Psalm 31 Commentary
I Trust In The LORD
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KEY THOUGHT: Into Your hand I commit my spirit [Psalm 31:5a NKJV]
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Psalm 31 NKJV
The Lord a Fortress in Adversity
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
31 In You, O Lord, I [a]put my trust;
Let me never be ashamed;
Deliver me in Your righteousness.
2 Bow down Your ear to me,
Deliver me speedily;
Be my rock of [b]refuge,
A [c]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 which they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength.
5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.
6 I have hated those who regard useless idols;
But 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 [d]adversities,
8 And have not shut[e] me up into the hand of the enemy;
You have set my feet in a wide place.
9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
My eye wastes away with grief,
Yes, my soul and my [f]body!
10 For my life is spent with grief,
And my years with sighing;
My strength fails because of my iniquity,
And my bones waste away.
11 I am a [g]reproach among all my enemies,
But especially among my neighbors,
And am repulsive to my acquaintances;
Those who see me outside flee from me.
12 I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a [h]broken vessel.
13 For I hear the slander of many;
Fear is on every side;
While they take counsel together against me,
They scheme to take away my life.
14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
And from those who persecute me.
16 Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me for Your mercies’ sake.
17 Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You;
Let the wicked be ashamed;
Let them be silent in the grave.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence,
Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
19 Oh, how great is Your goodness,
Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who trust in You
In the presence of the sons of men!
20 You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence
From the plots of man;
You shall keep them secretly in a [i]pavilion
From the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a [j]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.
23 Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!
For the Lord preserves the faithful,
And fully repays the proud person.
24 Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the Lord.
Footnotes
a. Psalm 31:1 have taken refuge
b. Psalm 31:2 strength
c. Psalm 31:2 Lit. house of fortresses
d. Psalm 31:7 troubles
e. Psalm 31:8 given me over
f. Psalm 31:9 Lit. belly
g. Psalm 31:11 despised thing
h. Psalm 31:12 Lit. perishing
i. Psalm 31:20 shelter
j. Psalm 31:21 fortified
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Psalm 31 Commentary
Jesus Christ is the word of God. We hear the LORD Jesus Christ whenever we flip the pages of the holy script. But when the Old Testament directly lifts the actual words of the man Jesus Christ, as recorded in the gospels, we stop and want to check further.
This chapter is home to the very last words of the man Jesus Christ.
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 23 verse 46.
Many say that the New Testament explains the Old Testament. It should be quite natural to think of it this way. However, the reality is that the script for the Old Testament is written by the New Testament.
This chapter exists because of the man Jesus Christ. It sounds wrong to say that David is the son of Jesus. But the understanding is right. David is acting out the realities of the New Testament. It is an interesting movie!
Of course, there are differences. The Son is innocent, blameless, and spotless. Not David! He suffers because of his iniquity. Verse 10. But he is saved because of God’s name’s sake – the Name, COMPASSION, or LOVE
The gospel in this psalm could be that we, too, can have this forgiveness. We, too, can pass from under wickedness to under righteousness – all because of the name of the LORD!
David fulfils the realities of the New Testament. Because David is human like us, raw and unpolished, and exposed to the same environment, we want to examine this chapter in the light of the realities of the cross.
He has taken refuge in the LORD. He doesn’t want to be exposed to shame. The righteous God must deliver him, and do so quickly. He seeks deliverance from the traps of the enemy. The LORD is a strong fortress, the rock in whose hands David commits his spirit.
This prayer can be repeated by many saints, but only within the context of the Old Testament. What about the realities of the actual world that this psalm represented? Read it in the context of Calvary, and you will choke immediately.
The man Jesus Christ suffered shame. And the people were right. He believed in God. God didn’t deliver him. He saved others. He could not save himself. The LORD who he claimed always heard his prayers, decided not to hear him. He was all by himself. How real, deeply real was the cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
At this point, the stricken and forsaken Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Even in the moment of extreme difficulties, the relationship is still there. God is still Jesus’ Father, and He is addressed as such.
The difficulties didn’t alter the relationship. It’s a question we must answer. Have the troubles of life altered your relationship with your Creator? Is the Almighty God still your Father?
It appears David’s faith is working shifts. One moment, he seeks deliverance, but in another moment, he declares that the LORD has delivered him.
David is mortal, just like you and me, but his faith isn’t doing shifts. Of course, his own battles are less than the battle of Gethsemane and Calvary. Yet we can still learn one crucial lesson from David. It is actually the closing verse of the chapter. “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.”
Regardless, let God be God. Importantly, let God remain your Father. And even more importantly, commit your spirit to the care of the El-Shaddai God. There is resurrection, after all.
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