Psalm 31:1-5

This is a Psalm written by David when he faced a powerful conspiracy. Jesus, Himself, quoted from 31:5 when He was on the cross (Lk 23:46).

The first thing to do is to take refuge in the Lord. David calls on the Lord not to let him be put to shame, but instead to be delivered according to His righteousness. We all have a fear of being "put to shame". When we face impending disaster we fear that we will be shown to be complete failures, looked down on by others and considered worthy only of contempt. We should pray that God does not let this happen, but that instead God will rescue us according to His righteousness, ie according to the cross. The cross is the righteousness of God and if we believe in Christ, then God will treat us in line with the righteousness.

David calls on God to listen to him and to come quickly to rescue him, and become his strong fortress. There are times in life when we know that we are secure in the Lord, there are other times when we feel very vulnerable and God's protection seems far off.

David then declares that God is his fortress. Although God may seem far off, it is only the way that things seem, it is not the truth. So we should declare the truth. As he often does, David asks God to lead and guide him. We usually want to be yanked out of a situation, but here David asks God to lead him through the situation. There were traps set out for him, but God could lead him safely past them. We see this working out in the many times that men tried to trap Jesus but failed.

So David commits his spirit to God, trusting that He will redeem him. We too need to entrust our spirit to God. We find that we cannot manage things on our own, and this can lead to distress. Instead, we should commit our spirit to the Lord, trusting in Him. Then we will find perfect peace and strength.