The Lord’s Day
8 May 2011 (Mother’s Day)
Psalm 31
Prayer Saturated in the Character of God in Light of God’s Covenant Faithfulness
Job was right when he said, Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble (Job 14:1). I can state that positively. You will have a few good days, or as my old friend Flash Gordon would say, Ever[y] dog has his day.
It’s not the good times but bad times that raise questions about God in our minds. In fact, if all of life in a fallen world were good, we would not think of God at all. It seems then that God has a redeeming and sanctifying purpose in our trouble. If we are to love, trust, and hope in God alone, we must become convinced that the present age offers no answers, no hope, and no future. Trials, suffering, and adversity are God’s agents of grace to wean us off this world and direct us to hope in God alone.
Psalm 31 shows us the relationship between God, our trouble, and prayer. The psalm focuses on the person and character of God in light of our trouble and God’s faithfulness.
Think for a moment about David’s life. Psalm 31 is not about one event in the life of David. The psalm is about God’s faithfulness throughout David’s life. In the years between David’s anointing by Samuel, the establishment of his kingdom, and his death, David had occasion after occasion to pray Psalm 31 type prayers.
From the day of his anointing until he was made king of Judah, not months but years passed. From the time Judah declared David their king, another 7 years passed before all of Israel was united under David’s rule. The years before and during his reign were filled with one difficulty after another.
When he was a boy, David was anointed by Samuel. Soon afterwards, he was made Saul’s armor-bearer and killed Goliath. Saul became insanely jealous of David. For the rest of Saul’s life, Saul sought to kill David. In an effort to kill David, Saul offered David first one daughter and then another in exchange for David fighting the Philistines. When Philistines could not kill David, Saul conspired with His own servants to kill him. David fled, pretended to be crazy, hid in a cave, ate the showbread, saved a city from the Philistines, spared Saul’s life twice, encountered a fool and married his widow, lived with the Philistines, experienced the theft of his wives and children along with the wives and children of his men, and defeated the Amalekites and got all them back. All of this took place in years not months, and David had not reigned 1 day as of yet.
I don’t know about you, but if I were anointed king, I would expect to reign and for life to improve dramatically. Yet, David’s anointing and the intervening years before He reigned foreshadow the incarnation of Christ and the years until his suffering, death, and resurrection to the place of all authority (Matt 28:18-20; Psa 2; Rom 1: 1-6; Phil 2:11,12). This is also indicative of the Christian’s life—suffering then reigning with Christ.
Time fails us to tell of the reign of David—of the intrigue, war, deception, treason, a wife who had a love/hate relationship with him, murder, adultery, incest, and betrayal that plagued his house after he was made king. All of the events of David’s life—the good, the bad, and the ugly—show that God not only established the Davidic kingdom but also preserved it. David had more than his share of stress and misfortune. Yet, throughout his life, the goodness and faithfulness of God is the solitary theme.
What becomes clear in the Samuel material is that God is establishing the Davidic kingdom in a way that leaves no doubt that it is God’s doing. In the end no one can blame David with Saul’s downfall, and David can take no credit for the establishment of his own kingdom, the uniting of Israel under his rule, and enduring nature of the his dynasty.
Psalm 31 is about the righteousness, goodness, faithfulness, sovereignty, and loving-kindness of God in all of the experiences of our lives. It is chockfull of covenantal language. The psalm is a prayer that grows out a life lived in covenant with God. The psalmist finds God to be good, faithful, and loving in all of the circumstances of his life. He calls on the congregation in light of God faithfulness to respond to God in faith, hope, and love (e.g. vv23-24).
In Psalm 31, as he does in other psalms, goes through two rounds of praying. Both are intense, but the second is notched up a bit. Verses 1-8 make up the first round. The psalmist pleads for God to hear and deliver while making a declaration of trust that God would hear and answer his prayer. In verses 9-20, the sequence is repeated. In verses 9-13, there is a plea leading to a lament. In verses 14-20, there is a further plea interwoven with statement of trust. The psalm ends with a statement of thanksgiving (vv21-22) and an exhortation to the people of God to love, trust, and hope in God (vv 23-24).
