In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
Psalm 31 belongs among David's songs that teach trust and confidence in God and give instruction and comfort for life's different conditions. As one of the Psalms that speak to every kind of human experience, it helps the soul in discouragement, strengthens in trial, comforts in grief, warns against sin, and points to God as able and willing to save. Like many Psalms it moves from a sense of need to triumph and confidence in God.
Trust is to be placed in the Lord rather than in oneself, riches, or friends, because earthly supports fail in times of trial. The Lord in whom that trust is placed is a strong tower and secure refuge, who is Christ. The prayer is that the one who so trusts will never be put to shame and will be delivered in God's righteousness. Such trust gives ground for confidence that God will not abandon or cut off the one who trusts, since to do so would contradict his promise to watch over the righteous and hear their cries.
Prophetically the psalm is a picture revealing Christ's inner experience in suffering and in his struggles with the enemy. Its appeal for deliverance expresses the trust and distress he felt when tempted, showing how he suffered when tempted. It points to his experience of human suffering, including sickness and the pouring out of his soul unto death.
Psalm 31 belongs among David's songs that teach trust and confidence in God and give instruction and comfort for life's different conditions. As one of the Psalms that speak to every kind of human experience, it helps the soul in discouragement, strengthens in trial, comforts in grief, warns against sin, and points to God as able and willing to save. Like many Psalms it moves from a sense of need to triumph and confidence in God.
Trust is to be placed in the Lord rather than in oneself, riches, or friends, because earthly supports fail in times of trial. The Lord in whom that trust is placed is a strong tower and secure refuge, who is Christ. The prayer is that the one who so trusts will never be put to shame and will be delivered in God's righteousness. Such trust gives ground for confidence that God will not abandon or cut off the one who trusts, since to do so would contradict his promise to watch over the righteous and hear their cries.
Prophetically the psalm is a picture revealing Christ's inner experience in suffering and in his struggles with the enemy. Its appeal for deliverance expresses the trust and distress he felt when tempted, showing how he suffered when tempted. It points to his experience of human suffering, including sickness and the pouring out of his soul unto death.