'Sharing Christ's love in deed and truth.' Apostle John
Albany Presbyterian Church
Albany Presbyterian Church
Psalm 31 is a Psalm of confidence that reveals how David found inner strength flowing from his faith in God. The key principle it teaches is this: it was through prayer that David’s faith was built and his inner strength to face the trials was secured. The key practices of prayer that strengthen our faith that we’ve seen so far are these: David pinpointed his prayers – personalized his prayers – poured out his heart in prayer and pursued God’s grace and mercy through prayer. Today we focus on the last practice in prayer that strengthens our faith and finish our devotions on Psalm 31 as we study VV. 16-24. We left David in the last devotion pursuing God’s grace through refocusing on the future – releasing his tears – reminding God of his great need and relinquishing control to The Lord. David prays, “But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in Your hand.” David is not fatalistic but full of faith. David places his life, times and all the unknowns in God’s hands. Yes, it’s true that our times are already in God’s hands whether we realize it or not but it’s important that we remember this in prayer! One writer put it this way: “God’s hands are the safest place in the world. There is no better place to true our life and the length of our life.” David trusts God to bring justice in His time not David’s time. We see this in V. 16-18 - “Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me. 16 Make Your face shine upon Your servant; Save me for Your mercies’ sake. 17 Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You; Let the wicked be ashamed; Let them be silent in the grave.” What we see in the remainder of the Psalm is David praising God for His goodness! We see the process of prayer the psalmist’s often went through: beginning with their personal issues in prayer, pouring out their hearts and seeking God’s mercy, and then putting their faith in God and praising God as the Psalm ends! We see that David going through this process of prayer leads to a faith in The Lord that is even deeper and knowing that His strength is in Him! This also reminds us that there is strength in praising God for who He is because it puts the focus on the greatness of our God and not the greatness of our problems. When you stare at a 2-dimensional picture at a particular point long enough you begin to see things from a 3-dimensional perspective. This is what happens as we praise God! Praise is ultimately upward focused as we look up in praise but we see that in his praising of God David closes the psalm with a multi-directional focus: looking ahead – looking back – looking around and looking within. Let’s take each one of these to learn a bit more about the power of praising God and how it strengthens us. We see David looking ahead in praise in VV. 19-20 - 19 “Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men! 20 You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a [i]pavilion From the strife of tongues.” As David looks up to God telling Him how abundant His goodness really is he reflects on what God’s greatness means for the future. Throughout this Psalm David has been dealing with his trials, his enemies, and pain. It’s not that everything has changed for David but his perspective and faith have been strengthened through his time in prayer. As the psalm comes to completion and he expresses trust in the Lord he is full of praise for what the Lord has stored up for him in the future. “How abundant is Your goodness you have stored up for those who fear You and worked for those who take refuge in You!” We have seen the recent results of panic and people storing up restroom and other essentials for the future. Some of us may have even stored up a few extra items ourselves. I’ve heard stories of warehouses of certain items stacked to the ceiling with more than anyone could possibly use. I’ve even heard that some people want to get their money back now for these items! When it comes to humans hoarding for themselves in fear this may be greedy but when it comes to the abundant goodness of God stored for His people this is amazing grace! This is the picture David gives of what God is doing with His goodness for the future. You can picture a warehouse full with row after row of good things God is going to do in the future! This is the picture David reflects on as He praises God! It’s not because he or we deserve it but because of who God is! God is storing up goodness for those who fear Him and in God’s time He will give us His goodness in this life but especially in the life to come! God has blessing upon blessing to give His people because this is who He is in power and grace! David has come to this understanding through faith in prayer so that He knows this God who is gracious and faithful and therefore works things for our good because of who He is! Our goal is to take refuge in Him and because we trust Him God will bring His goodness into our lives in His time! God’s goal in this is to do this in the sight of the children of mankind! In other words whatever we’re going through we look to God not knowing how He will work things out but as we pray and trust in Him we see Him work in ways that bless us and bring Him glory! Tony Evans tells the story of working as a young man in job where he was persecuted because he was Christian. These men were cheating on their late shift taking time from the boss and they tempted Tony to join them. When he wouldn’t they began to cause great problems for him. Tony was unwilling to cheat the company and they left him with extra work to do. Tony was faithful through some hard times doing extra labor but he didn’t realize that all that time corporate was videoing this. Once they found out they fired the other men but they gave Tony a promotion! Does life work out that quickly like a T.V. sitcom? No! - but as we praise God in prayer our faith and strength grows and we experience God’s presence with us whatever we’re facing. This is what David reminds us of in V. 20 – “In the cover of Your presence You hide us from the plots of men. You store us in Your shelter form the strife of tongues!” One man said about this: “God stores us up, too, in His shelter. He protects us like works of art in a safety-deposit box.” This leads us to the second direction David takes in praise that strengthens him: David looks back as he praises God. We see this in VV. 21-22 21 “Blessed be the Lord, For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a [j]strong city! 22 For I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before Your eyes”; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried out to You.” David’s reflecting of God’s abundant goodness looking ahead in praise to what’s in store reminds him of just how much God has already blessed him in the past! Nostalgia can be dangerous but when we think about God’s greatness in the future our looking back can become another way to praise God for who He is and fortify our strength in Him even more! David knew God had already shown His steadfast love in the middle of the trials. Sure he had felt at times that God had left him but David came to realize this simply was not true. Why? because he recalls how God heard his cry for help and that God was right there with Him giving David goodness and strength through His presence in the middle of the trials! When Christians talk about God’s goodness when it comes to love ones they’ve lost, trials they’ve come through, and things they don’t presently understand it shows how God is pouring out His goodness right now as He has many times! He is with us right now and worthy of our praise in the highs, lows, or in between! We see the third direction in VV. 23 - 23 “Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.” Here David looks around at other believers as he praises God! Is’nt this amazing? David has gone through this process of prayer ending with praise to God and what he wants most is for others to love and praise God also! David is loving the Lord – praising God for His abundant goodness and he wants all the saints to Love Him! It’s a passionate plea – Oh Love The Lord – ALL you His saints! David is saying follow the model of prayer I’ve expressed: trust God in your trials – get real with him in prayer and most of all love Him – adore Him and praise Him for all His goodness because this will only strengthen your faith in Him and give you what you need to continue on! The final direction of David’s praise to God is found in the final verse – V. 24. “24 Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” David looks inwardly at his heart and calls all believers to do this as we praise God! Be of good courage! Why? Because God wants to strengthen you inwardly in your heart! This is what this Psalm has been all about: strength for the battles of this life that is found through faith in prayer! This Psalm does not sugar coat reality. When we come to prayer, worship, and God’s Word it should equip us for the battles of this life because our faith is renewed and we’re refreshed with God’s presence and power who is with us to the very end!
God’s blessings
Pastor Ben