The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous, and his ears are toward their cry;
Psalm 34 comes from a man God had rescued. Verse 15 promises that God watches and listens, and it names who He watches; the next verse turns to the opposite side.
In Psalms 32 and 33, God's eye rests on His people for other reasons. Here the reason changes:
Verse 15 of this Psalm again states the fact that "The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous." This time it is not for guidance, as in Psalm 32. Nor is it for deliverance, as in Psalm 33. It is government, so that He may listen to their cry and overrule affairs on their behalf. But note that He acts this way for "the righteous."
This is not only a general law that a person reaps what he sows. It is God's direct, personal dealing with His own:
It is true that God is not mocked. What a man sows he will reap, because God's government has attached certain consequences to certain conduct. But He also watches over His children and governs them directly. He may let them fall sick, or die; He may deliver them from it, when they confess or when others pray for them.
God has no body, so eyes and ears are picture language:
The Bible is full of such symbolism. For instance, God is a Spirit and so has no body. Yet we read of His back, His face, His eyes, His nostrils, His feet, His hands, and so on. All of these are meant to convey definite thoughts in symbolic language.
Eyes and ears carry two assurances: how God looks, and how He hears:
"The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous" (v. 15). That is, He looks on them with approval and encouragement, for the eyes speak of the Spirit of God, guarding and guiding His saints. "His ears are toward their cry." He never fails to hear the honest pleas that call for His help.
But who counts as "righteous"? The word covers conduct, not standing alone:
God's eye over the righteous means more than perfect discernment of every motive. It also means watchful care that keeps them safe. In principle every believer is righteous in Christ. But Peter insists that he should be this in practice too, if he is to know God's approving eye upon him. The same holds for God's ears being open to his prayers. That involves not only hearing, but hearing with approval and answering.
What if the answer never comes? One writer meets the complaint head-on:
"But," you say, "He does not answer." Well, He may be having a controversy with you, for "the face of the LORD is against those who do evil," and that is as true of a child of God as of someone unconverted. If the soul is doing right, what is the result? You have the eyes of the Lord upon you, and the ears of the Lord open to you. That is, you have the presence of the Lord, because your walk suits God.
Delay is not refusal:
How it should quiet our hearts before God when He seems to delay His answer to our cries! Urgent need or pressing danger keeps pressing and grows impatient. "Has not God said," we repeat at such times, "that He will hear our prayers?" Then why have we cried in vain? Ah, no! We never cry to Him in vain. If the Lord waits, He waits only for His own glory and our fuller blessing.
Peter quotes these words in 1 Peter 3:12. But he stops in mid-sentence, and one writer shows why:
It stops in the middle of a sentence. Why? Because the words that follow are "to cut off the memory of them from the earth." Those words apply in a literal way to God's people on earth, the Jews. They could never apply to those who are saved from the wrath to come. Instead of inheriting the earth, they look for "an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven."
- Watched — God's eye here is not for guidance or rescue but for government. He looks on so that He can hear and overrule circumstances for His people.
- Heard — His ear is open, and He never fails to hear honest pleas. But hearing here means hearing with approval and answering.
- Righteous — Every believer is righteous in Christ. This promise belongs to those who are righteous in practice too.
- Walk — A right walk brings the presence of the Lord. Silence may mean God has a controversy with the one praying.
- Waiting — We never cry to Him in vain. When He seems to delay, He waits for His own glory and our fuller blessing.
The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth
Up to this point Psalm 34 has been a song of deliverance. Here the same Lord who watches over the righteous turns a different look toward those who do evil — which raises a question: when is a person's memory cut off from the earth?
The verse before this one speaks of God's eyes and ears turned toward the righteous. One writer draws out the contrast:
"The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous" (v. 15). That look is one of approval and encouragement. The eyes speak of the Spirit of God, guarding and guiding His saints. "His ears toward their cry." He never fails to hear the honest pleas that call for His help. But on the other hand, "the face of the LORD is against those who do evil" (v. 16). We have known "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6), and in that face is pure truth, so evil is hateful to it. Those who choose evil will have their very memory "cut off from the earth." This has special reference to the earthly blessings that belong to believers on earth in the millennium.
Another writer adds that God knows all about the evil He sets His face against:
The Lord also knows all about the evil, for the face of the Lord is against those who do evil (v. 16). In the end of God's ways the memory of the evildoer will be cut off. The righteous, on the other hand, will be delivered out of all his troubles.
It would be easy to read this verse as being about other people. Commentators press it closer to home, since Peter applies these words to Christians.
The face of the Lord is as much against His own children, if they are doing evil, as it is against the children of the devil. Here he applies it in the practical walk of the Christian. And who is he that will harm you, if you are followers of what is good? Notice the good things here. Good days, follow what is good, good conscience, and good conversation.