The psalmist lays hold of the character of God in light of the covenant faithfulness of God. (vv1-20) When we speak of the attributes of God we have to be careful to realize that His attributes are who He is. They are not abstract qualities, which merely describe God. They are not standards outside of God that He is obligated to live up to. For example, God’s goodness is not a standard He lives up to. Rather, His goodness is who He is and what he does. God himself is the standard of goodness. The same can be said for all of God’s attributes. To speak of God’s attributes is to speak personally of God. Each attribute describes the whole nature of God. (Revelation and Reason: New Essays in Reformed Apologetics, Oliphint and Tipton, eds. “Divine Aseity and Apologetics,” pp 115-116).
In this psalm, David is speaking personally and relationally to God.
The Righteousness of God vv1-2
The psalmist does not plead his own righteousness and faithfulness, but the righteousness and faithfulness of God. The prayer lacks boasting or self-pity. There is no pride in it. He is not saying, I do not deserve this; or What I have done to deserve this? or I deserve better than this. He is simply casting himself on the covenant faithfulness of God. The psalmist wants God to save Him because of God’s own mercy not because of the psalmist’s faithfulness.
Because God is righteous, whatever God does is right. The psalmist cries out to the covenant God who is right. Because of God’s covenant faithfulness, we take refuge (v1 refuge, v2 rock, refuge, fortress, v3 rock, fortress, v4 refuge) in Him, knowing it is a righteous thing with Him to deliver His people. If we trust in God’s righteousness alone as the ground of our deliverance, we will never experience shame, that is, the shame of believing in a God who does not keep His promises.
The Honor of God’s Name vv3-5
It is inconceivable to the psalmist that the God who is righteous would fail to deliver His people. The psalmist made clear in verse 1 that his deliverance was on the basis of God’s righteousness not the psalmist’s own goodness. Because God is righteous, for the sake of His own Name, he leads, guides, and rescues his people. Because of what God has done in His loving-kindness, He delivers us from the snare.
He does not save us for the greatness of our Name, but for the glory of His own Name.
Yes, But how far can you take this? You can take this to your grave (v5a). The words of v5a are the last words and prayer of the Lord Jesus. These are not words of boast. They are words of trust and faith. Three days later God raised Him from the dead. Real, saving faith is faith that holds to God to the end, knowing that God always vindicates His own, even it means raising them from the dead.
Commenting on these words (into thy hands I commit my spirit), an elderly gentleman told me once that they constitute a picture of saving faith. As Jesus committed His spirit and gave it up to God, salvation comes when we give ourselves over to Christ.
The world schemes, plots, and plans evil. It lays traps for its victims. We are not to adopt the ways of the world. We trust God. He is the faithful God who counts His righteousness ours and redeems us for His own Name’s sake. He redeems us, even from death.
The Steadfast-Love of God vv6-8
How different is faith in the covenant God and the faith of idol worshippers. Idolatry is fundamentally different than the worship of Yahweh. As Al Mohler pointed out, we worship a God we cannot see but who has spoken, and we have heard His voice. Idolaters worship gods that can be seen but cannot speak. The contrast goes further in this psalm. Idols can be seen but they cannot see; they cannot know; and they cannot deliver. Yahweh, the God of loving-kindness cannot be seen, but He sees, knows, and delivers.
No one who bows to an idol expects that idol on the basis if its righteousness, for the honor of its name, because of its loving-kindness to deliver. Clearly, the psalmist shows that faith in the covenant keeping God is faith in the God who saves us on the basis of His own righteousness for His own glory. All other approaches to God are idolatrous.
When Jonah was in the belly of the fish, he took up v6 in his praying. He worded it this way: Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love (Jon. 2:8). How was Jonah going to get out of the fish? Think his way out? Scheme his way out? Suggest to the fish that he regurgitate near shore. No. Jonah came to this conclusion: Salvation belongs to the LORD! (Jon. 2:9). The loving-kindness of God reaches to a wayward prophet somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea in the belly of a great fish. Jonah was not in the belly of the fish because he was an idolater. He was in the belly of the fish because he was mad at God for being who God is when it came to people other than Jonah himself.
