Psalms 31:1 - Meaning and Application

Faith and prayer must go together. If a person believes, let him pray: “I believed, so I spoke.” And if he prays, let him believe, because the prayer of faith is the prayer that prevails. We see both here. David, in trouble, is very earnest with God for help and relief.

Prayer eases a burdened spirit. It brings in promised mercies and greatly strengthens and comforts the soul as it waits for them. David asks first that God would deliver him (Psalm 31:1). He wants his life protected from his enemies’ malice, and he wants their attacks on him to end. He asks God, not only in mercy but in righteousness, to rescue him as a righteous Judge between him and his unjust persecutors, and to bow down his ear to hear his appeals and deliver him (Psalm 31:2). It is a gracious act from God to notice the case of the greatest and best of people. He lowers himself to do it. The psalmist also asks for quick deliverance, because if help is delayed too long, his faith may fail.

If God does not pull him out of trouble at once, David asks to be guarded in it. “Be my strong rock,” he says, immovable and secure like a natural fortress, and “my house of defense,” a fortress built by skill, all for my safety. So we may pray that God’s providence will keep our lives and comforts safe, and that by his grace we will learn to feel secure in him (Proverbs 18:10).

Because his situation is hard, both in duty and in wisdom, David asks for divine guidance: “Lead me and guide me” (Psalm 31:3). He wants God to order his steps and his spirit, so that he will do nothing unlawful or unjust, nothing against his conscience, and nothing foolish or careless against his own best interest. Those who truly mean to follow God’s direction may pray with confidence for it.

Because his enemies are not only cruel but crafty, David asks God to ruin their plans against him (Psalm 31:4). “Pull me out of the net they have secretly laid for me,” he says, and keep me from the sin, trouble, and death they hope to trap me in.

In this prayer, David also gives glory to God by repeating his trust and dependence on him. That trust encouraged his prayers and fit him to receive the mercies he asked for (Psalm 31:1). “In you, O Lord, I trust,” he says, not in himself, not in his own strength, and not in any creature. “Let me never be ashamed,” meaning, let me not be disappointed of any good you have promised and that I have therefore hoped for in you.

He had chosen God as his protector, and God had promised to be that for him (Psalm 31:3). “You are my rock and my fortress,” he says, by covenant and by believing consent to that covenant. So he asks, “Be my strong rock” (Psalm 31:2). Those who truly own the Lord as theirs may expect the blessing of his being theirs in return, because God’s relation to us brings both the title and the benefit. “You are my strength” (Psalm 31:4). If God is our strength, then he will put his strength within us and also act with his strength for us.

David also gives his soul to God in a special way (Psalm 31:5). “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” If he is thinking of himself as a dying man, these words mean that he gives back his departing soul to God who gave it. At death, the spirit returns to God. People can only kill the body, but David trusts God to redeem his soul from the power of the grave (Psalm 49:15). He is willing to die if God wills it, and he leaves his soul in the Lord’s hands, because his mercy is great. Our Lord Jesus used these words on the cross when he gave up his spirit. He made his soul an offering, a willing sacrifice for sin, and freely laid down his life as a ransom. Stephen’s example teaches us, at the hour of death, to look to Christ at God’s right hand and commit our spirits to him: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

But David is also to be seen here as a man in deep distress. Then his main concern is for his soul, his spirit, his better part. Our outward troubles should make us care more, not less, for our souls. Many people think that when they are confused by worldly cares, they can excuse themselves from thinking about their souls. But the more danger our lives and earthly interests are in, the more carefully we should guard our souls, so that, even if the outer person fades, the inner person suffers no loss (2 Corinthians 4:16), and we may keep our souls when we can keep nothing else (Luke 21:19).

He believes the best thing he can do for his soul is place it in God’s hands. He had prayed to be pulled out of the net of outward trouble (Psalm 31:4), but he does not insist on that. God’s will be done. So he lets that request go and commits his spirit, his inward life, into God’s care. “Lord, whatever happens to my body, let it go well with my soul.” This is the wisdom and duty of every person, to solemnly commit our spirits into God’s hands, to be shaped by his grace, devoted to his honor, used in his service, and made ready for his kingdom.

What encourages us to commit our spirits to God is that he not only made them, he also redeemed them. The special rescues of God’s people in the Old Testament pointed ahead to our redemption by Jesus Christ (Genesis 48:16). The redemption of the soul is so precious that it would have been lost forever if Christ had not taken it up. But by redeeming our souls, he has gained a new right to them, which should move us to give them to him as his own. He has also shown great love and care for them, which encourages us to trust them to him, so they may be kept for his heavenly kingdom (2 Timothy 1:12). “You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth,” means, “Redeem me according to your promise, because you are faithful to it.”

David then turns away from all allies who trust in human strength (Psalm 31:6). “I hate those who regard lying vanities,” meaning, to some, idolaters who look for help from false gods, which are nothing but vanity and lies. To others, it means astrologers and those who listen to them. David rejected enchantments and divination. He did not consult, or even pay attention to, birds in flight, animal entrails, lucky signs, or unlucky signs. They are lying vanities. He did not merely avoid them himself, he hated the wicked practice of those who used them. He trusted in God alone, not in any creature.

His position at court or in the countryside, his places of retreat or defense, even Goliath’s sword itself, were all lying vanities if he depended on them. He could not rest on any of them, so he trusted in the Lord only (Psalm 40:4; Jeremiah 17:5). David then comforts himself with his hope in God, and that hope makes him not only calm, but cheerful (Psalm 31:7).

Having trusted in God’s mercy, he will be glad and rejoice in it. People do not truly value their hope in God if they cannot find enough joy in that hope to outweigh their troubles and quiet their sorrow.

He also strengthened that hope by remembering God’s goodness to him, both in recent times and in the past, and he mentions this to give God the glory. The one who has delivered him before will deliver him again. God had noticed his suffering and every part of it. He had also seen the condition of his spirit and the thoughts of his heart under that suffering.

God’s eye is on our souls when we are in trouble. He sees whether we have been humbled for sin, whether we are submitting to his will, and whether the affliction has made us better. If a soul, while bowed down by suffering, has been lifted up to God in sincere worship, he knows it.

God had also rescued him from Saul, even when Saul seemed to have him trapped in Keilah (1 Samuel 23:7). He could say, “You have not handed me over to the enemy, but have set me free in a wide place, where I can make my way to safety” (Psalm 31:8). When Christ used these words on the cross (Psalm 31:5), it may help us apply all this to Christ. He trusted in his Father, was upheld and delivered by him, and, because he humbled himself, was greatly exalted.

This is fitting to remember when we sing these verses. It also leads us to thank God for the gracious help we have known in our own troubles, and to encourage ourselves to trust him for the future.