Psalm 31:14–16 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! 16 Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!
I settled on these three verses for a meditation today. There is a lot here that is profitable for us to think about. But I think what attracted me to them most was the sense of peace and rest they contain. David has been recounting in the Psalm so far his need of God in the midst of those who are trying to trap him (v 4). So he is in a state of external conflict and difficulty but internal things are no better for him. He is experiencing affliction and distress of soul (v 7). He is in a state of grief and sorrow, conscious of iniquity, with so much weeping and sighing that he feels weak (v 9-10). His friends have deserted him as those around plot to take his life (v 11-13). [Note in passing that much of this anticipates what happens to Jesus - and v 5 even contains words He spoke from the cross.] So all is turmoil within and without for David here.
And then we get to verses 14-16 and it is like a long, loud sigh of relief! It is certainly a turning point in the Psalm - the tone becomes positive and joyful from v 17 onward. What is it that makes all the difference for David? His re-exercising trust - or faith - in the Lord!
I did a quick word study on the Hebrew word translated “trust” here. It talks about being confident in something or someone, about feeling safe. And then, in one of my older reference books, it included the meaning of being “careless”, which I think we have seen before in these devotions. The compiler of this work was not suggesting that the word means taking no care for ourselves, for our safety and well-being or that of others. Rather, he is talking about a state in which a person is not beset with cares and concerns. I started to think what examples there might be in the Bible of people who were in that condition.
One example would be Potiphar, the captain of Pharoah’s guard, when Joseph became the overseer of his house.
Genesis 39:5–6 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
Potiphar was “careless” with Joseph in charge. He didn’t concern himself with anything except what to eat!
David knew something of this at other times in his life, as well:
Psalm 131:1–3 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. 2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.
He is in a state where he is not concerning himself with things that are beyond his power to change or his ability to comprehend. His soul is calmed and quieted like a weaned child - no longer fretting for its mother’s milk but enjoying solid food and knowing contentment.
So in Psalm 31, David is brought to this state where he leaves all his anxieties with the Lord - casting all his cares upon Him, because he knows that God cares for him (1 Pet 5:6-7). He owns that God is his God (v 14) and that his times are in the Lord’s hands (v 15). He asks now to be blessed with God’s smile (an echo of the Aaronic blessing from Numbers 6:24-26, which is a blessing of peace in the Lord’s Name) and to be saved according to His steadfast love.
There is a beautiful spirit of resignation here. Not the world’s fatalism that says, “what will be, will be” but rather a certainty of and a depending upon the goodness of God. There is a “letting go” of anxieties and burdens that David shouldn’t be bearing, and a trusting that in His steadfast love for David, God would do what is the very best for Him at all times.
In our current circumstances, anxiety stalks around us at every turn. The TV news and the papers spell out Domesday scenarios and seek to work us up into a fretful state of distress. What will become of us? When will it end? Will things ever get back to normal? Will we or loved ones suffer job loss? Will there be enough food in the stores? Will we or our loved ones catch the virus? And on, and on and on.
What shall we do? Let’s take a deep breath, like David did. Let’s leave the big stuff to God, Who is full of steadfast love for His children. We can be like Potiphar in a way, with God as the Manager of His household, to which we belong as His children, we really don’t need to concern ourselves with very much at all. Jesus says that we shouldn’t even worry about what we will eat (so we have less to be concerned about than Potiphar!) We can be like a baby that has a stomach filled with solid food and has (in the right way) “not a care in the world.” This God, the God of David, is our God, too. Our times are in His hands, just as David’s were. We have all His promises, we have His smile eternally on us through Christ and thus we may know His peace!
“God reigns over the nations, He sits on his holy throne” (Psalm 47:8). Jesus is the One through Whom God created all things, and “He upholds the universe by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:1-3). And He loves us with everlasting, steadfast love! We can (and indeed, we should, in the right sense) gladly resign ourselves entirely to Him and be “careless” - let Him worry about the coronavirus, over which He also is Lord!
