Title: The Cry of the Weary
cry of the poor
Text: Psalm 34:1 - 22
Haydn, a German musician and devout believer, once attended a gathering of prominent artists. It is said that the topic of discussion was how to overcome financial pain or troubles when good works did not come out on the spot. After everyone said a word, it was Haydn's turn. As a believer, Haydn said, “In my house, I have set up a small closet as a prayer room. When I get tired of work or when I start worrying, I go into that room. And when you come out of that room, you find a little light and come out.”
There is a prayer room where we can pray quietly in our lives, and as long as there is prayer, we will not perish. We too, like Haydn and David, let's live by turning hard days into blessing days.
“God saves the afflicted from their affliction, and in time of oppression he opens his ears” (Job 36:15).
The issue of shrine worship during the Japanese colonial era was a major issue not only during the Japanese colonial era but also after liberation, and this led to the division of Christianity in Korea. Until now, no one had spoken publicly about shrine worship, and this repentance of Rev. Han Kyung-jik, who is respected and trusted as the most honest, caused a great sensation. It was revealing the secrets he had buried in his chest until the age of 90.
People do not try to reveal their secrets, but rather hide them. However, the Bible reveals the secrets of the characters in the Bible to the public. The same is true of the genealogy of the holy Jesus. If we look at Matthew 1, which introduces the genealogy of Jesus, the genealogy of Jesus, which should be holy, reveals all the ugly aspects of human beings. How is David, who wrote the psalm, introduced there today!
“Jesse was the father of King David, and David begot Solomon by the wife of Uriah” (Matthew 1:6).
David's wife and Solomon's mother are not called David's wife, but Uriah's wife. The Bible reveals the riches that David, the king of Israel, wanted to hide the most throughout his life, that he had committed adultery with the wife of Uriah, one of his servants. However, if there is a second story in David's life that he wants to hide, it must be the background of today's text, Psalm 34.
The title of Psalm 34 is “a psalm written by David when he was driven out from the presence of Abimelech.” The situation at that time was as follows. After killing Goliath, Saul was jealous of David, whose status was rising day by day, and when he decided to kill David, David left for refuge, and he fled to Achish, king of Gath, a Philistine nation called Abimelech at that time. In other words, the desperate situation of the time is well represented in that it was Abimelech, the enemy country, not Israel, who fled from Saul. Hell, he would have fled to an enemy country! But David, who fled to an enemy country, suddenly becomes a madman. David had no choice but to pretend he was crazy because the praise of David, “Saul killed a thousand thousands, and David ten thousand” (1 Samuel 21:11), was known even to Gath.
The servants of King Achish of the exiled country question the king about David's exile here. At this, David said, “I am very afraid that the king of Gath might kill him, and he pretends to be mad before them, and pretends to be a madman who groans at the door and drools on his beard” (2 Samuel 21:12-13). The courageous image of David, whom all Israel admired so much that even the servants of his enemies were afraid, disappeared, and only the miserable appearance of a maniac mimicking his life in order to save his life. King Achish then killed David the madman.