PSALM 31 - REFUGE IN GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS & MERCY

INTRODUCTION - Read Psalm 31

When you make a commitment to serve God in `ministry' the devil is normally not happy about it. I have found that this has often be true in my life. 

Last month I spent three wonderful encouraging days of worship and teaching at Hillsong Woman's Colour Conference. I was all ready to return to my `ministry' at the circus, teaching `my girls' - when I suddenly found myself in the depths of depression. It was the first time since I'd been on the road and it hit me hard. All I can say at the moment, is thank goodness for Psalm 31.

DAVID'S STORY -  Read 1 Samuel 23

Psalm 31 is another psalm that is believed to have been written when David was under persecution by Saul. 

"So David and his men - about 600 of them now - left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped so he didn't go to Keilah after all. David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day but God didn't let Saul find"..... "Jonathon went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in the Lord."  1 Samuel 23:13,14 , 16. 

David always had confidence in God. He had not lost his faith, just his strength. God knew what he needed, so he sent his best friend Jonathon to encourage him. He was reminded that his strength would come in his righteous and merciful God.

1. Do you have a special friend you can call on to give you encouragement when you need some extra strength and confidence?

TRUSTING IN A RIGHTEOUS GOD
Read Psalm 31:1-8

David had faith in a righteous, faithful God who he knew would never let him down. How did he know this?

1. He continually PRAYED FERVENTLY for God to help Him.

"Turn your ear to listen to me; rescue me quickly. Be my rock, my protection, a fortress where I will be safe."  PSALM 31:2

2. He gave glory to God by continually keeping his CONFIDENCE and DEPENDENCE on Him..

"I entrust my spirit into Your hand. Rescue me Lord, You are a faithful God....... I trust in the Lord, I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love." Psalm 31:5,6b,7a.

3. He kept an ALLIANCE with His TRUE GOD and would not allow himself to be led astray by worthless idols.

"I hate those who worship idols, I trust in the Lord." Psalm 31:6

4. He encouraged himself in the hope of God's previous goodness and righteousness.

"I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not given me into the hands of my enemy. You have set my feet on a spacious place."  Psalm 31:7&8

When we choose God as our righteous protector we can be certain, like David was, that He undertakes to be so.  We can be sure He will put His strength IN US and wil declare His strength FOR US.

2. How can we trust in our righteous God?

TRUSTING IN GOD'S MERCY
Read Psalm 31:9-18

In the next 10 verses we see how David, a ruddy, usually cheerful man who had fallen low, now appeals to God's mercy. He could weep no more tears. His physical and emotional strength was failing. Some of his friends had been unkind, looking on him with suspicion and contempt. The only thing keeping him  from  falling any further was his faith in God.

"His  friends  had robbed him  from his good reputation but they couldn't take from him his confidence in God." Matthew Henry.

"But I am trusting in You, O Lord, saying, `You are my God'." Psalm 31:14

If we have this same faith and confidence in our merciful God, we can be sure, as David was, that God will answer our prayers, and our strength will be renewed.

3. How can we trust in our merciful God?

CONCLUSION -  Read Psalm 31:19-24

In these last verses David acknowledges some of God's great promises, which we too can acknowledge as our own.

* God RIGHTEOUSNESS AND MERCY are available to EVERYONE. who call on His name. 

 * We need NEVER GIVE UP.  Whatever difficulties we may face God's faithfulness, love, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND MERCY are more wonderful and He will continue to STRENGTHEN US as we trust in Him.


"Living the Psalms" (2012) Charles R Swindoll, Worthy Publishing

The New Matthew Henry Commentary, Martin H Manser, Zondervan

The Bible, New Living Translation, 1996, Tyndale Publishers

PSALM 30 - A Song of Dedication for the Temple and Our Lives

INTRODUCTION -  Read Psalm 30

When I first committed my life to Christ I promised that I would serve His Church. But except for my pastoral care work and volunteer youth and children's ministry, most of my working life has been spent outside the Church. After spending the last 3 years applying for jobs in Christian schools and Children's Ministry, again I find myself outside in the world - teaching in a circus.

David was a devoted servant of the Lord, and he too wanted to spend his life serving his God. The Lord had blessed Him abundantly and he wanted to give him something back. He wanted to build God a temple, but God had other work He wanted David to do.

It is important that when we are seeking to dedicate our lives to God's service that we do what David did:

1. Develop a strong relationship with the Father through prayer and reading the scriptures.
2. Consult a mentor or pastor (prophet) who can guide and pray with us.

David listened to God through the prophecy of Nathan and did not fight God's plan. At first he may have been a little disappointed, but finally this led to a `burst of praise springing from his heart'.

1. Do you feel you are doing the work God has planned for you?  How do you know?
2. Do you have a mentor or pastor that trust to pray with you about these things?

DAVID'S STORY - 2 Samuel 7

"When He giveth you rest from your enemies round about you so that you dwell in safety, then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there." Deuteronomy 12:10&11

Things had quietened down. David had defeated all his enemies.  He and his family were living in a beautiful cedar palace which he was very thankful to God for.  But there was something missing.

