"Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it."
Psalm 34:14
Part 1
“Depart,” “do,” and “seek,” three simple words, but what do they mean for us in this verse?
Psalm 34 was born out of God’s grace as He helped David during a time of intrigue, as he was fleeing for his life from King Saul. David[1] sought the protection of King Abimelech (“Achish”) and the Philistines of Gath. After he was recognized by Goliath’s brothers, who then wanted to kill him, he pretended insanity. The Philistines then sent him away from the city. God’s hand of protection was clearly on David. Our verse for today is borrowed from the middle of this excellent psalm.
This must have been a favorite verse of Peter for he borrowed it when he wrote,
“Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it” (1 Peter 3:11).
God’s words are always wise.
“DEPART!” “Depart from evil.”(a)
David was exactly right when he wrote this. He didn’t leave any wiggle-room for interpretation here. Leave evil, all evil! Get away from it, as fast and as far as you can. Put the farthest distance possible between you and your sin. Don’t leave any residue of evil close by so you can revisit it when you have idle time on your hands.
David’s son Solomon had a great idea for helping believers keep away from sin. He wrote,
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
We need to be “guarding our hearts” being careful about what we allow in there in the first place.
How else can Christians protect themselves from sin? Tomorrow we will talk about it. See you then.
Quote: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
[1] David went to “Achish” (Abimelech) twice. The first time (1 Samuel 21:10-15), fleeing Saul, he went in incognito until some of the men (Goliath’s brothers) recognized who he was and wanted to kill him. He feigned insanity and was driven away from the city. The second time David went in, he was immediately recognized. Still, he was seen as the enemy of Saul and was allowed back into the city. He was thought of as a friend of Achish (1 Samuel 28:1-2) but was not allowed to go with the Philistines to war against Saul (1 Samuel 29:2-11). David stayed with Achish for sixteen months.