IBS Application for Psalms 34:21-22

“Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.”

I found this passage was particularly convicting for me. I read it in my devotions and it has stuck with me since I read it. It’s something that I really need to hear.

Please understand that I find it convicting not because I find myself to be one who hates the righteous, but because I am a servant of the Lord. I would have just used verse 22 here, were it not for a problem that I still struggle to let God take care of: my own self-condemning sinful nature.

As I’ve said before in previous posts, I struggle with not beating myself up every time that I fail to be the righteous man that I’m supposed to be. And I notice when that happens daily, so you can imagine how often I condemn myself over it. But, as I’ve also stated before, this is arrogance, because I essentially say that what Jesus did to pay the debt for my sin isn’t good enough. But even this arrogance is something that Christ has paid for! So I have nothing to condemn myself over.

As David says here, condemnation is reserved for those who hate the righteous and the wicked. Since God has declared that I am righteous by the blood of Jesus, I am no longer a slave to that sin and unrighteousness. I am free in Christ. And all I have to do is seek refuge in Him when temptation assails me or when the devil accuses me, and I will be safe from all of that. I’ve been redeemed. I just have to accept that on a daily basis, and walk in the freedom that Christ has purchased for me.


My application for this will be to spend time with Jesus in the mornings for the next few days seeking refuge in Him, that I might not fall into self-condemnation. I will reflect upon this passage in the mornings as well, and do my best to take this truth to heart, so that I can walk in freedom from now on.

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