The concept of idolatry is a narrowing position. God is reduced to One who is more manageable, comprehendible, but totally stripped of sovereignty. When, however, we embrace Him for Whom He has revealed himself to be, we find that God puts our feet in a broad place. The psalmist comprehends his trials in light of the loving-kindness of God and is glad (v7). God sees our affliction, knows our distress, and puts our feet in broad place (vv7-8).
The Grace of God Vv9-13
God is gracious. Grace is not a substance. Grace is a person. It is impossible to know God and not know grace. To know grace is to experience God in covenant mercy. In verses 9-13, the psalmist pleads the grace of God’s covenant mercy because of his sin and his enemies.
The reality of our own sin (vv9-10). The reality of the
Psalmist’s own sin was impacting him emotionally and physically. The psalmist must rely on the grace of God to escape both the condemnation of God and self-condemnation. We need to realize a few things about condemnation. First, no matter how right we are, our rightness is tainted by sin. Second, my attempts at condemnation are tainted by sin too. If my rightness is tainted by sin, I am in no position to condemn anybody, even myself. We love to play God and wield the gavel of condemnation. How unlike God we are. If God condemns us, we are condemned. If God justifies us, we are justified. Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. How can I rely on grace and expect others to face the condemnation of law?
In the trials of his life, David learned that he was prone to sin, even when he was right. He prays for God’s grace to deliver him from his own sin and the sin of others.
The reality of the sin of others (vv. 11-13). We need the grace of God to deal with the sin the of others as much as with our own sin. David seems to be on the run in these verses. He feels forsaken by everyone. This situation would have been true of David more than once. He ran from Saul. He ran from his son Absalom. In those times, to know David was risky business. Saul slaughtered the priests of Nob for association with David. God killed Nabal for not helping David.
David needed the grace of God. He needed to know that God looked favorably on him even if everyone else treated him as one who did not exist.
The phrase terror on every side became a favorite of Jeremiah. He used it 6 times. Jeremiah seems to have captured the context of Psalm 31 when he used this phrase in 20:10. Jeremiah accuses God of deceiving him and causing everyone to turn against him. He experiences terror on every side as people plot to do him harm. Yet, because God’s word had become a fire in his bones, he could be silent. Between his laments and cursing the day of his birth, Jeremiah’s faith sores: But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior (c.f. Ps 31:13-14; Terror … but I trust).
People can get against you in this world to the point that it becomes a politically correct thing to hate you. When you find yourself in that position, it will be your lowest day. You can feel that even God is against you. Preaching God’s grace to yourself is the only way to keep your sanity. Were it not for the grace of God that burden could not be borne. Beware of those who try to recruit you to look was disdain on someone. You can look at this psalm and see which side of right that is on.
The Sovereignty and Steadfast-Love of God vv14-18
Often the sovereignty of God is approached like steel. We discuss it as if we are talking about something other than God. Yet, in Scripture, God’s sovereignty is personal. Ephesians 1:4b-6 says, In love, He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.
The psalmist, using the most personal language, says that the events of his life were absolutely in God’s control. That becomes an impetus to confess his trust in and relationship to God (v14) and to ask for God’s blessing on the basis of God’s covenant love.
The sovereign love of God opened the psalmist to the possibilities. God not only could but would rescue him (v15), vindicate his faith (v17), and shame his enemies. The psalmist knows God and the Word of God. He grounds his request in the benediction of Numbers 6 (v15). He knows that it is impossible for lying, proud, contemptuous people to avoid shame, and it is impossible for those who trust God to be shamed.
In love, God has purposed good for his people. Paul said, For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him (1Thess 5:9). The Goodness of God Vv19-20
Whatever God does is good because God is good. Here we see all of God’s goodness in store for His people. The idea is that God’s goodness toward His people is as limitless as God is. There is no end to it. He pours out His goodness on His people in the face of their enemies.
