NOVEMBER 21, 2023
“But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.” (Psalm 31:14)
This psalm is addressed to “the chief musician” and is yet another psalm of David. Undoubtedly, the inscription that attributes it to David is correct and that he was the author. However, the occasion on which it was composed has yet to be discovered. Most Jewish and Christian interpreters had supposed that it was written when David was in the wilderness of Maon and having been betrayed (as to the place of his retreat) by the Ziphites, he was hotly pursued by Saul and his host. However, the particular case doesn’t matter because there were many occasions to which it would be equally applicable.
The general purpose of the psalm is to inspire confidence in God in the hearts of others based on the experience of the psalmist and the manifested favor by which he had been brought through his troubles. The psalm refers to the dangers surrounding its author at the time of writing and his calm confidence in God amid those dangers.
There can be no doubt that the psalmist was in trouble or danger when he penned this psalm, yet he prayed earnestly at that time for deliverance. In the psalm, he clearly refers to former crises and the deliverances God had granted him in such times. He seeks and derives consolation and assurance from the dealings that God has shown him. In some parts of the psalm, he refers to his present afflictions and in other parts to the trials of time past and the deliverance in those trials. In the entire writing, David indicates the duty of the Christian confiding in God from his own experience of His mercy and reliance on Him.
Enemies plotted to kill him. Friends and neighbors turned their backs, but despite the physical and emotional pains, convictions of sin, reproach, and rejection, David still trusts in the Lord. Adverse circumstances can come in many forms. Persecution, distress, and a feeling of rejection and aloneness may almost crush a believer, but the Lord will never forsake him. He can say with David, “You are my God.” With God on his side, David could feel victorious over every harsh circumstance, which is trust in the truest sense. We need to and should put all our trust in the Lord.
Every believer can feel victorious despite painful situations. Paul explains to the Romans that everything works for good for those who love God. Therefore, believers can look forward to victory over the hardest of experiences and exclaim, “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Rom 8:37) As Paul affirms: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31)
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