The Radiance of Answered Prayer

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.” -Psalm 34:4–7

The word David uses translated fear in verse four is akin to “terrors” rather than reverential fears. And the word David uses for radiant in verse 5 means to glisten or gleam like the clear water of a stream. Instead of being ashamed with heads hung low, the countenance of those who look to the Lord reflect his glory.

David’s own testimony is that of a poor man, poor in the sense of being humble, low, or needy. David had no strength of his own by which to save himself. Completely dependent on the Lord, he cried to him and was saved out of all his troubles. The idea here is a complete salvation.

In the Old Testament, the “angel of the Lord” is what is called a Theophany, a pre-Christ manifestation of the second person of the Godhead (cf. Genesis 16, 18; Judges 6; and Zechariah 3). The Lord himself defends and delivers his people.

The takeaway is that God’s people, those who fear the Lord, those poor people who know and acknowledge their brokenness and inability, have no reason to be ashamed because they can call on the Lord who literally encamps around them, and he will hear them and deliver them from all their troubles. Let us think on these things; let us seek the Lord and let us cry out to him who can deliver us.