That has a very practical consequence for prayer. If the answers seem not to come, the previous verse and this one belong together:
"But," you say, "He does not answer." Well, perhaps He may be having a controversy with you. "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil," and that is as true of a child of God as of an unconverted person. If the soul is doing right, what is the result? You have the eyes of the Lord upon you, and the ears of the Lord open to you. That is, a walk that suits God brings you the presence of the Lord.
Peter quotes part of this psalm, but he stops short. One writer marks where the quotation ends, and why.
Verses 11–16 take up the character of this fear of the Lord. Peter alone quotes most of this passage. Peter leaves out the end of verse 16, since it does not apply now. The general fact of government for the Christian still does apply, and we should remember this. God is not mocked: what a man sows he will reap. In His government God has attached certain consequences to certain conduct. He also watches over His children and governs them directly.
The same writer explains why the clause about cutting off does not fit the present moment:
But God's government now is not the public government that puts down all evil. It works in the case of the righteous, who live under and through the power of evil. When Christ appears, there will be this suppression of evil.
The last clause looks forward. One writer points to the psalm that follows this one:
Psalm 34 records that "the face of the LORD is against those who do evil." But we have to go on to Psalm 35 to find this side of things treated in detail. That psalm works out at length how God will finally bring the ungodly and the persecutors to shame and to judgment... Such will be God's governmental dealings with them in this life. There is of course the dark pit of hell before them in the life to come, but that is not the theme of the psalm.
This verse is not a detour from the psalm's joy. It is part of what lets faith bless the Lord at all times:
It is the full assurance of the LORD's government in favour of the humble in heart. This enables them to bless Him at all times, not only when they are blessed — blessing Him only then is not faith. In their trouble God hears them, keeps them, and redeems them.
- Face: In verse 15 God's eyes and ears mean approval and attention. In verse 16 the same God turns His face the other way, because evil is hateful to Him.
- Knowledge: God knows all about the evil. Nothing in the evildoer's course escapes Him.
- Nearness: This applies to God's own children as much as to anyone else. Unanswered prayer may mean He has a controversy with you.
- Omission: Peter quotes this psalm as far as verse 16, but leaves off the cutting-off clause. God's government today works through the power of evil, not by putting it down.
- Result: Being sure that God deals with evil frees the humble heart to bless the Lord at all times. Blessing Him only when blessed is not faith at all.
[The righteous] cry, and Jehovah heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
David wrote this psalm, and this verse makes a large promise: God hears His people when they cry, and He rescues them. Two questions follow. Who counts as "the righteous"? And what does deliverance look like when the trouble does not go away?
One writer marks how this Psalm differs from the two before it:
Verse 15 of this Psalm states again that "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous." This time it is not for guidance, as in Psalm 32. Nor is it for deliverance, as in Psalm 33. It is in government, so that He may listen to their cry, and overrule affairs on their behalf. But notice — it is "the righteous" for whom He acts in this way.
Another writer shows how closely He watches and listens:
Those treading this path will realize that the eyes of the Lord are on His people and His ears open to their cry. He is not unmindful of their sorrows: He sees them all. He is not indifferent to their cry; He hears the faintest whisper.
Being heard does not mean being spared. Commentators tie the crying itself to the trouble that produced it:
But though the righteous are not cut off with the ungodly, yet it is necessary that they should be tried. In their trial they cry out and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles (v. 17). So the trial itself serves a good purpose — that of casting souls dependently on the Lord to prove the value of His deliverance.
The same logic explains why the world is so full of hardship:
There is trial also, and it falls on the righteous; and, as he soon admits, even much of it. What does this mean? First, that being brought down by trial is what makes men cry to God and learn His delivering grace. And it is to the broken in heart that He is near, and the contrite that He saves. So there is abundant reason for all the trial of which the world is full.
The cry God hears comes from a particular kind of heart:
What kind of man could God walk with? With the man of a contrite spirit. If you want to secure the presence of the Lord, what must there be? A broken, and a contrite heart. In plain language, there is a moral state that engages the company of Christ.
Another writer contrasts a will still at work with a heart that has submitted:
If in the middle of trial there is irritation and anger, even if only in thought, it is the sure sign of self-will at work… But when the heart is broken by the evil, and fully submits to all that God in His government allows, the will is no longer at work. Then it will find great blessing in the trial, and will bless the Lord "at all times."
"Out of all their troubles" is a total promise, but not an immediate one:
And if the righteous man finds great spiritual blessing in this way, it does not follow that in an evil world he will not suffer. For, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." Still, the Lord, in His own time and way, will deliver the godly out of his afflictions.
