Psalm 31

THE LORD IS OUR FORTRESS.

Key verse: For You are my Rock and my Fortress; therefore, for Your name’s sake, lead me and guide me – verse 3.

Proposition:

Once again we see David relying on his God and ours in the ups and downs of life. We will all experience high and lows, mountains and valleys in our life and so we need to totally rely on the Lord in all things, in every season and in every circumstance. David sums up our walk in the final verse of this psalm, to be of good courage for the Lord will strengthen our hearts as we put our hope in Him. Six is the number of man and so we can see 6 parts to this psalm.

1) Verses 1 to 4. These show us salvation and strength.

Verse 1 – We see David’s trust in God’s righteousness to deliver him.
Verse 2 – We see David’s desire for deliverance, God is his defence.
Verse 3 – We see David’s request to be led and guided by God.

2) Verses 5 to 8.

These show us that God is merciful to the redeemed and that He is ever mindful to those He loves. David calls his Lord a God of truth. We can cross reference this statement in verse 5 with Deut 32:4. In verse 6 we see David’s righteousness as his trust is in God alone. Finally in verses 7 and 8 we see David rejoicing even in adversity.

3) Verses 9 to 13.

The key thought here is of David’s grief. His grief causes shame and this will always lead to sorrow of heart. David knows he is in trouble and speaks about grief of soul and body in verses 9 to 13. He pleads for God’s mercy in his time of trouble.

4) Verses 14 to 18.

Here we see David praying for victory over his enemies and then for the Lord to bless his life in the season to come. David has faced trials and tests and these along with tribulations make us draw nearer to the Lord as He alone has the answer. When we call upon Him then our victory is assured!

5) Verses 19 to 22.

David now writes about God’s greatness and goodness towards him. In verse 22 we see David’s prayer life, his on going supplications.

6) Verses 23 to 24.

In verse 23 David urges every saint to love the Lord because it is He who preserves the faithful and fully repays the proud and arrogant. In verse 24 David urges us to be loyal and true of heart as we trust and show our hope is in the Lord alone. Amen.

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