Psalm 31, part 4, verses 19 to 24, how great is thy goodness

 

Psalm 31:19 ¶  Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! 20  Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. 21  Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city. 22  For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. 23  O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. 24  Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

 

Here David encourages His people to hope in the Lord God, Jehovah. Verse 19 brings to mind a promise made to faithful Israel that is returned to their land.

 

Jeremiah 32:37  Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38  And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:39  And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40  And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

 

Hosea 3:5  Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

 

See verse 20 and how God’s faithful are called the hidden ones?

Psalm 83:2  For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. 3  They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

 

Here is perhaps a picture of the Rapture of the Church, which the Bible calls Translation.

 

Isaiah 26:20 ¶  Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. 21  For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

 

In verse 21 we have an expression of the safety David feels that God has wrapped him in. Here is another similar sentiment.

 

Psalm 17:7  Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.

 

Verse 22 is an acknowledgment that David was ready to give up on God’s help too soon.

 

Hezekiah also had resigned himself that he would not be saved in time.

 

Psalm 38:9 ¶  The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness: 10  I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. 11  I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. 12  Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 13  I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 14  Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. 15  What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. 16  O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. 17  Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. 18  For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. 19  The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. 20  The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

 

David calls all people in verse 23 to love the Lord God.

 

Psalm34:9  O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

 

Psalm 97:10  Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

 

See this from the Law given to Moses;

 

Deuteronomy 10:12 ¶  And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

 

Which Jesus also reinforces;

 

Matthew 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 

He ends up in verse 24 with commending them to have courage then God will strengthen them a repeat of what he said previously.

 

Psalm 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

 

This chapter, as the rest, is so applicable to our current situations. It is worth reflection to consider this Psalm with regard to Christ and to our most personal situations. We desperately desire and depend upon God’s mercy and deliverance, without which, we are lost.