In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge

Psalm 31 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed;
In Your righteousness deliver me.
² Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
Be to me a rock of strength, A stronghold to save me.
³ For You are my rock and my fortress;
For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.
⁴ You will 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 ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth.

⁶ I hate those who regard vain idols, But I trust in the Lord.
⁷ I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness,
Because You have seen my affliction; You have known the troubles of my soul,
⁸ And You have not given me over into the hand of the enemy;
You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹ Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also.
¹⁰ For my life is spent with sorrow And my years with sighing;
My strength has failed because of my iniquity, And my body has wasted 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 am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.
¹³ For I have heard the slander of many, Terror is on every side;
While they took counsel together against me, They schemed 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 to shine upon Your servant; Save me in Your lovingkindness.
¹⁷ Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I call upon You;
Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol.
¹⁸ Let the lying lips be mute, Which speak arrogantly against the righteous
With pride and contempt.

¹⁹ How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men!
²⁰ You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
²¹ Blessed be the Lord, For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.
²² As for me, I said in my alarm, “I am cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried to You.

²³ O love the Lord, all you His godly ones! The Lord preserves the faithful
And fully recompenses the proud doer.
²⁴ Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the Lord.

David knew many difficult times in his life. There were times that he suffered as the consequence of his own sin or poor decisions. But much of the time the difficulties and trials he faced were not due to anything he did wrong. They were things that came against him as God’s chosen leader of the Israelites. We too will face difficult times. Sometimes they will be the consequences of decisions we make. Other times it will be the consequence of following God’s path which is contrary to the direction of our society.

Jesus says: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. (John 15:18-20)      Later He continues saying:

 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

So we should not be surprised when we experience difficult times. The accounts of those in scripture are there to encourage us.  In Revelation, when John is seeing the things that will happen at the end of this age he hears these words:

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11"And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. (Revelation  12:10-11)

They and we too overcome first by the blood of the lamb. It is only through the finished work of Jesus Christ that we can stand against and overcome the accuser of the brethren(the devil). There is also power though in the words of testimony.  It is through the testimony of others, the encouragement of those who have gone before us that we gain confidence to face the trials in our own lives.

Paul was another man who faced many difficulties in following and serving Christ. In 2 Corinthians 11:24-26, he list some of the things he endured.         Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. ²⁶ I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren…

 In Philippians 4:11-13 He said:  Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. ¹² I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. ¹³ I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.   

Paul found a contentment and confidence in Christ. He knew that Jesus was faithful to either deliver him from or through the storm.

David, the psalmist takes his testimony to a different level. He says:    In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; In Your righteousness deliver me. ² Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly; Be to me a rock of strength, A stronghold to save me. ³ For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me. ⁴ You will 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 ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth.

In Psalm 91 he says: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”  David understood that the protection and deliverance of God came through abiding in His presence, from dwelling in His shadow.

In and through Christ we have that ability. We have that promise that we are welcome into the presence of God.   Hebrews 4:15-16 says:       For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  

What is your testimony today?  Do you like Paul say:  I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me?   Do you like the psalmist say :  In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge… O love the Lord, all you His godly ones! The Lord preserves the faithful… Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the Lord.

May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen