Psalms 31:19 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, David shows three things. First, he gives a believing witness to God’s goodness toward his people in general, in verses 19 and 20. God is good to all, but he is in a special way good to Israel, his covenant people. His goodness is wonderful, and it will forever give people reason to praise and wonder at it. How great is your goodness, how deep are your purposes, how rich are your gifts, and how free and wide your blessings are.

The very people whom men curse with slander, God blesses with gifts and honor. The people who share in this goodness are those who fear God and trust in him, those who stand in awe of his greatness and depend on his grace. This goodness is said to be laid up for them and worked out for them. There is goodness stored up for them in the next world, an inheritance kept in heaven (1 Peter 1:4). There is also goodness worked out for them in this world, even goodness formed in them.

There is enough in God’s goodness for both the full inheritance of his children when they come of age and for their care and growth while they are still young. There is enough in reserve, and enough in use now. This goodness is laid up in his promise for all who fear God, with the assurance that they will lack no good thing. But it is worked out in the actual keeping of that promise for those who trust in him, who take hold of the promise by faith and draw comfort from it.

If what is stored for us in the treasures of the everlasting covenant is not worked out in our lives, the fault is ours, because we do not believe. But those who trust in God have the comfort of his goodness in their own hearts, and they also have the honor of it before others. That matters in this world, because the credit of wealth or honor can carry weight with many people. God’s goodness toward them gives them honor and takes away their shame. Then all who see them will know that they are the people the Lord has blessed (Isaiah 61:9).

Second, David says that God preserves both people and animals, but he is in a special way the protector of his own people, in verse 20. “You will hide them.” As his goodness is stored up for them, so they are hidden and kept safe for that goodness. The saints are God’s hidden ones.

Here we see the danger they face, which comes from proud people and arguing tongues. Proud men insult them and would crush them. Quarrelsome people pick fights with them, and when words are at war, good people often come out badly. Pride threatens their liberty, and bitter arguments threaten the truth. But we also see the defense they have, “You will hide them in the shelter of your presence.” God’s providence will keep them safe from the malice of their enemies, and he has many ways to shelter them.

When Baruch and Jeremiah were sought after, the Lord hid them (Jeremiah 36:26). God’s grace will also keep them safe from the harm of judgments that are coming on others, because those judgments have no sting for them. They will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger, for that anger is not aimed at them. His comforts will keep them peaceful and cheerful. His sanctuary, where they enjoy fellowship with him, shelters them from the burning arrows of fear and temptation. And the rooms of his house above will soon be, and forever be, their hiding place from every danger and fear.

Third, David gives thanks for God’s goodness to him in particular, in verses 21 and 22. After admiring God’s goodness to all the saints, he now tells how good he has found God to be himself. Outwardly there were battles and troubles, but God had wonderfully preserved his life. God had shown him marvelous love, giving him clear proof of care and favor beyond what he could have expected.

God’s loving-kindness toward his people is wonderful in every way, but some acts of it stand out in a special way, even in this life. This was one of them, when God kept David safe from Saul’s sword while he was hiding in caves and woods, as safe as if he were in a strong city. In Keilah, that fortified city, God showed him great mercy by making him the means of rescuing its people from the Philistines, and then rescuing him from those same men when they would have handed him over to Saul (1 Samuel 23:5, 1 Samuel 23:12). This was truly marvelous love, and David answers with praise: “Blessed be the Lord.” Special rescues call for special thanks.

But within, there were fears. Still, God was better to David than his fears, in verse 22. David also honestly remembers his own weakness, because he distrusted God. He admits this to his shame. Even though he had clear promises to trust and much experience of God’s care in hard times, he still let himself think bitterly about God. He felt cut off from God’s sight, as if God had completely turned away and he should expect no more care or notice. He feared that he would one day die by Saul’s hand and be cut off while God looked on. He said this in his flight, according to some, which shows how hard his situation was. Saul was close behind him and ready to seize him, which made the temptation strong. “In my haste,” as we read it, shows how troubled and unsettled his mind was, which made the temptation sudden and hard to resist.

It is common to speak wrongly when we speak too quickly and without careful thought. But whatever we say wrongly in haste, we must later repent of calmly, especially when we have spoken distrustfully about God. Yet even though David’s faith failed, God’s promise did not fail. God still heard the voice of his prayer. David mentions his own unbelief to make God’s faithfulness shine more brightly. His weakness becomes a dark background that makes God’s kindness look even more wonderful.

When we distrust God like this, he would be right to take us at our word and let our fears come true, as he did with Israel (Numbers 14:28; Isaiah 66:4). But he has pitied and forgiven us. Our unbelief has not made his promise and grace useless, because he knows our frame, and he remembers that we are weak.

From this David gives encouragement to all the saints, in verses 23 and 24. He would have them set their love on God: “O love the Lord, all you his saints.” Those whose own hearts are full of love to God naturally want others to love him too, because in his favor there is no need to fear a rival. Loving God is the mark of the saints, and yet they still need to be urged to love him more, love him better, and show that love in real life.

We are to love God not only because of his goodness, since he preserves those who are faithful, but also because of his justice, since he gives the proud person what he deserves. He rewards the one who acts arrogantly, even the one who would destroy those he preserves, according to that person’s pride.

Some understand this in a good sense: God gives a rich reward to the person who does noble and generous good, the one whose heart, like Jehoshaphat’s, is fully set on the ways of the Lord. He rewards the person who does well, but he gives even fuller reward to the one who does very well.

He would have his people set their hope in God (Psalm 31:24): “Be of good courage, and let your heart be strong.” In other words, whatever troubles or dangers come, the God you trust will give your heart strength through that trust. Those who hope in God have good reason to be brave and steady, because nothing that is truly evil can finally happen to them, and nothing truly good for them will be withheld.

When we sing this, we should stir ourselves and one another to keep going and to stay faithful in the Christian life, no matter what threatens us or who disapproves of us.