I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 34:1 opens with a resolved use of the mouth. David wrote this psalm after a humiliating and dangerous escape among the Philistines, when he changed his behaviour before their king and was driven away. Yet his first words are not complaint, embarrassment, fear, or self-congratulation. They are praise. He has learned again that deliverance belongs to God, and he determines that Jehovah shall have the glory.
“I will.” David makes a personal resolution. He does not wait for praise to arise accidentally from emotion. He chooses it. He has something definite for his mouth to do. Circumstances may change, fears may return, enemies may threaten, and weakness may appear, but David has settled the direction of his speech: “I will bless.”
This resolution does not mean David never lamented, confessed sin, asked questions, or cried under affliction. The Psalms prove otherwise. But all such speech remained under a greater commitment: God would be blessed. Trouble could fill David’s circumstances without being allowed to fill his mouth with unbelieving complaint.
“Bless.” To bless the LORD is to speak well of Him, confess His goodness, magnify His works, thank Him for mercy, and give Him the honour due His name. The creature cannot add blessedness to God, for He is blessed for ever; but the creature can acknowledge His blessedness with words. “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Psalm 103:1).
Blessing God is therefore one of the highest uses of speech. The mouth may lie, flatter, curse, murmur, boast, slander, and speak vanity; David gives his mouth a better employment. James later rebuked the inconsistency of blessing God and cursing men with the same mouth (James 3:9-10). David would have his speech consistently turned toward the honour of God.
“The LORD.” David blesses Jehovah. LORD in all capital letters is the King James Bible’s usual way of representing the divine name Jehovah, the self-existent, faithful, covenant-keeping God of His people. David’s praise has an object. He does not praise fortune, courage, clever escape, or favourable circumstances. He praises the LORD who heard him, delivered him from his fears, and saved him out of his troubles (vv.4,6).
This becomes the doctrine David later teaches others. “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD” (v.11). The man who blesses Jehovah with his mouth will soon use that same mouth to teach others to fear Him. Praise and instruction belong together.
“At all times.” This makes the resolution searching. David does not say he will bless the LORD only when deliverance is obvious, health is strong, friends are faithful, money is plentiful, or enemies are absent. “At all times” includes abundance and want, honour and humiliation, safety and danger, youth and age, gladness and sorrow.
This does not mean every sentence must be a spoken praise. Scripture gives many lawful uses of words. But praise should remain the settled disposition of the godly mouth. Even lament should not become rebellion. Even confession should honour God’s righteousness. Even cries for help should confess His power to save. The saint may speak of trouble without speaking against God.
Job showed this spirit when sudden loss stripped him of children and possessions: “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). Habakkuk likewise determined to rejoice in the LORD though visible provision failed (Habakkuk 3:17-18). Praise “at all times” is proved most clearly when the time itself gives little outward reason for rejoicing.
“His praise.” The praise belongs to Him. David does not fill his mouth with his own wisdom, courage, righteousness, or importance. The psalm will repeatedly direct attention away from David and toward God: “I sought the LORD, and he heard me” (v.4); “this poor man cried, and the LORD heard him” (v.6); “O taste and see that the LORD is good” (v.8). The testimony is personal, but the glory is God’s.
“Shall continually be.” The second half strengthens the first. “At all times” becomes “continually.” David does not intend occasional bursts of praise separated by long seasons of forgetfulness. Praise is to remain with him. Psalm 71:8 expresses the same desire: “Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.”
Continual praise requires continual remembrance. A forgetful heart soon becomes a complaining mouth. David therefore rehearses God’s works in the rest of the psalm: He heard, delivered, enlightened, saved, encamped round about, provided, watched, heard cries, drew near to the brokenhearted, and delivered the righteous. The mouth praises continually because the heart continually remembers what God has done.
“In my mouth.” The verse ends where its duty becomes visible. David’s praise will be heard. Gratitude hidden in the heart is not enough when God calls for spoken praise. “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so” (Psalm 107:2). Again, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
The mouth is especially important in Psalm 34. David begins by putting praise in his mouth (v.1), later calls others to hear his teaching (v.11), and then tells the man who desires life, “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile” (v.13). The mouth must not only refuse evil; it must be filled with good. Restraint is necessary, but praise is better than empty silence.
This gives a simple test for daily speech. What fills the mouth? Complaints? Injuries? Other people’s faults? Money? Fear? Politics? Self? David gives the tongue a higher subject. A mouth cannot praise God continually while being habitually ruled by murmuring, bitterness, vanity, and evil speaking. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34).
Jesus Christ gives the perfect pattern of speech wholly governed by God. In temptation, contradiction, suffering, and death, His mouth never sinned. He gave thanks, prayed, taught truth, confessed the Father, comforted His disciples, and fulfilled Scripture. No guile was found in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22). He shows the perfect purity David desired: speech governed at all times by the glory and will of God.
Psalm 34:1 therefore gives a rule for the whole life of the tongue. “I will bless the LORD at all times.” Resolve it before the trouble comes. “His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Let deliverance produce testimony, let remembrance produce thanksgiving, and let the tongue that could serve sin be occupied with the praise of Jehovah. The God whose eyes are upon the righteous and whose ears are open unto their cry is worthy to be blessed at all times.
