Psalm 31 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
This is a Psalm from King David that all Christian believers can relate to because David was being attacked and was therefore on the defensive instead of on the offensive. Any one who professes faith in the LORD Jesus Christ will be attacked by devils, by other non-believing people, and yes, sometimes even by those calling themselves ‘Christian’. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Verse 1 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
King David begins this psalm by stating categorically that his full and complete trust is in the LORD, no one else. The Hebrew word translated as “trust” is “chacah” and it means to put trust in God, to confide or hope in, to seek refuge, and to flee to for protection. Therefore he asks that he never be disappointed or put to shame so that his enemies can gloat over his misfortune or situation, and therefore, he asks the LORD that he be delivered from his trouble and danger. King David knew the LORD was his deliverer.
Application: Jesus Christ is our deliverer. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives; and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18 The only One who can save is Jesus and it is in Him that full trust and faith must be placed if the journey through this physical life is to end with life in Heaven for eternity.
Verses 2-3 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. 3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.
King David is feeling an urgency regarding his situation. He wants the LORD to not only hear his cry for help but to deliver him quickly from whatever it is that is threatening him that he cannot fight or deal with in or by his own power. He wants to have a firm footing on the Rock so that he will not slip. The Hebrew word translated as “strong rock” is “tsuwr” and it means rock, cliff, rocky wall, block of stone, or a boulder. Remember the parable Jesus told in Matthew chapter 7 where the wise man built his house on a rock and the foolish man built his house on sand. “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” Matthew 7:25 The LORD was/is also David’s fortress. A fortress is a place of safety that is immovable or stationary.
Verses 4-5 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. 5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.
Here King David uses word picture to describe traps that his enemies have laid for him. A pit would be dug and then covered with a net and then brush and when stepped on, the victim would fall into the pit and the net would fall in upon him and he would be trapped and helpless. Nets used by fishermen trap everything that swims into them and the sea creatures are helpless to escape. Nets have been used to trap birds as well. Nets are dangerous and lead to death. David was feeling helpless and trapped. As he dwelt upon his trouble, however, he also began to dwell upon the remedy which was/is the LORD God. So he surrenders his spirit, the life of his soul, unto the LORD because he knows by faith that the LORD has redeemed (ransomed, rescued, or delivered) him. How does he know this? Because of the Word of the LORD, the promises, which are indeed true because God is truth.
Application: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6 Verse 5 above is prophetic of the LORD Jesus Christ who came to Earth and redeemed His people. He is truth and can be trusted to hold our spirits in His hand. By committing everything to the lordship of Jesus Christ, the believer is assured of a solid foundation and a place of refuge or safety.
Verses 6-8 I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; 8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.
Some scholars define lying vanities as being false idols. However, according to Strong’s Concordance the Hebrew word used for “vanities” in the above verse is “hebel” and it means vapour, breath, or vanity. Regardless, King David states that he has hated those who keep, observe, or give heed to these vain things, whatever they may be, and that he trusts in the LORD. He is grateful for the LORD who knows him intimately and all the trouble and difficulties he has faced and is facing and Who has not allowed his enemies to have victory over him. God has provided him room to maneuver when in battle both with enemy forces and with those people in his family, his government, and his nation.
Verses 9-10 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
The Hebrew word translated as “belly” is “beten” and it means belly, womb, body, abdomen, the seat of hunger, and the seat of mental faculties. Since King David is speaking about his soul (mind, will, and emotions), it seems that the best context for the word, belly, is David’s mental faculties. His soul and his mind or thinking is consumed with grief. It is his focus at this point in his life.
Verse 10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.
Again, Kind David was/is a type of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Much of what he experienced in his lifetime parallels what Jesus experienced at the hands of sinful and wicked mankind when ministering here on Earth. David states that his life was one of grief, sighing, and failing strength due to iniquity which made him physically weak. Iniquity is different from sin. Sin is a single thought, single action, or a single speech of words that are displeasing to the LORD. Sin is breaking the law of God. Iniquity is a condition of the heart that allows someone to sin easily and often. When one sin leads to another, iniquity is at work. So King David was indicating that he, over his lifetime, had iniquity which negatively affected his life. But at the same time, he was prophesying about Jesus. He was feeling to a small degree what Jesus felt.
Application: Jesus’ life on this Earth was filled with grief and sighing. He longed to save people from sin, death, and Hell, but many of the people He preached to rejected His message. The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35. “Jesus wept” Why? Because of the death of His friend, Lazarus, and because of the unbelief of the people. Luke 13:34 records Jesus as saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!” Jesus knew that because of the rejection by the Jews that their nation would be destroyed, never to rise again. Jesus was grieved.
