Psalms 31:1-5 (ESV)
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.

This might have been written while David was being pursued by Saul.  If so, then David wrote this while he was a fugitive, on the run, experiencing undoubtedly many sleepless nights, going for long periods without food, constantly confused, angry, and bitter.

And yet notice that David is taking refuge, trusting in God.  He is convinced of God’s honor, righteousness, grace, and faithfulness.  He is confident that God will deliver him from his enemies, a lesson we all would do well to learn.

He calls God his “rock of refuge” because he was probably hiding in caves and rocky places at the time.  These were places considered to be a good, impregnable line of defense against enemies.  

He begs God to hear him, to be that rock of refuge, that strong fortress.  He acknowledges how God leads and guides him.  God does the same with us, Christians.  

David was convinced that his enemies were setting a trap for him, and he begged God to rescue him from it, acknowledging that God was his refuge.  Christians, think of all the ways God is your refuge.

Verse 5 is likely familiar, as it is the last words of Christ on the cross, and thus a Messianic prophecy.  Yet think of it beyond that.  Think of what it actually means to “commit my spirit” into the hand of God.  

Why would anyone make that commitment?  It’s because of our hope – our confident expectation – in God, our heart-felt faith that he has redeemed us.

Psalms 31:6-8 (ESV)
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.

David has no love for the pagans and astrologers who depend on their false gods and lies which fool the people.  His trust is in the Lord.  Do we pay attention to our own worthless idols today, Christians?  Do we put our hope and trust, our priorities and attention, on people and things of the world instead of on God?

David was also very conscious of the fact that God did not ignore him.  God knew what David was going through, and David knew it.  He also remembered that God had always helped him in the past.  That’s why he could rejoice and be glad in God’s steadfast love. 

Are we the same?  Do we praise God and consider him to be our fortress because we are very aware of how he has helped us in the past?  Does that increase our hope – our confident expectation – in him?

Psalms 31:9-13 (ESV)
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.

David’s whole being is affected by his distress, so he asks God to give him grace.  “My strength fails because of my iniquity” shows that he is very aware of his sins to the point where he agonizes and is very grieved over them.  On top of all that, his enemies have ruined his reputation.  He is assumed to be a criminal, on the run from the law.  He is “forgotten like one who is dead,” feeling all alone, broken, abandoned, betrayed, deserted.  He hears the whispers, the slanders about him because of his enemies’ lies.  He knows they are plotting and trying to kill him.

Yet look again at verse 9.  Because of all of this, he asks God for grace.  He faced what was hurting and wounding him…because he still had hope in God his fortress.  Are we the same?

Psalms 31:14-18 (ESV)
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.

Verse 14 inspires me to no end.  David trusts in God.  He doesn’t turn away from him.  In spite of all the trouble, the pain, the betrayals…he still knows God is with him and will always be with him.

“My times are in your hand” likely refers to periods of time, appointed seasons.  David knows that God is his fortress.  He knows that God holds in his hand the time which he has allotted for David to live on this earth, so he asks God to extend that time by rescuing him from his enemies.

Verse 16 is a model for my own prayers, and it can be for yours as well.  David is basically asking God to look favorably on him.  He’s crying out, “Save me!  I know your love for me is steadfast!  I know you will save me and keep me from harm!”

He also asks God to not let his enemies put him to shame, but rather to put his enemies to shame.  Let “Sheol” (the grave) silence their lies.  Romans 12:17-21 promises us a day of reckoning for evildoers.  David knew this, and trusted that God would help him.  We must have that same confident expectation.

Psalms 31:19-22 (ESV)
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.

David’s prayer in this psalm is not just about asking for help, solace, and salvation from his enemies.  Notice how he also takes time to praise God and his goodness.  Even more noteworthy is how David sees how God’s kindness is shown not just to him, but to everyone who fears him and takes refuge in him.  What a lesson for us!  

Verse 20 makes me wonder about how much of God’s providential, “behind the scenes” working in our lives is kept secret from us so that we never know about it.  It helps me realize that whatever hardship is in my life would likely be much worse if not for God’s protection (cf. Job 1-2).

Verses 21-22 shows us how David can see God’s love even in the midst of the unimaginable stress and pain of being in a besieged city.  He still felt alarm, true.  There were times when he thought he was cut off from God’s sight.  Yet what helped his faith and hope — his confident expectation in God — to stay strong and grow stronger was his acknowledgment that God heard him and helped him.  We must do the same.

Psalms 31:23-24 (ESV)
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!

David wants others to love God like he does.  He wants others to know that God takes care of the faithful and punishes the prideful.  We likewise must want others to know of God’s goodness!  (Mk. 16:15)

“Courage” (v. 24) means in Hebrew to “show yourself to be strong.”  David wants others to grow closer to God, as must we.  That will only happen if one’s hope — confident expectation — in God is strong like David’s.  Only when we see God as our fortress and salvation in spite of the trials of life, as David did, will we have this same strength and courage.

Are we like David?  Are we flawed, yes, but still choosing to come back to God, still striving to grow closer to God in spite of our shortcomings and in spite of the hardships?  Maybe even because of them?