal
2 — “my soul makes its boast in the LORD.”
The word is halal — the root of hallelujah.
- It can mean praise,
- but in 1 Samuel 21:13 a form of the same root describes David acting mad.
The wordplay is almost certainly deliberate:
- David took the energy he spent on the mad act and redirected it into praise.
- You will halal something — the only question is whether it’s a performance for men or praise to God.
B: Fear and hiding travel together
Matthew 10:26–31
“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[a] 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?[b] And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Jesus’ first “fear not” in this passage is directly about hiddenness: “Have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known” (v. 26).
Fear and hiding travel together — Jesus links them in a single breath. The act always has an expiration date.
31: “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
When we perform that act says my value depends on the audience. Jesus says your value was settled long ago.
C: Fear doesn’t just make cowards — it makes actors:
Matthew 14:27–30
Jesus says, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” — and Peter’s response is essentially a performance: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come.” He steps out looking bold and sinks the moment the wind gets loud.
- The word for “Take heart” is tharseite — Jesus uses this word again and again (Matthew 9:2; 9:22; 14:27).
- It’s not “calm down.” It’s “courage — because of who is present.”
I really appreciate the fact that David doesn’t clean up the story.
- He doesn’t write “let me tell you about the time I trusted God flawlessly.”
- He writes a praise psalm on the other side of his most embarrassing episode — and puts the episode in the title.
- That tells us something……
Psalm 34:5-10
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
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 delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
II. Taste and See — Firsthand, Not Secondhand
5 — “Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.”
Contrast the two faces in this story:
- the contorted, spit-covered face of the performance,
- and the radiant, unashamed face of the one looking at God.
- Fear disfigures. Worship restores.
8 — “Taste and see that the LORD is good.”
Not “hear and repeat.” Not “watch someone else and applaud.”
- This is an invitation to firsthand experience — you can’t taste through a screen, through your parents’ faith, through the worship team’s energy.
- Pretending is living on secondhand everything; tasting is the end of the act.
7 — “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him.”
Note the change:
- The psalm that begins with David’s fears (v. 4) resolves into the fear of the LORD (vv. 7, 9, 11).
- One fear drives out the others. When God is the biggest thing in the room, Achish shrinks.
A: Relocate Fear
We’re not saying to eliminate fear that leads to all kinds of destructive behavior—Jesus says to relocate it.
Matthew 10:28
“Do not fear those who kill the body… rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body.”
Jesus does exactly what Psalm 34 does — he doesn’t say eliminate fear, he says relocate it.
When you fear God rightly, Achish shrinks; when you fear Achish, God shrinks.
B: What proper fear feels like
Luke 12:32
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
The fear of the LORD lands you in the arms of a Father who delights to give — which is vv. 8–10 of the psalm, tasted. “Those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”
Consider Jairus in Mark 5:36
“ 6 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”
Spoken at the exact moment the news is at its worst. Fear says the story is over; Jesus says the story isn’t his last word.
Psalm 34:11-20
Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
III. The Broken and the Crushed
18 — “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
- Here’s the stunning switch: the performance exists to hide the broken places,
- 18 says the broken places are precisely where God draws near.
- Acting doesn’t just exhaust you — it stations you away from the very spot where God is standing.
“done pretending” doesn’t mean oversharing with everyone.
It means at minimum there is one place — before God, and ideally with a few trusted people — where the act is fully off.
Honest about the trouble, honest about the victory —
Spoken the night before the cross
John 14:27; 16:33
: “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid… In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart (tharseite again); I have overcome the world.”
Notice Jesus doesn’t pretend: “you will have tribulation.”. He’s honest about the trouble and honest about the victory, in the same sentence.
That’s what “done pretending” sounds like.
What’s amazing is that vs 20 is quoted again in an extraordinary place in the New Testement. – Unbroken bones
20 — “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.”
John 19:36 quotes this verse at the crucifixion — the soldiers break the legs of the two criminals but not Jesus’.
The psalm David wrote after pretending to be struck down finds its fulfillment in the One who actually was struck down — and who never once pretended.
- Jesus never performed for Pilate,
- never played mad for Herod (he stood silent),
- never spun the story in Gethsemane.
- He was fully, fatally honest
Isaiah tells us that: But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
The first words of resurrection Sunday Matthew 28:5, 10
“Do not be afraid” — from the angel (v. 5)
- and then from Jesus himself (v. 10).
- The unbroken bones of Psalm 34:20 walk out of the tomb, and the first thing they say is the thing David learned in Gath.
The final fear not in scripture:
Revelation 1:17
- John falls down as though dead,
- and the risen Christ lays his right hand on him — “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.”
- The final “fear not” in Scripture comes with a touch.
Conclusion
David walked out of Gath with his life, but he wrote Psalm 34 because survival by performance isn’t living.
Somewhere between the city gate and the cave of Adullam, he stopped performing and started praising — and he wants you to know the difference.
1 John 4:18
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”
Fear made David perform. Love makes performing unnecessary.
Fear casts you into the act; perfect love casts fear out.
You don’t have to be the best actor in the room. You have to be the honest one in the presence of God.
“Fear teaches you to
