To the chief musician, a psalm of David
31
📚In you, O LORD,I put my trust;
let me never be ashamed 📖.
Deliver me in your righteousness 📖.
2 📚Bow down your ear
toward me.
Deliver me quickly.
Be my rock 📖 of refuge,
a fortress of defense
to save me.
3 📚For you are my rock
and my fortress;
therefore, for your name’s sake 📖,
lead me and guide me.
4 📚Pull me out of the net
that they have
secretly laid for me;
for you are my strength.
31:4 Traps will be set for believers. Even if men don’t, Satan will.⚜
5 📚Into your hands
I commit my spirit.
You have redeemed me,
O LORD God of truth.
31:5 The first part of this verse was quoted by the Lord Jesus as He died on the cross (Luke 23:46), also by many believers since then as they faced death. We may be sure that God will carefully keep and guard what we have committed to Him (2 Tim 1:12; 1 Pet 4:19). It is the height of wisdom to put our spirit, our life, our eternity in God’s hands. What God redeems is His special property. He knows how to look after it. “God of truth” is one of God’s precious names. He is absolutely true to His Word. It is impossible for Him to lie – Titus 1:2. And He hates all lying and deception – Ps 5:6; 15:2; Prov 6:16-19.⚜
6 📚I have hated those
who have regard for
lying vanities,
and I trust in the LORD.
7 📚I will be glad and rejoice
in your mercy,
for you have considered
my trouble;
you have known my soul
in adversities,
8 📚And have not delivered me
into the hand of the enemy.
You have set my feet
in a spacious place.
9 📚Have mercy on me,
O LORD, for I am in
trouble;
my eye is consumed
with grief,
yes, my soul
and my body.
10 📚For my life wastes away
with grief,
and my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my sin,
and my bones are consumed.
11 📚I am an object of reproach
among all my enemies,
but especially among
my neighbours,
and a dread to my acquaintances.
Those who see me outside
run away from me.
12 📚I am forgotten like a dead man,
out of mind.
I am like a broken vessel.
13 📚For I have heard
the slander of many.
Fear was on every side.
When they took counsel
together against me,
they plotted to take away
my life.
31:9-13 David is in great grief, trouble, and danger. His language is similar to some words of Job and Jeremiah (Job 3:24; 19:13-14; 30:15; Jer 6:25). He acknowledges that his guilt or sin was at least partly the cause of his miserable condition – v 10. Sin is the great troubler of mankind in general and a great misery to all believers.⚜
14 📚But I have trusted in you,
O LORD.
I have said,
“You are my God”.
31:14 David’s faith remained firm – no trouble, no slander, no opposition could diminish it. He was not of the sort who leave off belief in God when strange and difficult and painful circumstances occur. God is no less the God of believers when they are experiencing trouble.⚜
15 📚My times are in your hands.
Deliver me from the hands
of my enemies,
and from those who
persecute me.
31:15 He is willing to leave to God the ordering of his life. He recognizes that the good times, the bad times, the prosperous times, the miserable times are all in the hands of an all-wise, loving, sovereign God. He who waits for God’s time for things will not be disappointed.⚜
16 📚Make your face shine
on your servant.
Save me for your mercies’ sake.
17 📚Let me not be ashamed,
O LORD,
for I have called to you.
Let the wicked be ashamed,
and let them
be silent in the grave 📖.
18 📚Let lying lips be put
to silence.
They speak bold things
proudly and
contemptuously against
the righteous.
19 📚Oh, how great is
your goodness
which you have stored up
for those who fear you,
which you have prepared
for those who trust in you
before the sons of men!
20 📚You will hide them
in the secret place of
your presence
from the pride of man.
You will keep them secretly
in a pavilion from the strife
of tongues.
21 📚Blessed be the LORD,
for he has shown me
his marvellous kindness
in a strong city.
22 📚For I said in my haste,
“I am cut off from
before your eyes”.
Nevertheless you heard
the voice of my supplications
when I cried out to you.
31:19-22 Once again faith and prayer have won the victory and brought comfort and joy to a sorrowing heart.⚜
23 📚Oh, love the LORD,
all you who are his saints!
For the LORD preserves
the faithful,
but fully pays back the proud.
31:23 A person who loves God wants others to love Him too. Here David sets forth the greatest command of the law (Deut 6:5). It is also the highest privilege of man.⚜
24 📚Be courageous, and he will
strengthen your heart,
all you who hope in the LORD.
31:24 No matter what the difficulties, God is still in control and believers can safely rest on the foundation of His sure promise. Being shaken by threats, slanders, and dangers, giving in to depression, fear, and weakness must have no place in the believer’s life (Josh 1:8-9; 1 Cor 15:58).⚜