07/16/2020 STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART AND SPIRIT
Psalms 31:24 Be of good courage, and HE shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD. [King James translation.]
Summary:
Psalms 31 is one of the sacred hymns or songs of David. Psalms were and are still used in sacred Christian and Jewish worship. Like most hymns, Psalms 31 is a praise song to GOD. David had a lot to praise GOD for in his lifetime because David faced a number of trials, tribulations and challenges:
- It was David who faced his own personal “life and death” Olympics against a foreign challenger named Goliath. (1Samuel 17)
- David spent many years running for his life and in hiding from a jealous King Saul (1Samual 19:9; 20:24)
- David was homeless, living in caves and fields (1 Samuel 20:24; 22:1)
- David was hungry and had to ask for help from a priest (i.e. the “church” or “temple”) during those times. (1Samuel 21:6)
- David sinned and had to confront the situation he put himself in (2 Samuel 12)
- David lost a baby (2 Samuel 12:19)
- David had a child who rebelled against him (2 Samuel 15)
- David had family confusion and mayhem in his house, resulting in one son, Absalom, killing his brother, Ammon, who raped his sister. (2 Samuel 13:30).
- David grieved, mourned and suffered deeply when he lost his son Absalom, who was trying to unseat his father as king.
- David watched his own sins (rebellion against GOD, deceit, abuse of power,
manipulation, seduction of a woman, etc.) seemingly being played out in his sons’ lives.
The Revised Standard translation calls Psalms 31 “Deliverance to the distressed.”
Psalms 31 includes a number of “heart-strengthening” words of encouragements to the distressed. Praising GOD, David says:
- LORD, I trust in you alone (vs 1)
- Yes, you are my Rock and my fortress (vs 3)
- Into THINE hand I commit my spirit (vs 5)
- YOU alone are my GOD; my times are in YOUR hands (vs 14)
- Oh, how great is YOUR GOODNESS to those who publicly declare that YOU rescue them (vs 19)
- BLESSED is THE LORD, for he has shown me that HIS never-failing love protects me like the walls of a fort! (vs. 21)
- Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for THE LORD!
(vs. 24)
David, the musician, knew there is something about being able to strengthen one’s own heart and spirit, in song, with the “WORD of GOD.” David knew that just humming a tune to GOD, moaning a verse in praise of GOD, thinking about GOD’s GOODNESS was a spiritual tonic for deliverance from distress.