Psalm 31 part 1. Gleanings from the Psalms

Verse 1. "In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed." The psalmist has one refuge, and that the best one. He casts out the sheet anchor of his faith in the time of storm – "In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust." "Let me never be ashamed," he says. If David prays against being ashamed, let us strive against it. Lovers of Jesus should be ashamed of being shamed.

Verse 2. "Bow down thine ear to me …" We generally put our ear near to the lips of the sick and dying that we may hear what they say. To this the text alludes. Listen to my complaint, says David; put Thy ear to my lips, that thou mayest hear all that my feebleness is capable of uttering.

Verse 2. "… be thou my strong rock …" What the Lord has promised to be unto us by covenant, we may pray and expect to find Him so. "Be thou my strong rock," says David in this verse, "For thou art my rock" he says in the next.

Verse 3. "… therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me." The argument used is one that is fetched from the armoury of Free Grace: not for my own sake, but for Thy names sake guide me. Our appeal is not to any fancied virtue in our own names, but to the glorious goodness and graciousness which shine resplendent in the character of Israel's God. It is not possible that he Lord should suffer His own honour to be tarnished, but this would certainly be the case if those who trusted in him should perish.

Verse 4. "Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength." Omnipotence cuts the net which men's policy weaves. When we poor puny things are in the net, God is not. The old fable the mouse set free the lion, here the lion liberates the mouse.

Verse 5. "Into thine hand I committ my spirit …" These were the last words of Polycarp, of Bernard, of Huss, of Jerome, of Luther, of Melancthon, and many others. "Blessed are they," says Luther, "who die not only for the Lord, as martyrs; not only in the Lord, as believers; but likewise with the Lord, as breathing forth their lives in these words, 'Into thine hands I committ my spirit.'"

Verse 5. "Into thine hand I commit my spirit …" David committeth his spirit to God that he might not die, but Christ, and all Christians after Him, committ their spirit to God that they might live forever by death, and after death. This psalm is thus connected with the twenty-second psalm. Both of these psalms were used by Christ on the cross. From the twenty-second He derived those bitter words of anguish, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" from the present psalm He derived those last words of love and trust which He uttered just before His death. The Psalter was the hymn book and prayer book of Christ.

Verses 7 and 9. "I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy; for thou hast considered my trouble … Have mercy upon me, O Lord."

Man's plea to men, is, that he never more
Will beg, and the he never begged before:
Man's plea to God, is, that he did obtain
A former suit, and, therefore sues again.
If thou wouldst learn, not knowing how to pray,
Add but a faith, and say as beggars say: –
       Master, I'm poor, and blind, in great distress,
       Hungry, and lame, and cold, and comfortless;
       O succour him that's gravell'd on the shelf
       Of pain and want, and cannot help himself;
       Cast down thine eye upon a wretch and take
       Some pity on me, for sweet Jesus' sake: –
But Hold! Take heed this clause be not put in …
I never begged before, nor will again.

Verse 10. "For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing …" I find that when the saints are under trial and greatly humbled, little sins raise great cries in the conscience; but in prosperity, conscience is a pope that gives dispensations and great latitude to our hearts. The cross is therefore as needful as the crown is glorious.

Gleanings in the Psalms

(Psalm 31)