Jesus Christ was/is God and therefore has no iniquity and no sin. So how could King David prophesy Jesus as having bones consumed by iniquity? The Hebrew word translated as “bones” is “etsem” and it means bone, essence, substance, limbs, external body and self. The Hebrew word translated as “consumed” is “ashesh” and it means to waste away or fail. When Jesus Christ hung on the cross, He took on Himself all the sins of mankind throughout all generations. The iniquity put upon Him was that of mankind, yours and mine. As a result, His physical body failed and died. Read John 19:32-37 which records that the centurions who were going to break the legs of Jesus and the two thieves so that they could die faster, did not break Jesus’ legs because His body was already dead.
Verses 11-13 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. 12 I am forgotten as 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: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
All that King David wrote here applied to him at different times of his life, especially when his son, Absalom, tried to destroy him and take the kingdom. But as he was writing these words he must have felt what the coming Messiah would experience and so his words are prophetic about the LORD Jesus Christ.
Application: Was Jesus Christ a reproach among His enemies? Absolutely. The Jewish leadership hated Him and tried to kill Him on many occasions. The scribes and lawyers tried to twist His words to develop a case against Him of blasphemy. These men were Jesus’ ‘neighbours’ (inhabitants of Judah). When Jesus was arrested, His disciples fled and Peter denied being with Him. Jesus’ enemies tortured Him and His body was like a broken vessel. People were brought into His mock trial to lie about Him and slander Him. They took counsel against Him to take away His life.
Verses 14-16 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. 15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake.
Now King David is not being prophetic but is back addressing his own circumstances. In all his difficulties he states he trusted in the LORD, the existing One. Just as he stated in the first verse of this Psalm, regardless of what came into his life, he put his trust in the LORD. He knew that his life and his life’s expectancy was in God’s hands. God made him and God would take him when his life was to be over. But in the meantime, David continued to ask for deliverance from his enemies. He wanted to be a witness for the LORD who, through David’s victory over his enemies by the hand of the LORD, would receive the glory and the praise.
Verses 17-18 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
All the people around King David and even leaders of the pagan nations around Israel had to know that King David served the God of the Jewish people. It was no secret. So if David had been conquered by one of these pagan nations, they would be sure to mock the LORD. Likewise, his friends, his family, and his government leaders knew of his faith in the LORD although how many of them followed David’s example is not known. David did not want to give anyone an opportunity to mock his LORD or to slander righteous people.
Application: When people died in the days before Jesus Christ, their bodies went into the ground but their souls/spirits went to sheol, the Hebrew word meaning grave, underworld, pit or the abode of the dead. In the New Testament, this place is called hades. There were two components of sheol, one called Abraham’s bosom where the righteous went after physical death, and hell where the unrighteous went after physical death. See the story of the beggar, Lazarus, in Luke 16:19-31. (Even though most people view this story as one of Jesus’ parables, this writer believes it is not a parable, but a true story because Jesus used a name for the beggar and none of His other parables used names of people. They were metaphor or representative of various situations and spiritual lessons. This indicates that Jesus was talking about an actual man called Lazarus, a man He was acquainted with.) After Jesus rose from the dead, people who died/die physically still go somewhere: the righteous into the very presence of the LORD Jesus Christ in Heaven, the unrighteous into Hell or that part of sheol/hades reserved for those who die without Jesus Christ. There the wicked will be ashamed and they will be silent in that there is nothing they can say in defense of their wicked life when on Earth. They rejected Jesus and they are condemned to eternity in Hell, and then in the Lake of Fire after judgement.
Verses 19-20 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! 20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
Here King David is praising the LORD for all that He does for those that fear and follow Him and who have faith and trust in His Word and in His promises. The unsaved can slander Christian believers with their words, but the LORD will reward the believers and keep them safe.
Application: In today’s upside down chaotic world it is easy to feel that everyone and everything is against you. It is easy to get depressed and discouraged. The cure for this is to spend time with the LORD reading His Word and to spend time with the LORD in prayer and praise. He will lift the feelings of depression from your soul and joy will replace dread and discouragement.
Verses 21-22 Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city. 22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
It seems that King David allowed his feelings to overcome his faith and knowledge in the provision and love of the LORD. So he cried out to the LORD. When he had sought the LORD he realized that the LORD was with Him all the time and that He would work out the trouble in David’s life.
Verses 23-24 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. 24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD. (Psalm 31)
Application: King David ends this Psalm with the good advice to all of God’s saints to just love the LORD. Nothing is more important for the believer than to love the God who preserves His people and who will walk with His people through this wicked environment on Earth and give safe passage into eternity in Heaven. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind:” Matthew 22:37