Blessings In Store

Psalm 31:19-24

19Your goodness is so great!

You have stored up great blessings for those who honor you.

You have done so much for those who come to you for protection,

blessing them before the watching world.

20You hide them in the shelter of your presence,

safe from those who conspire against them.

You shelter them in your presence,

far from accusing tongues.

21Praise the LORD,

for he has shown me his unfailing love.

He kept me safe when my city was under attack.

22In sudden fear I had cried out,

“I have been cut off from the LORD!”

But you heard my cry for mercy

and answered my call for help.

23Love the LORD, all you faithful ones!

For the LORD protects those who are loyal to him,

but he harshly punishes all who are arrogant.

24So be strong and take courage,

all you who put your hope in the LORD!

It is not clear what David was facing when he wrote Psalm 31. Some scholars believe the psalm relates to 1 Samuel 23 or 27 when he was hiding in enemy cities. Though David was being hunted by King Saul deep within enemy territory, he was preserved by the Lord. Even when the city was under attack, God kept him safe.

The prophet Jonah knew this psalm. He quoted part of it when he was in the belly of the great fish (compare Jonah 2:4 and Psalm 31:22). Like David, Jonah prayed for God to rescue him, and God mercifully did so. Jonah vowed to make sacrifices to God with songs of praise after his rescue, but there is no record that Jonah did. Instead, Jonah complained because God was blessing others more than they deserved.

Because of this, Jonah probably missed out on blessings that God had stored up for him (verse 19). Tragic, isn’t it, that a person could know Scripture so well and not follow through on it?

Often we use pieces of God’s Word to comfort us in tough times, but, like Jonah, we conveniently forget God’s challenges when the coast is clear. God wants us to rest in perfect safety in his hands, but don’t make Jonah’s mistake and forget to praise and thank God for it.

Oh, what blessings will attend

Those who make the Lord their friend.

Lord, may this my portion be.

Seek it, all you saints with me.

HENRY F. LYTE

Psalm at a Glance

The final six verses of this psalm are thanksgiving verses, but they are not all the same. Verses 19 and 20 thank God for his goodness to his people in general. Verses 21 and 22 thank God for his goodness to the psalmist in particular. Verses 23 and 24 call upon God’s children to love him and confidently wait for him to answer, since our future is in God’s hands (see verse 15).

Notable Quotable

“All of our visible blessings are but pale shadows of the real wealth that we can have if we live in continual communion with God. He does not put his best gifts in the store windows. He keeps those in the inner chambers. The best good is not the good that we can touch, taste, and handle and that men can see.”

ALEXANDER MACLAREN