And deliverance need not mean escape from the circumstances at all:
It does not follow that there will always be deliverance from circumstances. That is not the point. In a world of evil we must never forget that righteousness may suffer, but God governs.
Commentators read the psalm as reaching past David to Christ, and then to believers today:
The righteous must expect suffering while man has his day, but Jehovah delivers him… Here is full assurance that Jehovah governs in favour of the humble in heart. This enables them to bless, not only when they are blessed (that is not faith), but at all times. The reason is that they are heard, preserved, and redeemed when they are in trouble. Christ is the great example of this.
The promise has not lapsed with the change of era:
The principles of God's government of His people do not change. When David wrote Psalm 34, it was the age of law and God's people were in the place of servants. Today is the age of grace and we are before God as His sons… Yet the apostle Peter can quote David's words from Psalm 34 as applying equally to us.
- Trouble — affliction has a purpose. It brings people low, so they cry to God and learn what His delivering grace is worth.
- Cry — the cry that counts comes from a broken heart, a will that has stopped fighting what God allows.
- Heard — God governs on their behalf. He sees every sorrow and catches the faintest whisper.
- Delivered — the rescue is certain and complete. But it comes in His time and way, and it may not take them out of the circumstances.
- Bless — faith blesses God at all times, not only when blessed. Christ is the great example, and Peter applies the same promise to believers now.
Jehovah is nigh to those that are of a broken heart, and saveth them that are of a contrite spirit.
David wrote Psalm 34 at one of the lowest points of his life, and its promise falls on those whose hearts have given way, not on the confident. That raises a question: why would the God who is high and holy draw closest to crushed people?
The heading of this psalm points back to a low moment before a Philistine king. One writer sees shame and grace working together there:
He pretended to be insane to escape harsh treatment from the Philistine king. He was in the wrong place, so he acted wrongly. But he must have confessed and judged this failure before God. Otherwise he could not have written as he did in this psalm. In His wise government God dealt honestly with David and made him feel the shame of what he had done. At the same time He showed the grace of His heart by drawing him to bless the Lord.
The broken heart of verse 18, then, was David's own. What looked like pure loss became the door to a closer knowledge of God:
David's time at the Philistine king's court had humbled him deeply. His own behaviour had thrown away the dignity God gave him. This broke his heart and crushed his spirit. But under this discipline he came to know himself and to know the Lord more closely. What more could he want?
The verse names two things: a broken heart and a crushed spirit. One writer traces them to two different sources:
If our hearts are broken by all that is around, and our spirits contrite because of what we find in ourselves, we will find it is still true: "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."
God's nearness to the low does not cancel His holiness. It flows from who He is:
He is high and holy, and He dwells in the high and holy place. But He dwells also with the one "who is of a contrite and humble spirit," for He finds there something suited to Himself. Heaven's highest place is honoured by the presence of Him who still stoops to make the lowly heart His throne. The highest heavens cannot contain God. Yet we may have Him as our Guest — but only by going down ourselves into the lowest place. So if we have never met Him, it is because we have never gone that low. Self-judgment is where we find Him in grace.
So nothing keeps us from meeting Him except our own refusal to go that low.
The verse promises rescue, not only comfort. One writer applies it to the moment when every human answer has run out:
When we see so much sorrow and so many problems and trials, how do we react? Are we looking for a "solution" in a human way? We won't find one. On the contrary — we may make things worse. But we may be at the point where, like the apostle Paul, "we are perplexed." If we have a contrite spirit before the Lord there, He will save us. He will show us the way… This may not be the easy way — but we will have the certainty that it is His way.
The surrounding verses put this promise inside God's ongoing care for His own. One writer sees the trial itself as what produces this broken heart:
The trial itself serves a good purpose. It throws souls back on the Lord, and proves the value of His deliverance. We also learn through trial to "have a broken heart" (v. 18), A broken heart is so precious to the Lord that He comes especially near to us at such times. And does it not move us deeply to remember the Lord Jesus facing the terrible sorrow of the cross? He said, "Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair." Only a broken heart can truly value such words from the blessed Lord of glory.
This same care is described as God's direct government of His children rather than distant providence:
Not only is it true that God is not mocked… but He also watches over and directly governs His children… "The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous, His ears open to their cry." Not only that, but "near to those of a broken heart, and He saves those of a contrite spirit."
- Broken — David's own humiliating failure broke his heart. That discipline taught him to know himself, and to know the Lord more closely.
- Twofold — what surrounds us breaks the heart; what we find inside us makes the spirit contrite.
- Near — the God whom the heavens cannot contain makes the lowly heart His throne. There He finds something suited to Himself.
- Down — if we have never met Him, it is because we have never come down to self-judgment. That is where His grace meets us.
- Saved — human solutions only make things worse. God shows the contrite spirit a way out — not the easy way, but His way.