Help In The Day Of Trouble Series

Help In The Day of Trouble!

Psalm 31

Introduction:

Find (3) Different People in Psalm 31:

1) David

human penman of the Psalm – delivered to the Temple choir director to be sung in the worship of Jehovah.

Psalm 31 = opens with the cry of a hurting soul… deep emotion.. hear his brokenness – v.12

Psalm 31 – helps us to bring every hurt and every emotion into the presence of God!

Quote: “on this particular occasion David was confronted with a conspiracy so powerful that even his closest friends and most ardent supporters had abandoned him. Alone and forsaken, he found himself emotionally distressed and physical drained, with no one to turn to but God. Filled with deep anxiety, David had to trust in the Lord. His anguish was transformed into assurance.” – Steve Lawson

Setting: 2 Sam. 15:7-14

Penned at the outset of Absalom’s rebellion… out of a bitter and vengeful heart… Absalom secretly conspired to take the kingdom from his father… devised a scheme.

2 Sam. 15:7-9

Absalom asked permission from his father to go to Hebron… reason was that he had made a vow to the LORD … when he was exiled in Syria… upon his return he wanted to fulfill his vow or oath that he would serve the Lord.

Hebron = fortified city – Israelite stronghold… also place where David had been anointed King of Judah 30 years earlier.

Absalom = worship was his reason… but war was in his heart.

Masked his treachery with spiritual pretense! Absalom was going to Hebron to be anointed King in place of his father…

Psalm 31:4

2Sam. 17:9 – David unknowingly gives Absalom permission to go… completely oblivious to what would happen next.

v.10 – Absalom had sent spies throughout the land of Israel… when you hear the trumpet blow in Hebron… shout your loyalty to me… “Absalom reigneth!”

v.12 – defection of David’s close friend and advisor, Ahithophel… Bathsheba’s grandfather.

vv.13,14 – David receives word of Absalom’s treachery … fear and panic sets in… feeling forsaken, abandoned and alone… David fled for his life and the life of his family and servants.

Psalm 31:11,12

David = on emotional roller coaster… see his highs and lows woven together throughout the Psalm.

High = vv.1-3

Low = v.4

High = v.7

Low = vv.9-13

High = vv.15-16, 19

Low = v.22

High note = vv.23,24

Psalm 31 – begins with trust and ends in hope!

2) Lord Jesus

Psalm 31 = Messianic – prophetic in nature… looks beyond David to David’s greater Son!

Look: v.5 – “Into thine hand I commit my spirit.”

Word of the Cross – last of the 7 cries that Jesus made at Calvary.

Sufferings of David pale in comparison the sufferings of our Lord.

after 6 grueling hours hanging suspended between heaven and earth on two pieces of wood… 3 nails… Jesus has been abused, spat upon, beaten and now crucified… bearing in His own body the sins of the entire human race… Cried, “It is Finished!”

Work of redemption = complete.

Luke 23:46 – “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”

v.5 – Cry of not of death but of Surrender… when Jesus dismissed His life on Calvary it was an act of absolute surrender to the Father’s will.

• David = surrendered himself

• Lord Jesus = surrendered Himself

• We ought to surrender ourselves.

3) You and Me

Psalm 31 = not just a word from David, a word about the Lord Jesus, it is a word to us.

God = has something to say to you and me.

Times God allows the props to be knocked out from under us… have nowhere to go and no one to lean on… like David we can turn to the LORD!

Learn = what David learned – “He’s Enough!”

Preach: Help in The Day of Trouble!

I. LOOK TO THE LORD!

v.1 – “Trust” = used 3x’s in Psalm (vv.6,14) … phrase “but I trust”… quoted by both Jeremiah and Jonah.

Word = to depend or to lean on.

“Ashamed” = to be put to shame… Lord, You have never failed me and You are not going to start failing me now.

v.2 – “speedily” = prayer of urgency

David asks God to be his “house.”

Interesting the location of Ps. 31 … follows Ps. 3-

Ps. 30 = David celebrating the dedication of his home to God.

Ps. 31 = David crying out to God to be his house… not just any house… house of defense. Look: v.3

v.4

II. COMMIT EVERYTHING TO HIM!

Look: v.5

A. Word of Surrender (5)

Overwhelmed with trouble… David surrenders all to the Lord.