'The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the
Lord shall not want any good thing.'--PSALM xxxiv. 10.
If we may trust the superscription of this psalm, it was written by
David at one of the very darkest days of his wanderings, probably in the
Cave of Adullam, where he had gathered around him a band of outlaws, and
was living, to all appearance, a life uncommonly like that of a brigand
chief, in the hills. One might have pardoned him if, at such a moment,
some cloud of doubt or despondency had crept over his soul. But instead
of that his words are running over with gladness, and the psalm begins
'I will bless the Lord at all times, and His praise shall continually be
in my mouth.' Similarly here he avers, even at a moment when he wanted a
great deal of what the world calls 'good,' that 'they that seek the Lord
shall not want any good thing.' There were lions in Palestine in David's
time. He had had a fight with one of them, as you may remember, and his
lurking place was probably not far off the scene of Samson's exploits.
Very likely they were prowling about the rocky mouth of the cave, and he
weaves their howls into his psalm: 'The young lions do lack, and suffer
hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good.'
So, then, here are the two thoughts--the struggle that always fails and
the seeking that always finds.