Psalm 31:14

But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) But I.—Emphatic, in contrast to the pretended panic and in spite of the real dangers around him.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 31:14-17. I said, Thou art my God — Mine by paternal relation, and care, and affection, and by thy promise, or covenant, made with me. My times are in thy hand — The time of my life, how long I shall live; or, all the affairs and events of my life are wholly in thy power, to dispose and order as thou seest fit; and not at all in the power of mine enemies, who can do nothing against me, unless it be given them from above. They can no more dispose of my life at their pleasure than I can appoint the time of my deliverance. This I leave to thy wisdom, O Lord, to whom it belongs. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant — Manifest thy love and favour to me, by answering my prayers and delivering me from mine enemies. For I have called upon thee — And therefore thy honour will be eclipsed in my disappointment, and it will seem as though thou didst not hear prayer, nor keep thy promises, nor make any difference between the righteous and the wicked. Let the wicked be ashamed — Frustrated in their wicked designs and carnal confidences. Let them be silent in the grave — Seeing they are implacable in their malice against innocent and good men, do thou cut them off by thy just judgment; and since either the righteous or the wicked must be cut off, let destruction fall upon them who most deserve it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

31:9-18 David's troubles made him a man of sorrows. Herein he was a type of Christ, who was acquainted with grief. David acknowledged that his afflictions were merited by his own sins, but Christ suffered for ours. David's friends durst not give him any assistance. Let us not think it strange if thus deserted, but make sure of a Friend in heaven who will not fail. God will be sure to order and dispose all for the best, to all those who commit their spirits also into his hand. The time of life is in God's hands, to lengthen or shorten, make bitter or sweet, according to the counsel of his will. The way of man is not in himself, nor in our friend's hands, nor in our enemies' hands, but in God's. In this faith and confidence he prays that the Lord would save him for his mercies's sake, and not for any merit of his own. He prophesies the silencing of those that reproach and speak evil of the people of God. There is a day coming, when the Lord will execute judgment upon them. In the mean time, we should engage ourselves by well-doing, if possible, to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But I trust in thee, O Lord - In these times of trial - when Psalm 31:9 his eye was consumed with grief; when Psalm 31:10 his years were spent with sighing, his strength failed, and his bones were consumed; when Psalm 31:11 he was a reproach among his neighbors, and dreaded by his acquaintances; when Psalm 31:12 he was forgotten as a dead man; and when Psalm 31:13 he was surrounded with causes of alarm. Then he trusted in God. His confidence did not fail. He believed that God was his Father and Friend; that He was on the throne; that He could protect and defend him; and he left himself and his cause with Him. In such circumstances as these there is no other sure refuge but God; at such times the strength of faith is shown, and then is seen pre-eminently the power and value of religion.

I said, Thou art my God - Thou art all that is implied in the name "God;" and thou art mine. He felt assured that God would not forsake him, though men did; that he might confide in Him, though his earthly friends all turned away. There is always one (God) who will not leave or forsake us; and the friendship and favor of that One is of more value to us than that of all other beings in the universe combined.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14-18. In his profession of trust he includes the terms of the prayer expressing it.

The Treasury of David

14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.

15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.

17 Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

In this section of the Psalm he renews his prayers, urging the same pleas as at first: earnest wrestlers attempt over and over again the same means of gaining their point.

Psalm 31:14

"But I trusted in thee, O Lord." Notwithstanding all afflicting circumstances, David's faith maintained its hold, and was not turned aside from its object. What a blessed saving clause is this! So long as our faith, which is our shield, is safe, the battle may go hard, but its ultimate result is no matter of question; if that could be torn from us, we should be as surely slain as were Saul and Jonathan upon the high places of the field. "I said, Thou art my God." He proclaimed aloud his determined allegiance to Jehovah. He was no fair-weather believer, he could hold to his faith in a sharp frost, and wrap it about him as a garment fitted to keep out all the ills of time. He who can say what David did need not envy Cicero his eloquence: "Thou art my God," has more sweetness in it than any other utterance which human speech can frame. Note that this adhesive faith is here mentioned as an argument with God to honour his own promise by sending a speedy deliverance.

Psalm 31:15

"My times are in thy hand." The sovereign arbiter of destiny holds in his own power all the issues of our life; we are not waifs and strays upon the ocean of fate, but are steered by infinite wisdom towards our desired haven. Providence is a soft pillow for anxious heads, an anodyne for care, a grave for despair. "Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me." It is lawful to desire escape from persecution if it be the Lord's will; and when this may not be granted us in the form which we desire, sustaining grace will give us deliverance in another form, by enabling us to laugh to scorn all the fury of the foe.

