Introduction
The early American Indians had a unique practice of training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and the tribe. But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and he was terrified! Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night long. (Our Daily Bread.)
This boy may not have been in an actual shelter, but he had refuge close by. He had a protector who would protect him.
You see this boy thought he was alone. He thought he had no one and nothing around him.
Yet, he did. He had his father who loved him right there. That is what this Psalm tells us today. We read in this Psalm that when we take refuge in God He will perform amazing acts of kindness and love to us and provide refuge for us.
He is our rock and our fortress. His steadfast love and shelter is available to all who seek Him.
Just as we read the David saying in Ps. 31
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 1 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! 2 Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! 3 For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; 4 you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. 5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God. 6 I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord. 7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, 8 and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place. 9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. 10 For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. 11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. 12 I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel. 13 For I hear the whispering of many— terror on every side!— as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. 14 But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! 16 Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love! 17 O Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol. 18 Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt. 19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! 20 In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues. 21 Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city. 22 I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help. 23 Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. 24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!
Psalm 31 ESV
The first point we see is in the first 8 verses.
When Evil is Committed: Trust God’s Strength (vv. 1-8)
David is the chosen King who is a man after God’s own heart.
He was chosen to rule and reign in Israel forever. He is to have a permanent rule in the nation for eternity. He is the King of king’s for the earthly people of Israel.
He is the greatest king to them. Yet, many sought to have him removed and taken out.
He was the King but others wanted to be the King.
It is because of this great promise that God made him that he is calling out and saying “let me never be put to shame.”
He applies this to God in verse 3 by saying “for your name’s sake.”
If he was to be shamed it would be a shame to God’s name who had made these great promises to him.
He was banking on the Lord’s pure and perfect character to guard him and keep him from harm.
He was depending on God’s pure and perfect character to shield him when evil was committed against him.
He sought God in his difficulties because he knew God is faithful and true to protect and guide him.
Do you trust God to do this for you. Do you trust Him to guide you correctly in life? Do you trust Him to do these things for you and give you His strength when evil is committed?
This evil may be from another person or it may be a form of illness. It may be any number of things in this life but the question remains, Do you trust God’s strength when these times hit, or do you trust your strength?
If you trust God’e strength we see three things he does for you. Two are in the positive affirmation and one is in a negative connotation.
- He guides you. (V. 3). When we trust His strength He will guide us and show us the way. We need to rest in Him and say something like, “I know I don’t know what is happening nor do I know why, but you do and I know you know the way. Please show me what to do and how to do it. All the while please be my refuge and shelter and fortress Lord because I need one severely.”
- He redeems us. (V.5). In this verse David says he has committed his spirit into the hands of God. He has given his life to Him and his full trust. This means that his life has been deposited into God in His trust as money in a bank. His life and safety is in the Lord and he knew he was safe in God’s hand. Do you? Trust me it is safe and well in His hands.
- You will not be delivered into the hand of the enemy (v. 8). We are His and forever will be. We will not be delivered into the hand of the enemy because the enemy is in defeat. His forces and those who are like him are still after us to harm us, but we may fall by their hand but our life will never be their’s. We are the Lord’s alone and He will never hand you over.
Just as the young Indian boy realized his father was near him all night, we too can know that shelter but through the dark and dreadful night.
But we can still be hurt and feel pain. We can still have struggles. So…
When Others Hurt You: Seek God’s Mercy (vv. 9-18)
Have you ever been so tired and worn out that you just couldn’t go anymore. You were worn out and just exhausted.
Much like this woman who after the exhaustion that a new born will bring and several sleepless nights, she grabbed some cereal and milk and poured herself a bowl. Being tired, she put the cereal in the fridge and the milk in the cupboard.
She realized it later when she opened up the fridge and saw the cereal in there. She immediately checked the pantry, and sure enough, the milk was there. But that was not the end to the story. The next morning, she remembered what she did so she told herself to put the milk in the fridge.
She has no idea how it happened, but history repeated itself and somehow, the milk ended up back in the pantry. Two almost full jugs of milk went to waste she felt like a mindless zombie who could not even put milk back where it belonged.
This is exhaustion and weariness that causes strength to fail, your bones to feel as a waste and your life to feel like it is whisping away.
But this is from normal living and the joy of a child.
The struggles David is speaking of is from the hurt and grief caused from others. The hurt they put on you either physical or emotional.
It will all bring you down and make you feel wearied and worn.
Maybe the hurt is not from a person but from an illness. Maybe it has you worn and bedraggled.
Whatever it is, whether it is from the backstabbing of “friends” or the outright assault from others, or illness; seek God’s mercy it is there for you.
David called out to God to be gracious to him (9), for His face to shine on him (16), called again to not be put to shame (17), and for the evil ones speech to be stopped (18).
He trusts in “you O Lord” because he is “My God.”
Is He your God? Can you say the same thing?
Do you seek His mercy when times and situations are hurtful or rough? Or do you still seek the grace and mercy elsewhere? And then struggle more because what you thought would fix the situation only makes it worse?
When we seek the Lord when we have been hurt there are again three things He does for us.
- He gives strength to the weak and weary (vv. 9-10). He will fill you with grace and mercy. As He told Paul in 2 Cor. 12:9 “9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Let the power of Christ rest on you. Trust that Jesus loves you enough to die for you, He will love you enough through your hurting and struggles too.
- He does not put you to shame, but does the wicked (17). We may not see this now, but our victory is certain in the Lord. David’s was certain in God the Father because of His eternal promises, and ours is certain through our eternal promises through Jesus Christ. Trust the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ in all your afflictions.
- The lips of the wicked will be silenced (18). Those who mock and scorn will not do so forever. They will be silenced by the righteous silencing of the Lord. We need to just look at them and let all their vile accusations just roll off our shoulders. We need not allow them the joy of devastating us. They are only following the wicked and worthless idols of the world and doing what they say. We have the glorious Lord Jesus Christ in our corner. So don’t allow anyone’s words nor any evil illness remove that joy from you. That is all silenced in the end by our amazing savior.
The victory is certain. And…
When the Victory Comes: Glorify God (vv. 19-24)
We have all seen the self-congratulatory celebrations of football stars when they score a touchdown or make some great yardage. They do these celebrations as if they were the only one who did anything. When they were just an integral part of the process, but not the process alone.
In these last six verses we see David giving all glory to the Lord. He is celebrating the goodness of the Lord for the Victory.
He says that this goodness and victory is seen publicly by “the children of mankind” (v. 19).
When we seek God’s shelter publicly rather than make our own attacks or return tit for tat, we give the righteous judge the room to deliver and exert true and proper justice.
When we are in a situation, like David was in the besieged city (21-22), we cry out to God because God will deliver. We see this clearly in in verse 23 when he said, “The Lord preserves the faithful.”
The problem we have is we think that our preservation is meant to be earthy. We think we are to be delivered from the grips of death, enemies, illnesses, financial struggles, and any other thing right now in this life.
Our deliverance is certain in the Lord. This world is passing away and will one day be purified with fire and remade for our eternal abode.
What a better deliverance is there than that? There is nothing else that compares.
Yes, we want to be here for our loved ones and to serve the Lord with passion.
This is exactly what we see from David here. He felt that he was cut off from God, it was not the enemies he feared, but being cut off from God.
Look at verse 22, “I said in my alarm, I am cut off from your sight.”
Warren Wiersbe said of this, “It wasn’t the enemy that frightened him but the thought of being abandoned by the God he trusted and served. He did what all of us must do when we sense that God is no longer near: he cried out to the Lord for His mercy, and the Lord answered.”
He was delivered and made it known that God was the reason and that he learned that we need to wait on the Lord and not become so worried when in despairing situations.
God is faithful to those who are His, we just need to wait and trust Him. But when the victory comes, we need to be more like the Indian boy and know that it was our Father who did it for us even though we went through the dark night seemingly alone.
Conclusion
I read this old story of a father who took his young son out and stood him on the railing of the back porch. He then went down, stood on the lawn, and encouraged the little fellow to jump into his arms. “I’ll catch you,” the father said confidently. After a lot of coaxing, the little boy finally made the leap. When he did, the father stepped back and let the child fall to the ground. He then picked his son up, dusted him off, and dried his tears.
“Let that be a lesson,” he said sternly. “Don’t ever trust anyone.”
Too many of us think our Lord is this way. That He is a Father that makes us think He will be there, but in fact is not.
That is not true. He is there and He loves deeply. We just need to know His shelter is never closed and we are already caught by Him through the salvation found in Jesus Christ alone.
Regardless what this world throws at us, we are in the arms of our loving Father to never hit the ground. We are His and will be forever. Nothing can take that from us.
We just need to know that He is good to all who fear Him as verse 19 tells us.
We may feel He is not because we only know the temporal. That is why wee need to be more heavenly minded and set our minds upon the things above more than the things here.
When we do we will see that God is good and we are immensely blessed.
