Psalm 31: Day 6

Psalm 31: Day 6 of our 10-day devotional journey through the Psalms, you'll gain fresh insights and spiritual strength each morning.  This series encourages you to offer your shortcomings to God, trusting in His ability to turn them into sources of strength and glory. Whether you're a morning go-getter or a lover of the snooze button, these reflections aim to imbue your day with peace and purpose found in His Word. Join us for an enriching experience that promises to renew your spirit and ignite your faith.

Chapters

• 0:19 The Lord, a Fortress in Adversity
• 6:36 Renewing Strength in Trust and Grace

Transcript

Julie: 0:19

Kia ora, and welcome to Whispers of Grace, a place for women to be encouraged by God's holy word. I'm your host, julie Colbeth, and I am overjoyed to dig into the Bible with you today. Psalm 31 is titled the Lord, a Fortress in Adversity a Psalm of David. The Lord, a fortress in adversity, a Psalm of David. In you, o Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in your righteousness, bow down your ear to me, deliver me speedily, be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for your name's sake, lead me and guide me, pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for you are my strength. Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, o Lord, god of truth.

Julie: 1:28

I have hated those who regard useless idols, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy, for you have considered my trouble. You have known my soul and adversities and have not shut me into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a wide place. Have mercy on me, o Lord, for I am in trouble. My eye wastes away with grief. Yes, my soul and my body, for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity and my bones waste away. I am a reproach among all of my enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and I am repulsive to my acquaintances. Those who see me outside flee from me. I am forgotten like a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel, for I hear the slander of many. Fear is on every side While they take counsel together against me. They scheme to take away my life.

Julie: 2:32

But as for me, I trust in you, o Lord. I say you are my God. My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. Make your face shine upon your servant. Do not let me be ashamed, o Lord, for I have called upon you. Let the wicked be ashamed. Let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak insolent things, proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Oh, how great is your goodness which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you in the presence of the sons of men. You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence, from the plots of man. You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he has shown me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes. Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to you oh, love the Lord, all you his saints, for the Lord preserves the faithful and fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Julie: 4:08

You can hear the desperate heart of David crying out for God to be his defense, his rock and his fortress. David is desperate and emotional in the midst of attacks from his enemies, and near the end of this psalm, in verse 22, he admits that in his haste he thought that he had been cut off from the Lord. He was so discouraged and despairing that he thought that God had abandoned him. Have you ever felt like your situation was so grim that surely the Lord must not be looking after you anymore? I know I have found myself doubting his goodness in deep times of trouble, but in our psalm David realizes God hadn't abandoned him and he praises God for his patience and confesses. Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to you. God did not respond to David's prayer because of David's unwavering confidence and trust. God responded to David because God is good and God is kind and he's loving. He took care of David when David was too weak to even confess the nearness of his God.

Julie: 5:30

Paul the apostle experienced the same desolation that caused doubt and unrest, and he wrote about it in 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 8 through 10. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us, in whom we trust that he will still deliver us. Paul confesses that he was troubled, above his own strength and burdened beyond measure. He struggled so deeply that he wanted to die. But through this experience Paul learned that it wasn't through his own strength or endurance that the work of God was accomplished.

Julie: 6:36

Paul learned afresh what it meant to trust. What it meant to trust not in himself, but in the amazing power of God. This is the God that we serve, a God that is acquainted with our weakness and meets us in it. God's grace never quits. In fact, his grace is magnified in our weaknesses and failure. Magnified in our weaknesses and failure.

Julie: 7:07

At the end of Psalm 31, david fully embraced his joy and celebration.

Julie: 7:09

In my mind he is practically hopping on his toes as he encourages all of us.

Julie: 7:14

Oh, love the Lord, all you, his saints, for the Lord preserves the faithful and fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Isaiah 40, 28 says this have you not known, have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might. He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles and they shall run and not be weary. And they shall walk and not faint. When we are weary and exhausted and our strength is failing, we need to look at Jesus and wait on him. Rest in his presence today, my friends. Turn your hearts towards him and let the truth of his character wash over you like a spring rain. You.