Psalm 31
God Our Refuge
Those Christians celebrated throughout the history of the Church. Those older saints you looked up to when you were a young Christian. So often one of the defining characteristics was how saturated they were in the Scriptures. It was what Charles Spurgeon meant when he said that if you were to prick John Bunyan anywhere, he would bleed Bibline. The word of God had seeped into his blood, and shaped his very being.
We see this with Jesus and the Psalms.
But there’s something more still. Jesus doesn’t just go to the word for comfort but to tell him the story he is living and fulfilling.
This Psalm is great consolation to the believing soul. But it is ever richer comfort when we see how it finds its fulfilment in Christ and becomes true for us in him.
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to me,
come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
3 Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;
deliver me, LORD, my faithful God.6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols;
as for me, I trust in the LORD.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love,
for you saw my affliction
and knew the anguish of my soul.
8 You have not given me into the hands of the enemy
but have set my feet in a spacious place.9 Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress;
my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
my soul and body with grief.
10 My life is consumed by anguish
and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,
and my bones grow weak.
11 Because of all my enemies,
I am the utter contempt of my neighbours
and an object of dread to my closest friends –
those who see me on the street flee from me.
12 I am forgotten as though I were dead;
I have become like broken pottery.
13 For I hear many whispering,
‘Terror on every side!’
They conspire against me
and plot to take my life.14 But I trust in you, LORD;
I say, ‘You are my God.’
15 My times are in your hands;
deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
from those who pursue me.
16 Let your face shine on your servant;
save me in your unfailing love.
17 Let me not be put to shame, LORD,
for I have cried out to you;
but let the wicked be put to shame
and be silent in the realm of the dead.
18 Let their lying lips be silenced,
for with pride and contempt
they speak arrogantly against the righteous.19 How abundant are the good things
that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,
on those who take refuge in you.
20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from all human intrigues;
you keep them safe in your dwelling
from accusing tongues.21 Praise be to the LORD,
for he showed me the wonders of his love
when I was in a city under siege.
22 In my alarm I said,
‘I am cut off from your sight!’
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
when I called to you for help.23 Love the LORD, all his faithful people!
The LORD preserves those who are true to him,
but the proud he pays back in full.
24 Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the LORD.
3PM. Jesus had hung on the cross for six hours. Darkness had hung over the land since midday. And with his final words Jesus cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23.46).
In that moment, not just of physical but also spiritual darkness, Jesus retreated to the words of David. And what we see is not just that he was ripping a line out of context but by taking these words as his own, he was taking the whole Psalm as his. As his heart was about to stop beating and blood stop flowing through his body, he entrusted his Spirit to his Heavenly Father, trusting in him for deliverance.
In vv9-13, we are invited for a glimpse into the deep grief of our King. Nothing is free from physical agony and emotional anguish.
His eyes.
His ears.
His life.
His years.
His strengths.
His bones.
His everything.
And from everyone. Notice in v11 how it is not just his enemies which cause him such sorrow but his neighbours and his closest friends. Being rejected by stranger stings. Anyone who has done cold-contact evangelism on the street knows this. But being rejected by those you trust is crushing. For them to turn their backs on you when you are in distress is disturbing. But it’s even worse when they are the ones causing distress. You find yourself unmoored and unsure where to go.
This was the position David found himself in. And it’s where Jesus was when he was hung on the cross. The crowds that had welcomed him now jeered him. His disciples had rejected him. Some three separate times. And so after the cock crowed, Jesus cried to the only one who would listen.
In the middle of this Psalm the King remembers the pain. But the beginning and end are permeated with radiant hope and golden assurance.
Even when his city was under siege (v21), David did not seek protection in the integrity of the walls but in the faithfulness of God’s promises and his fearsome power.
Three times in the opening five verses God is described as refuge for his people. He is also described as a rock and strong fortress. In this moment, the King is pushed into the situation that has always been true. God is the only one always and forever true to his word. He will never let us down. If we draw near to him he will draw near to us (James 4.8).
And God delivered his King from death. The trap laid out for him (v4) was the lies of the religious elite. He walked into it knowingly and the sting of death was nullified in him. He trusted in the LORD knowing that the “times are in your hands” (v15). God is sovereign over all history. While the Pharisees and Scribes schemed, it was ultimately God’s plan that his Son would go to the cross. For Christ’s death neutered the power of the grave for God’s plan was always life for his King and for all the people who trust in him.
Jesus faced the shame (v17) but it could not lay a claim on him, because it could not hold him down.
At the end of this Psalm, the King speaks to his people. We are exhorted to love him. Why? For when we love him, our heart is set on him. And where our heart is, that is where our treasure will be. And if our treasure is in God, we are secure. Nothing can harm us. He will preserve us incorruptible.
But these are not the final words of the King. Listen to Jesus speak to you. He says to you, “Be strong and take heart.” He says to you, as his disciple, “Take heart, for I have overcome the world” (John 16.33).
Glory be to God the Father, the incorruptible refuge of his hard-pressed people.
Glory be to God the Son, who speaks words of comfort to his people in distress.
Glory be to God the Spirit, who sets our feet on the solid rock.
Ever three and ever One.