A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise

Psalm 31 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise. A Psalm of David.

In You, Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be put to shame;
In Your righteousness rescue me.
² Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
Be a rock of strength for me,
A stronghold to save me.
³ For You are my rock and my fortress;
For the sake of Your name 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 entrust my spirit;
You have redeemed me, Lord, God of truth.

⁶ I hate those who devote themselves to worthless idols,
But I trust in the Lord.
⁷ I will rejoice and be glad in Your faithfulness,
Because You have seen my misery;
You have known the troubles of my soul,
⁸ And You have not handed me over to the enemy;
You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹ Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body too.
¹⁰ For my life is spent with sorrow
And my years with sighing;
My strength has failed because of my guilt,
And my body has wasted away.
¹¹ Because of all my adversaries, I have become a disgrace,
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 like a dead person, 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, Lord,
I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵ My times are in Your hand;
Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.
¹⁶ Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me in Your faithfulness.
¹⁷ Let me not be put to shame, 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 speechless,
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 performed for those who take refuge in You,
Before the sons of mankind!
²⁰ You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of mankind;
You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
²¹ Blessed be the Lord,
For He has shown His marvelous faithfulness to me in a besieged city.
²² As for me, I said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You heard the sound of my pleadings
When I called to You for help.

²³ Love the Lord, all His godly ones!
The Lord watches over the faithful
But fully repays the one who acts arrogantly.
²⁴ Be strong and let your heart take courage,
All you who wait for the Lord.

The thing that impressed me most about today’s text is the subtitle, A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise. A Psalm of David.  David, called by God as a man after God’s own heart, did not hesitate to make his complaint known to the Lord. He didn’t though complain about God. He praised Him and acknowledged His goodness and faithfulness. 

The Psalmist says: In You, Lord, I have taken refuge; Let me never be put to shame; In Your righteousness rescue me. Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly; Be a rock of strength for me, A stronghold to save me. For You are my rock and my fortress; For the sake of Your name You will lead me and guide me. You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength. Into Your hand I entrust my spirit; You have redeemed me, Lord, God of truth.  There is another who said in His lowest time, Into Your hand I entrust my spirit. In Luke 23:46, when Jesus was on the cross, it says: Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I entrust My spirit.” And having said this, He died.  Jesus though was not redeemed, but rather He is the redeemer. Will we, even in our times of difficulty and desperation, entrust our lives to God? It is the only way that we can truly know His faithfulness.

The psalmist says: 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. But as for me, I trust in You, Lord, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand; Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me in Your faithfulness. Let me not be put to shame, Lord, for I call upon You; Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol. Let the lying lips be speechless, Which speak arrogantly against the righteous With pride and contempt.  There are times when it seems as though evil is winning out over good, that darkness is eclipsing the light, like the psalmist we need the face of the Lord to shine on us. His light will dispel the darkness. Although it may seem like everything is against us, Romans 8:31-39 says: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Just as it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Because Jesus entrusted His spirit to God, we are redeemed and restored. We are raised up with Him and can confidently say: I trust in You, Lord, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand.

With the psalmist I say: Love the Lord, all His godly ones! The Lord watches over the faithful But fully repays the one who acts arrogantly. Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who wait for the Lord. Amen.