Enemies plot and plan against those whom God has covered and hid and sheltered in His Presence. The more the enemy plots and attacks, the more goodness God pours on His people. This is frustrating for the enemies of God’s people. When Balak hired Balaam to curse God’s people. Balaam said, I can’t curse what God has blessed.”
Notice the contrast in the wicked and those who fear the Lord. The wicked are absented from God’s goodness in the Sheol, but those who fear the LORD and take refuge in Him are hidden in God’s goodness.
The psalmist praises God for His faithfulness and exhorts God’s people to do as he has done—love, trust and hope in God. vv21-24
After contemplating in prayer the character of God working in all of his trials in covenant faithfulness, the psalmist was over-whelmed with praise. It was in his trials that the Psalmist saw most clearly the steadfast-love of God. In a besieged city is the idea of a fortified city and the attack of the enemy. This language seems to be metaphorical for all the psalmist has told us in the psalm. When things looked bleak, the psalmist said in haste I am cut off from your sight. God, however, heard the cry of the psalmist.
God is our fortress, refuge, and rock. He is a strong city. He hears our cries, even when we feel like we are cut off from Him. He pulls us out of the trap, covers us in His Presence, and puts our feet in a broad place.
Not only did the psalmist praise God personally. He also praised God corporately. In fact, the psalmist has rehearsed the character of God in his trials for the purpose of encouraging us to do the same. God’s loving-kindness in our most difficult days compels us to love, trust, and hope in the LORD (vv. 23-24).
We must set our affections on the LORD. He preserves those who trust Him. Hope in the LORD fortifies your heart. Recount all of your trials in light of the character of God. You will find that He is faithful. What Psalm 31 teaches us about God and prayer.
The character of God and prayer
The psalmist laid hold of the character of God in light of God’s covenant faithfulness. He considered God in his trouble and his trouble in light of God and all that he knew to be true of God. The very foundation of all prayer is the faithfulness of God and His loving-kindness toward us in Jesus Christ. The occasion of prayer From the language of the psalm, we understand its focus is not a single event but various trials of life. In fact, the occasion of prayer is life. God in His goodness and faithfulness and loving-kindness is teaching us in the trials of life to trust Him, love Him, and hope in Him. He gives us no shortage of opportunities to hope in Him.
We mentioned a litany of ups and downs in David’s life that evoked prayer. In the psalm David needs shelter and deliverance and is concerned about shame (vv1-2). He needs guidance and protection from traps set by his enemies (vv3-5). His inner turmoil is so great that he feels his life ebbing away, and he is weakened because of his sin (vv9-10). Those who know him avoid him like the plague. He is abandoned and feels worthless (vv11-13). He prays for the shame and death of his enemies (vv 17-18). He needs the blessing and safety of God’s benediction (vv16, 20). Not only did he feel abandoned by people. He also felt as if God had abandoned him (v 22).
In life, God gives us occasions for prayer. He is teaching us to hope in Him, trust Him, and love Him.
The Language of Prayer
From this psalm, we learn the language of prayer. Ray posted some excerpts on his blog from Bonhoeffer’s Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible that are instructive regarding prayer. Bonhoeffer says,
“So we learn to speak to God because God has spoken to us and speaks to us.” (11)
“If we wish to pray with confidence and gladness, then the words of Holy Scripture will have to be the solid basis of our prayer.” (11-12)
If we are to pray aright, perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important, but what God wants us to pray. The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart.” (14-15). ( 29 March 2011 post, http://rayvanneste.com/ accessed on 22 April 2011) The language of prayer is the Word of God. Jesus prayed the Word of God. In fact, His last words were verse 5 of this psalm (Steven, Luther Knox, and Huss and others have followed Jesus). From the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed, Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love (Jon. 2:8), which is drawn from verse 6 of this psalm. Jeremiah found a phrase in this psalm that he repeated no less than 6 times (Jer. 6:25; 20:3-4; 20:10; 46:5; 49:29; Lam. 2:22), terror on every side (v13). David prayed the words of the Law in this psalm (v15).