I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 34:1 opens with a resolved use of the mouth. David wrote this psalm after a humiliating and dangerous escape among the Philistines, when he changed his behaviour before their king and was driven away. Yet his first words are not complaint, embarrassment, fear, or self-congratulation. They are praise. He has learned again that deliverance belongs to God, and he determines that Jehovah shall have the glory.
“I will.” David makes a personal resolution. He does not wait for praise to arise accidentally from emotion. He chooses it. He has something definite for his mouth to do. Circumstances may change, fears may return, enemies may threaten, and weakness may appear, but David has settled the direction of his speech: “I will bless.”
This resolution does not mean David never lamented, confessed sin, asked questions, or cried under affliction. The Psalms prove otherwise. But all such speech remained under a greater commitment: God would be blessed. Trouble could fill David’s circumstances without being allowed to fill his mouth with unbelieving complaint.
“Bless.” To bless the LORD is to speak well of Him, confess His goodness, magnify His works, thank Him for mercy, and give Him the honour due His name. The creature cannot add blessedness to God, for He is blessed for ever; but the creature can acknowledge His blessedness with words. “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Psalm 103:1).
Blessing God is therefore one of the highest uses of speech. The mouth may lie, flatter, curse, murmur, boast, slander, and speak vanity; David gives his mouth a better employment. James later rebuked the inconsistency of blessing God and cursing men with the same mouth (James 3:9-10). David would have his speech consistently turned toward the honour of God.
“The LORD.” David blesses Jehovah. LORD in all capital letters is the King James Bible’s usual way of representing the divine name Jehovah, the self-existent, faithful, covenant-keeping God of His people. David’s praise has an object. He does not praise fortune, courage, clever escape, or favourable circumstances. He praises the LORD who heard him, delivered him from his fears, and saved him out of his troubles (vv.4,6).
This becomes the doctrine David later teaches others. “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD” (v.11). The man who blesses Jehovah with his mouth will soon use that same mouth to teach others to fear Him. Praise and instruction belong together.
“At all times.” This makes the resolution searching. David does not say he will bless the LORD only when deliverance is obvious, health is strong, friends are faithful, money is plentiful, or enemies are absent. “At all times” includes abundance and want, honour and humiliation, safety and danger, youth and age, gladness and sorrow.
This does not mean every sentence must be a spoken praise. Scripture gives many lawful uses of words. But praise should remain the settled disposition of the godly mouth. Even lament should not become rebellion. Even confession should honour God’s righteousness. Even cries for help should confess His power to save. The saint may speak of trouble without speaking against God.
Job showed this spirit when sudden loss stripped him of children and possessions: “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). Habakkuk likewise determined to rejoice in the LORD though visible provision failed (Habakkuk 3:17-18). Praise “at all times” is proved most clearly when the time itself gives little outward reason for rejoicing.
“His praise.” The praise belongs to Him. David does not fill his mouth with his own wisdom, courage, righteousness, or importance. The psalm will repeatedly direct attention away from David and toward God: “I sought the LORD, and he heard me” (v.4); “this poor man cried, and the LORD heard him” (v.6); “O taste and see that the LORD is good” (v.8). The testimony is personal, but the glory is God’s.
“Shall continually be.” The second half strengthens the first. “At all times” becomes “continually.” David does not intend occasional bursts of praise separated by long seasons of forgetfulness. Praise is to remain with him. Psalm 71:8 expresses the same desire: “Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.”
Continual praise requires continual remembrance. A forgetful heart soon becomes a complaining mouth. David therefore rehearses God’s works in the rest of the psalm: He heard, delivered, enlightened, saved, encamped round about, provided, watched, heard cries, drew near to the brokenhearted, and delivered the righteous. The mouth praises continually because the heart continually remembers what God has done.
“In my mouth.” The verse ends where its duty becomes visible. David’s praise will be heard. Gratitude hidden in the heart is not enough when God calls for spoken praise. “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so” (Psalm 107:2). Again, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
The mouth is especially important in Psalm 34. David begins by putting praise in his mouth (v.1), later calls others to hear his teaching (v.11), and then tells the man who desires life, “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile” (v.13). The mouth must not only refuse evil; it must be filled with good. Restraint is necessary, but praise is better than empty silence.
This gives a simple test for daily speech. What fills the mouth? Complaints? Injuries? Other people’s faults? Money? Fear? Politics? Self? David gives the tongue a higher subject. A mouth cannot praise God continually while being habitually ruled by murmuring, bitterness, vanity, and evil speaking. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34).
Jesus Christ gives the perfect pattern of speech wholly governed by God. In temptation, contradiction, suffering, and death, His mouth never sinned. He gave thanks, prayed, taught truth, confessed the Father, comforted His disciples, and fulfilled Scripture. No guile was found in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22). He shows the perfect purity David desired: speech governed at all times by the glory and will of God.
Psalm 34:1 therefore gives a rule for the whole life of the tongue. “I will bless the LORD at all times.” Resolve it before the trouble comes. “His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Let deliverance produce testimony, let remembrance produce thanksgiving, and let the tongue that could serve sin be occupied with the praise of Jehovah. The God whose eyes are upon the righteous and whose ears are open unto their cry is worthy to be blessed at all times.