Psalm 31:16

"Make thy face to shine upon thy servant." Give me the sunshine of heaven in my soul, and I will defy the tempests of earth. Permit me to enjoy a sense of thy favour, O Lord, and a consciousness that thou art pleased with my manner of life, and all men may frown and slander as they will. It is always enough for a servant if he pleases his master; others may be dissatisfied, but he is not their servant, they do not pay him his wages, and their opinions have no weight with him. "Save me for thy mercies' sake." The good man knows no plea but mercy; whoever might urge legal pleas, David never dreamed of it.

Psalm 31:17

"Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee." Put not my prayers to the blush! Do not fill profane mouths with jeers at my confidence in my God. "Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave." Cause them to their amazement to see my wrongs righted and their own pride horribly confounded. A milder spirit rules our prayers under the gentle reign of the Prince of Peace, and, therefore, we can only use such words as these in their prophetic sense, knowing as we do full well, that shame and the silence of death are the best portion that ungodly sinners can expect. That which they desired for despised believers shall come upon themselves by a decree of retributive justice, at which they cannot cavil "As he loved mischief, so let it come upon him."

continued...

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Mine by paternal relation, and care, and affection, and by thy promise or covenant made with me.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But I trusted in thee, O Lord,.... His faith revived again under all the discouraging views he had of things, and was exercised upon the Lord; he committed himself to him, believing he was able to help him in his time of trouble, and deliver him;

I said, thou art my God; he claimed his covenant interest in him, and used it as an argument with him to have regard unto him, and as a support to his faith in his present distress; See Gill on Psalm 7:1.

Geneva Study Bible

But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, {k} Thou art my God.

(k) I had this testimony of conscience, that you would defend my innocence.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. Render:

But as for me, on thee do I trust O Lord:

I have said, &c.

Men turn from him, but he turns to God. Cp. Psalm 31:6; Psalm 16:2; Psalm 140:6.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - But I trusted in thee, O Lord. Having fully represented the miserable condition to which he is reduced (vers. 9-13), David now returns to expressions of trust in God, and to earnest prayer to him (comp. ver. 6). I said, Thou art my God; rather, I have said. In all my sufferings, dangers, and difficulties, I have always clung to thee, and said, "Thou, and thou alone, art, and ever shalt be, my God." Psalm 31:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 31:15-19) But, although a curse of the world and an offscouring of all people, he is confident in God, his Deliverer and Avenger. By ואני prominence is given to the subject by way of contrast, as in Psalm 31:7. It appears as though Jahve had given him up in His anger; but he confides in Him, and in spite of this appearance, he even confides in Him with the prayer of appropriating faith. עתּות or אתּים (1 Chronicles 29:30) are the appointed events and circumstances, the vicissitudes of human life; like the Arabic 'idât (like עת from ועד), the appointed rewards and punishments. The times, with whatsoever they bring with them, are in the Lord's hand, every lot is of His appointment or sending. The Vulgate follows the lxx, in manibus tuis sortes meae. The petitions of Psalm 31:16, Psalm 31:17, spring from this consciousness that the almighty and faithful hand of God has mould his life. There are three petitions; the middle one is an echo of the Aaronitish blessing in Numbers 6:25. כּי קראתיך, which gives the ground of his hope that he shall not be put to shame (cf. Psalm 31:2), is to be understood like אמרתּי in Psalm 31:15, according to Ges. 126, 3. The expression of the ground for אל־אבושׁה, favours the explanation of it not so much as the language of petition (let me not be ashamed) of as hope. The futures which follow might be none the less regarded as optatives, but the order of the words does not require this. And we prefer to take them as expressing hope, so that the three petitions in Psalm 31:16, Psalm 31:17, correspond to the three hopes in Psalm 31:18, Psalm 31:19. He will not be ashamed, but the wicked shall be ashamed and silenced for ever. The form ידּמוּ, from דּמם, is, as in Jeremiah 8:14, the plural of the fut. Kal ידּם, with the doubling of the first radical, which is customary in Aramaic (other examples of which we have in יקּד, ישּׁם, יתּם), not of the fut. Niph. ידּם, the plural of which would be ידּמּוּ, as in 1 Samuel 2:9; conticescere in orcum is equivalent to: to be silent, i.e., being made powerless to fall a prey to hades. It is only in accordance with the connection, that in this instance נאלם, Psalm 31:19, just like דּמם, denotes that which is forcibly laid upon them by the judicial intervention of God: all lying lips shall be dumb, i.e., made dumb. עתק prop. that which is unrestrained, free, insolent (cf. Arabic 'âtik, 'atı̂k, unrestrained, free

(Note: But these Arabic words do not pass over into the signification "insolent."))

is the accusative of the object, as in Psalm 94:4, and as it is the nominative of the subject in 1 Samuel 2:3.