Our praying needs to be reformed by the Word of God. Sin invades our praying at every point. As Bonhoeffer said, we believe our deceptive hearts and expect God to as well. We try to manipulate God by the way we express ourselves in prayer. We try to hide the truth about ourselves behind the pious language of prayer. Psalm 31 gives encouragement to come out from behind our prayers get real about ourselves and God in prayer. Use this psalm to pray.
The Perspective of Prayer
When you read this psalm, you get the feeling that the psalmist knew God. This psalm has relationship written all over it. The psalm is passionate and emotionally charged from the beginning. This kind of praying is not a Christian chore to be checked off the spiritual “to do list.” In fact, the longer the psalmist prays the more intense, descriptive, and confessional his praying becomes.
This is prayer that flows from knowing God. This is prayer from a perspective of grace not of condemnation. The psalmist is not approaching God trying somehow to earn God’s favor. Prayer is a matter of grace from start to finish. So why hold back? Why go in fearing rejection? He went in relying on the grace of God alone. Psalm 31 exudes this perspective.
To aid in our perspective in prayer, Psalm 31 teaches us to avoid both triumphalism; cold, dead, formal orthodoxy; and defeatism. 1.) Triumphalism. In popular western Christianity, the gospel has become health, wealth, and victory. The idea is that Jesus suffered so you don’t have to. It seems to me that this is psychotic Christianity. It is a complete and total denial of the reality all around us. I can’t see how that anybody can hold to such triumphalistic balderdash and avoid complete disillusionment. Even the most able among these disciples age and die.
Yet, we do buy into triumphalistic patterns. The aim and scope of our lives is security, comfort, and trouble-free living. We think, If I can make it through this trial, I’ll be ok, as if our trial is the mother of all trials, the end all of trials. The problem with this is life is a series of trials. What awaits you at the end of the present trial is another trial.
We need our trials; we need to know them and know God in them. Trials are part of God’s redemptive activity. Faith in the present trial shows the genuineness of faith. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, …if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious that gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
What is God doing in my present trial? He is showing the validity of my faith in Christ so that I will not experience shame in the final day. What testifies to the validity of a past profession of faith is the present reality of faith.
David’s life was a series of trials. Notice in this psalm how he responds in faith to every trial. The psalm is filled with the language of faith. The psalmist believes that God is sovereign over his trials and will ultimately deliver him and defeat his enemies. Unlike the triumphalistic theology of our day, the psalmist saw God’s good purpose in his trials.
2.) Psalm 31 also help us avoid cold, dead, formal orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is good, but if it is cold and dead and formal can it really be called orthodoxy? Rolfe Barnard, a Calvinist evangelist, used to say that the deadest place this side of hell is grace churches. A few weeks ago, Lee said that if you don’t think the gospel is too good to be true, you haven’t heard the gospel rightly. I want to add, if your heart is not stirred by the gospel, you are not hearing it rightly. If David was vile in his dancing before the ark, he is doubly vile in his praying. Psalm 31 is charged with passion. For example, verses 1, 5, 9, 14, and 17 say, O Lord. Exclamation points reside at the end of 7 of 25 sentences.
In Psalm 31, David builds his prayer around what he knows to be true of God in light of the covenant. David’s faith is orthodox, but it is far from cold, dead, and formal. It is teeming with life.
Defeatism. Some have no expectation in the Christian life. Life and its
trials are just accepted. We don’t think about them or theologize about them; we just think this is the way life is. This is a kind of Christian fatalism. Psalm 31 praying is not resignation with no expectation.
If the triumphalist creates victory when he doesn’t have it, the defeatist lives with the expectation of defeat when he doesn’t have to. To both the triumphalist and the defeatist, every victory we have in this life is a victory on the battlefield. Yet, ultimate victory is promised.
We are coming to the Lord’s Table in anticipation of ultimate victory. God raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him as His reward all authority and power. Christ Jesus defeated sin, Satan and death and turned away the wrath of God from our souls. In this present age while the battle rages in our lives and around the world, we gather here briefly at the Lord’s Table not to pretend there is no battle or to wallow in defeat but to renew our expectation that Christ keeps His promises and to anticipate the day of ultimate victory when He will gather us at His table in exalted glory.