Psalms 31
David under Stress
This is for the music leader.It is a psalm of David 1 LORD, I am trusting in you. Do not let me ever become ashamed. Make me free, because you always do what is right. 2Listen to me and send me help very soon. LORD, be a rock for me to hide behind. Make my house a fortress and keep me safe. 3You really are my rock and my fortress. Because of your name, lead me and be my guide. 4You are my fortress. Make me free from the trap that they hid for me. 5I put my spirit into your hand. Send me help, LORD God of truth. 6I hate people that believe in false gods. I am trusting in the LORD. 7I am very happy because of your kind love. It makes me want to dance. You saw my trouble. You knew that I was under stress. 8You did not give me into the hands of my enemies. You made my feet to stand in a wide place. ▼
▼31:8 Verses 1-8: In Psalm 31:1 ‘ashamed’ means ‘let my enemies win.’ These enemies hid the trap in Psalm 31:4. They wanted to catch David. But God sent help to David, so that he could go anywhere. This is what ‘the wide place’ in Psalm 31:8 means. David believed that God did this because ‘of your name’ (Psalm 31:3). God made his name famous when he answered David.
9LORD, give me mercy because I am in trouble. My eyes and my stomach and my whole body are sick because I am sad. 10My life must come to an end because I am so sad. My years will finish while I am crying. I am so unhappy that I have become weak. My bones are weak. 11All my enemies hate me. People that live near me do not like me. Even my friends are afraid of me. People that see me in the street run away. 12Everybody has forgotten me. I am just like a broken pot. 13I heard people say unkind things about me. There is danger everywhere. They are making bad plans for me. They want to kill me. 14But I am still trusting in you, LORD. I am saying that you are my God. 15My times are in your hand. save me from the hand of my enemies and from the people that are trying to catch me. 16Shine the light of your face on your servant. Send help to me because of your kind love. 17LORD, do not let me become ashamed. I am shouting out to you for help. Let the godless become ashamed. Let them be silent in Sheol. 18Let the lips that tell lies become silent. They say unkind things about good people. They think that they are better than them and they hate them. 19You have prepared many good things for those that are afraid of you. You did this in front of everybody. You did it for those that trust in you. 20You will hide them from the bad plans that men make. They will not hear the bad things that people say. They will be in a secret place with you. 21 Bless the LORD. He showed me his kind love when I was under stress. 22I said too soon that you were not watching over me. But you did hear my voice when I prayed to you for help. 23Love the LORD, everyone that has enjoyed his kind love. He will keep safe those that are always his servants, but he will pay back those that are proud. 24Everyone that hopes in the LORD: be strong and be brave in your heart. ▼▼31:24 Verses 9-24: In Psalm 31:9-12 we read about the results of stress. When life is very difficult, we have stress. It makes us ill. It made David so ill that he thought that he was going to die. But David still trusted in the LORD. He wrote, ‘My times are in your hand.’ (Psalm 31:15) This means that God decided what would happen to David. ‘Shine the light of your face’ is another way of saying ‘be kind.’ David is the servant in Psalm 31:16. It is not a bad thing to be afraid of God. (Psalm 31:19) It means that we see how great he is, and how small we are. Some Bibles translate ‘everyone that has enjoyed his kind love’ as ‘saints.’ (Psalm 31:23). ‘saint’ is another word for ‘Christian.’ They are people that have enjoyed the kind love of God. We must remember, in Psalm 31:24, that the Jews believed that you thought in your heart.
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