EXPOSITION OF PSALM 31 (4)
Verses 9-18
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GOOD NEWS FROM THE REDEEMER
September 24, 2006 MESSAGE #651
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(Continued from preceding message)This psalm may be divided into six divisions: 1. prayer for help (vv.1-4); 2. encouragement to self (vv.5-8); 3. causes of trouble (vv.9-13); 4. another prayer for help (vv.14-18); 5. praise to God (vv.19-22); 6. exhortation to fellow-saints (vv.23f). Having expounded the first two divisions in preceding messages, we here continue:
III. Causes of trouble (vv.9-13). This "trouble" of the saint (v.9a) results from consuming grief (vv.9b-10a), personal iniquity (v.10b), enemies' reproach (v.11a), friends' desertion (v.11b), being considered as worthless (v.12), and being in fear of losing his life (v.13). The symptoms of his "trouble" are manifested in every part of his being: his "eyes" (v.9b), "soul and body" (v.9c), and "strength" and "bones" (v.10b). He feels it all the years of his life (v.10a). It is no wonder that he pleads for "mercy" from the "LORD" (v.9a).
31:9 "Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; ..." We have good reason for calling upon Christ for mercy and help in times of trouble. Not only is He the merciful God who will never forsake His people (Deuteronomy 4:30f), and "a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1), but He also is keenly aware of our trouble (v.7), for He Himself has already entered into it (Hebrews 2:15; 4:15). Indeed, the psalmist's description of his trouble here (vv.9-13) is also a biographical sketch of the trouble experienced by Christ the Lord during His earthly life.
"... My eye wastes away with grief, / Yes, my soul and my body!" Great grief has a profound effect upon one's entire being. Tears may drown his eyes and cloud his vision (Job 17:7). His soul may suffer mental anguish, his body may suffer loss of weight, his strength may fail (v.10), and his bones - his firmest parts – may waste away (v.10). One may grieve himself to death!
31:10 "For my life is spent with grief, ..." Saints will experience troublesome sorrow and grief all through this life (Job 5:7; 14:1). So did Christ (Isaiah 53:3): "He is ... a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (cp. Matthew 26:37-38ff).
"... And my years with sighing; ..." Sighing and groaning are the language of sorrow and grief. Christ was very fluent in this language, for He "sighed deeply in His spirit" (Mark 8:12; 7:34), and "groaned in the spirit" and "wept" (John 11:33, 35).
"... My strength fails because of my iniquity, ..." When a man descends into the lowest depth of his being looking for the cause of all his personal trouble and grief and failing strength, he will find it to be "my iniquity" - my perversity and depravity, and all its consequences. So it was with Christ when "[God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Corinthians 5:21), when the sins of God's elect were imputed to Him (Isaiah 53:4-6).
"... And my bones waste away." Our iniquity not only saps our strength, but also wastes our bones. We feel sin's effects even in the firmest parts of our frame, and in the marrow of our being. And in addition to being trouble by inward sin, we also are troubled by outward relations:
31:11 "I am a reproach among all my enemies, ..." The saint's enemies will mock his faith in Christ (Psalm 42:10). Christ's enemies cast the same reproach against Him (Psalm 22:6-8): "I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 'He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!'"
"... But especially among my neighbors, ..." The meaning is likely not that one's neighbors will be more reproachful toward him than are his enemies. Rather, the reproach from a neighbor will hurt more than will the reproach from an enemy (Psalm 55:12-14). Christ experienced this from Judas Iscariot - an apostle!
"... And am repulsive to my acquaintances; ..." Even friends may treat the saint as odious when enemies reproach him, perhaps fearing they themselves will suffer for showing kindness to the reproached. Peter did so to Christ (Matthew 26:69ff).
"... Those who see me outside flee from me." Friends may shun being associated in public with the reproached, and may even flee from his presence. Christ's disciples fled from Him when His enemies came to arrest Him (Matthew 26:56).
31:12 "I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; ..." Men are soon forgotten after they die. Saints often are forgotten even while they live.
"... I am like a broken vessel." Saints are, in the eyes of the world, good for nothing but throwing away.
31:13 "For I hear the slander of many; / Fear is on every side; ..." The saint will find no "safe zone" in this life. With Christ he may say, "Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me" (Psalm 22:12).
"... While they take counsel together against me, / They scheme to take away my life." The saint's enemies are scheming not only to reproach him, but even to be completely rid of him. If they did so to the King of kings, will they do less to His subjects?
IV. Another prayer for help (vv.14-18). Here the psalmist renews his previous prayer (vv.1-4). He confesses his trust in Jehovah (v.14a) and relationship with Him (v.14b), and acknowledges Jehovah's sovereignty (v.15a). He then prays for salvation from his enemies (v.15b), the smile and mercy of his Master (vv.16-17a), and justice to his enemies (vv.17b-18).
31:14 "But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; ..." The worst of circumstances in this life will not cause the saint to desert His Lord. He will confess, "'For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:36f, quoting Psalm 44:22).
"... I say, 'You are my God.'" And the saint will do so not only in his heart, but to his enemies. We are here reminded of the many faithful martyrs for Jesus who loudly proclaimed their undying devotion to Him even as their enemies slew them.
31:15 "My times are in Your hand; ..." Saints confess that everything that happens to them is predestined by their Lord and Savior (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; Romans 8:28-30), and gladly bow to His sovereignty, and deny that man is in control of anything.
"... Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, / And from those who persecute me." Christ will deliver His people from the hand of every enemy and persecutor: from the hand of sin, from the hand of Satan, from the hand of earthly enemies, and even from the hand of death and the grave (as in Hosea 13:11).
31:16 "Make Your face shine upon Your servant; ..." The "face" of God is His presence. When He makes His face to "shine" upon His servants, He is being gracious to them (as in the first use of this expression, in Numbers 6:25), and saving them (as in Psalm 80:3, 7, 19). God's grace and salvation is specifically what the psalmist here desires, for he says:
"... Save me for Your mercies' sake." Jehovah's servants do not pray for salvation for the sake of any righteousness or merit in themselves. Rather, they cast themselves upon the mercy and grace of God and the righteousness and merit of Christ.
31:17 "Do not let me be ashamed, O LORD, for I have called upon You; ..." No man who calls upon Christ for salvation will ever be ashamed of having done so: neither by any triumph of his enemies over him (Psalm 25:2), nor of any lack or deficiency in his Savior and salvation (Isaiah 45:17). No man who ever called upon Christ for salvation regretted afterward having done so.
"... Let the wicked be ashamed; / Let them be silent in the grave." Eternal shame will be the final end of all who despise God and His Christ and reproach His children. O my friend, do not be found among them!
31:18 "Let the lying lips be put to silence, / Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous." Among our ancient Anabaptist forefathers were the Waldensians, also known as the Vaudois. They were mercilessly persecuted for centuries by the Church of Rome during the Dark Ages. In the book The Golden Lesson, dated 1100, are found these words (as cited by Antoine Monastier in A History of Vaudois Church, 1859):
May such insolent liars be forever silenced! And may the righteous who unjustly bear their contempt be encouraged by Christ saying to them, "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven" (Matthew 5:12).
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