psalm 31 - discovering the faithfulness of God

Today's reading is from Psalm 31 (Discovering the faithfulness of God).

Introduction:

Life, in reality, is full of ups and downs.

List of concrete troubles and pain: Family breakdown, Fatal sickness, Financial stresses, Failures in life

Can God be trusted?

Discovering the faithfulness of God begins ONLY when we take refuge in God. (ps 31:1,19)

Psalm 31

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ In you, O 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 Free me from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.

⁵ Into your hands I commit my spirit;
redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

⁶ I hate those who cling to worthless idols;
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 handed me over to the enemy
but have set my feet in a spacious place.

⁹ Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
my soul and my 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;
I am a dread to my friends—
those who see me on the street flee from me.

¹² I am forgotten by them as though I were dead;
I have become like broken pottery.

¹³ For I hear the slander of many;
there is terror on every side;
they conspire against me
and plot to take my life.

¹⁴ But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, "You are my God."

¹⁵ My times are in your hands;
deliver me from my enemies
and 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, O LORD,
for I have cried out to you;
but let the wicked be put to shame
and lie silent in the grave.

¹⁸ Let their lying lips be silenced,
for with pride and contempt
they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

¹⁹ How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you,
which you bestow in the sight of men
on those who take refuge in you.

²⁰ In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from the intrigues of men;
in your dwelling you keep them safe
from accusing tongues.

²¹ Praise be to the LORD,
for he showed his wonderful love to me
when I was in a besieged city.

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 saints!
The LORD preserves the faithful,
but the proud he pays back in full.

²⁴ Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the LORD.

A) Resting securely in the Truth of God.

Verse 5: "Into Thy hand I commit my spirit; O God of Truth"

1) Recognise Our need for help (verse 1-4)

"It is OK to ask and call for help. "Don't be ignorant, indifferent and indignant! Ask God for help - FIRST!

¹ In you, O 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 Free me from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.

This reminds me of calling to God for strength whenever I am struggling and asking Him to guide me because it is in Him whom I can find security and rest.

2. Renounce Our Dependence on Idols (v6a)

Vain idols give only temporary relief.

Whatever we depend on, apart from God, is an idol.

This reminds me so much of fourth year, a year which is full of ups and downs. It was a year where I was spiritually low as well. A year when I cooked the most. Whenever I was worried, I looked to cooking for relief. I thought I could find relief by doing so. But the moment the weekend passed and I was back to hospital, my worries came back. Cooking definitely did not relieve any of my worries, instead it was a temporary getaway from studies or rather something I could run to whenever I was meant to be studying. To me, cooking is an idol and I truly say that I depended on cooking quite a lot in my fourth year to give me relaxation.

Ultimately, it is God whom I should be depending on for He cares for me. He is a shepherd who cares for His sheep. I should be surrendering my worries to Him and it is from Him where I get relief.

3. Realign Our Trust in God.

⁶ I hate those who cling to worthless idols;
I trust in the LORD. (verse 6)

"But" CONTRAST (V6b). Two allegiances to follow - temporal relief or eternal rest and renewal. Which should I choose to follow? Follow my idols (cooking) to get temporary relief or follow God to get eternal rest and renewal? I should be trusting in God which means living in confident expectation and resting knowing who is in control.

God of Truth as seen in verse 5. Truth (In Hebrew, it means "Emeth") means stability, steadiness, faithfulness. God is faithful more than we believe.

4. Recommitted life. (v5a)

"Into Thy hands I commit my spirit".

A total surrender of one's life to a faithful God. (v7-13)

B) Resting Securely in the Timing of God

"My times are in Thy hands" (v15)

In the timing of the Lord, we see:

1) The Goodness of God (v19) to provide. Condition: Those who fear God, walking in relationship with God. (Romans 8:28).

²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

I have shared this verse quite a few times about God promise that all things work together for good for those who love Him (Those who fear God, walking in relationship with God). This doesn't mean that all things that happen to us are good - but they work for our good, if we let them. Refer back to my blog entry on Psalm 23 a few days back for this verse in more detail.

2) The Greatness of God (v20,21) to protect - safety and security -struggle with impatience in God's timing. Illust: "Lord, grant me patience NOW!"

3) The Graciousness of God (v22-23) to preserve in spite of unbelief. He may not always lead us away from suffering but He will lead us through and beyond the suffering. His timing is perfect and impeccable! God who preserves the faithful, calls us to persevere (v24)

Reflection:

I felt that it was a bit unnecessary to leave my reflection after every paragraph (for this psalm) I have written because my reflection is almost the same throughout the whole passage. It is easier to write my reflection at the end or I will end up repeating the same reflection throughout the passage when I am writing it. =p There are a few more things which I want to add in. I will probably do it tomorrow in a new entry. For now, this is what I have written so far.

When I am going through struggles, pressures and trials, how my heart long to cry to Him to deliver me from them, to take them away, to not let me go through them. I should rather learn to surrender my life to Him for he is a faithful God. Not my will, but His be done! It is easy to be impatient in God's timing (as Yee Kuan shared to me on fear about the unknown). I am impatient to know the end result of the trial rather than the process of going through it. I should rather ask God to give me the patience and perseverance to endure through the trial and allow everything to happen in His timing rather than my timing. I should rest upon knowing that God is in control of my life and be confident in Him! Trust Him that he will deliver me out of this trial in His timing. I have to come to an end of dependence on myself and rest upon the willingness of God to be at work in me. Instead of putting up a demonstration on why I am going through a trial, I should, in loving and quiet ways, change my whole character until I am like Jesus.

This psalm reminds me that I should look to God for strength and comfort. Trust His love and His faithfulness and the result will be an inner joy and peace and strengthening in the midst of the trial. For the trial that I am going through works for my good. It makes me stronger and more mature. It also teaches me to put my dependence on God and not on external circumstances for comfort and relief. For this I give thanks to God for everything in my life.

Conclusion:

Man's question to God: Can God be trusted?

God's question to man: Can You trust God?

Never give up on God. God's truth is sure.

God's timing is impeccable. God is faithful!

Are you in a situation in which you or your family feel directly or indirectly persecuted for your faith? Or perhaps are you experiencing other sorts of troubles and difficulties? God sees and cares about your circumstances and feelings. Like the psalmist, cry out to Him. Describe the situation, affirm your trust in Him, and call on Him to rescue, vindicate, and give you hope. As Paul said: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Rom. 12:12; cf. 2 Cor. 4:7–12).