"The King summoned Nathan the prophet, "Look," David said, "I am living in a beautiful cedar palace but the Ark of God is out there in a tent!" Nathan replied to the king, "Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you."  2 Samuel 7:2&3

Both David and Nathan knew scripture and prophecy well, but they had missed this part in Deuteronomy:

                                         "THE LORD YOUR GOD SHALL CHOOSE"

David wanted to build God a temple and he had the right motives. He wasn't being selfish or high and mighty. He had a servant heart. But even the most devoted of God's servants can get it wrong.  God had other things he wanted him to do.  It was his son Solomon who would build the temple.

Did David complain when God change his plans? Later, when he might have had a bad day as king, might he have said: "Well I could have been spending time worshipping God in the temple I built?"

No, in David's prayer of thanks in 2 Samuel 7:18-29 and later in Psalm 30, we see David honouring and praising his God in whatever situation he had been placed in, because when the LORD GOD DOES THE CHOOSING HE ALSO DOES THE BLESSING.

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28  (NLT)

3. Do you ever complain when you have a bad day?  What would be a better thing to do?

TURNING TO GOD IN PRAYER & PRAISE -   Psalm 30:1-4

David was indeed thankful for the way the Lord had blessed him. As a king he now lived in a palace of cedar, and was currently in peace from his enemies.  He had been healed from illness, and God had taken care of the troubled and disorderly affairs of his kingdom. David knew that a `life received back from the dead should be spent exalting the God of our life’.

"I will exalt you, O God, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death. Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise His holy name." Psalm 30:1-4

But there was a time for David when he fell back into despair, and as someone who has climbed many a mountain of illness and trouble, I know how easy this is to do. Our mountain can be shaken. And in this time, there is only  place we can turn: to our Lord.   Again, we can do this through prayer, or consulting a close godly friend or pastor to pray with us.  Then, again, like David, we may find that `praise’ again begins to `burst out’.

In due time, God rescued David from his troubles, as he does for us.  It may not always be the way we plan, but we can still know it is the way God wants. 

"Give all your worries and cares to the Lord, for He cares about you." 1 Peter 5:7

4. What are some cares you need to give to the Lord today?  What about some praises?

MY STORY  -  Read Psalm 30: 5-12

Psalm 30 is one  that I have highlighted, as I have read it many a time. I have not been going through a time of sickness and trial, but at the moment I am at one of those times David would of call of `prosperity’. I  have a place to live, a good job and no `enemies' it seems. 

Until these past few weeks, when I felt myself falling again.  I had been having problems with my students at school and my husband was stressing over money again.   This is also the time of the year when I move into a time of grieving.  It seems silly, as my sisters have been gone for many years now, but I still seem to miss them more on their birthdays. It is on these days when I question, for a short while, why God chose to leave me here and take them.  

Then I remember my promises from this Psalm:

"Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning..... You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy."  Psalm 30:5b, 11.

"What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise you, can it tell of your faithfulness?" Psalm 30:9

"O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks forever."  Psalm 30:12. 

This morning I read an encouraging story by Dwight L Moody, telling about he decided that his ministry would be all about `converting others to Christ'. 

'I want to tell you how I got the first impulse to work solely for the conversion of men. For a long time after my conversion it seemed I didn't accomplish anything. I hadn't got into the right work. I hadn't found my personal work. Then in 1860 the change came. In my Sunday School I had a pale young man as one of my teachers.  He had a burning piety so I assigned him to the worst class.  They were all girls, and it was an awful class.  They would gaggle, laugh and carry on the whole lesson. Yet this young man seemed to have better success than anyone.

One day this man didn't turn up, and I had to teach the class. They seemed farther off than ever, and had no concern for their souls. The next day I met the man in town and he looked very sick. I asked him, "What's the matter?" "I have bleeding in the lungs", he said, "and I am going to die".  He told me, "I am not afraid to die, but I will have to stand before God and give an account of my stewardship, and not one of Sunday School students have been brought to Jesus. I have failed them, and I don't have the strength to do it."

I got a carriage, and together, we called at each of the homes of the girls. He said to them, "I have come to ask you to come to the Saviour".  He then prayed as I have never heard before.  For the next 10 days we laboured in this way. At the end of the 10 days, each of those girls had yielded to the Saviour.  

On the night before he died, the girls and I gathered together with him and celebrated. We sang `Blest Be the Tie that Binds'. We prayed and prayed, took communion and had a tearful fairwell.  We then took the train home, and on the station he shook each of the girls hands and whispered, "I will meet you yonder". '

How do I know what God wants me to with my life?  I trust Him to direct and lead me by staying close to Him and to His Son Jesus.  I talk to Him each day, I read His word, and listen to my Christian friends.  And, when things are a little down, I think about PRAISE!!

The Works of Dwight L Moody (2012) Golgotha Press

The Life of David as Reflected in His Psalms, Alexander McLaren, Samizdat Express

The New Matthew Henry Commentary, Martin H Manser, Zondervan

The Bible, New Living Translation, 1996, Tyndale Publishers