Day 31 of Searching the Psalms

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can
learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly.


Psalm 31 (NIV)


1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to me,
come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
3 Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;
deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.


6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols;
as for me, I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love,
for you saw my affliction
and knew the anguish of my soul.
8 You have not given me into the hands of the enemy
but have set my feet in a spacious place.


9 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
my soul and body with grief.
10 My life is consumed by anguish
and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,
and my bones grow weak.
11 Because of all my enemies,
I am the utter contempt of my neighbors
and an object of dread to my closest friends—
those who see me on the street flee from me.
12 I am forgotten as though I were dead;
I have become like broken pottery.
13 For I hear many whispering,
“Terror on every side!”
They conspire against me
and plot to take my life.


14 But I trust in you, Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hands;
deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
from those who pursue me.
16 Let your face shine on your servant;
save me in your unfailing love.
17 Let me not be put to shame, Lord,
for I have cried out to you;
but let the wicked be put to shame
and be silent in the realm of the dead.
18 Let their lying lips be silenced,
for with pride and contempt
they speak arrogantly against the righteous.


19 How abundant are the good things
that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,
on those who take refuge in you.
20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from all human intrigues;
you keep them safe in your dwelling
from accusing tongues.


21 Praise be to the Lord,
for he showed me the wonders of his love
when I was in a city under siege.
22 In my alarm I said,
“I am cut off from your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
when I called to you for help.


23 Love the Lord, all his faithful people!
The Lord preserves those who are true to him,
but the proud he pays back in full.
24 Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the Lord.

Comments

  1. Brad ArnoldAugust 31, 2020 at 10:12 AM

    I last read this Psalm in my own devotional time on Juneteenth, a significant day for me personally protesting police brutality and seeing how rough the police can unnecessarily be firsthand toward a Black man. V. 5 and 24 have always been the 2 key verses. I commit myself to You, Lord, today, as much as I know how to. Help me to continue to take courage in being bold with love for those lost especially new friends meeting in the park after Anthony's funeral yesterday.

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  2. KathleenAugust 31, 2020 at 1:43 PM

    In the Douay this psalm is subtitled "In te , Domini, Speravi" (In You, God, I trust) - "A Prayer of a Just Man Under Affliction"

    Even though just, David has suffered much affliction and persecution and still puts his trust and hope in God. His faith was from his youth and upbringing. What of those who have no faith training in their youth, and even do evil to others? Can they still have hope even though they are not just? Doesn't God send the sun to rise on the evil and the good? On those who do not know and love Him as well as those who do?

    What, then, is our obligation as "just' Christians? Most of us go about our lives with good intentions, trying to avoid dealing with angry or unjust people. Of course we have to deal with our families, our neighbors and our coworkers and among them there may be "just" as well as "unjust." But what about those who so unjustly treat people that they are justly put into prison...thieves and murderers? Is prison ministry a rare calling, or a calling that is rarely heard or answered? Who is at fault for the great failings of those in prison? and the falling back? Parents? Schools? Churches? Government? Society at Large? Me?

    Jesus did not come to point fingers. He came to be our example and to set captives free ( not to physically open prison doors but to actually set us free from the captivity of sin). He did not come for the righteous. I can hardly call myself righteous, but there must be some way that I can help Him in His mission of setting captives free.

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  3. Joyce C.September 2, 2020 at 5:45 AM

    Time and time again God has proven Himself to be Faithful. In the many years David was on the run from his enemies, God kept him safe and protected him from death and the grave. Verse 19 sums it up for me, "How great is your goodness which you have stored up for those who fear you...on those who take refuge in you." Trusting in the only One who can keep us through whatever may befall, hiding in the shelter of His Presence, resting in the shadow of His wings, where we are safe and secure, it is there we find Him to be Faithful.

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