Text: Psalm 31:14-24
Theme: Abundant Goodness
“Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!” (Psalm 31:19).
Greetings: The Lord is good; and His love endures forever.
Illustration:
On the day of judgement God asked men to stand on two queues:
On the First line all those who were decision makers
On the Second line all those who were obedient and dutiful to their wives;
First line had only one man standing in it, while the second line was miles long.
God wanted to crown him before that he asked him, "Man, how did you end up in this line?!"
The man replied, "My wife told me to stand here."
Praise God for this day. Let us gracefully acknowledge that where we stand today is God's perfect gift. This is an abundant gift from the Lord. So, I invite you to join the Church services to meditate on a few of the abundant blessings we receive and cherish in our lives, namely Abundant Goodness (Psalm 31:19), Abundant love (Exodus 34:6-7), Abundant life (John 10:10), Abundant anointing (Psalm 23:5), and Abundance of everything (2 Corinthians 9:8).
Psalm 31 is a lament category psalm in which David was looking to God for relief and blessings. The Catholic Bishops conference outlined this psalm as: ‘A lament with a strong emphasis on trust (Psalm 31:4, 6, 15–16), ending with an anticipatory thanksgiving (Psalm 31:20–24). As is usual in laments, the affliction is embedded in general terms. The psalmist feels overwhelmed by evil people but trusts in the “God of truth” (Psalm 31:6).’
An interesting feature of this psalm is that it is often quoted in other passages of Scripture.
- Jonah quotes Psalm 31:6 in Jonah 2:8, his prayer from the belly of the great fish.
- Jeremiah quotes Psalm 31:13 six times in his prophecy (Jeremiah 6:25; 20:3; 20:10; 46:5; 49:29, and Lamentations 2:22.)
- Jesus quotes Psalm 31:5 on the cross as His final words before yielding His life (Luke 23:46).
- Stephen, the first martyr of the church, remembers Psalm 31:5 (Acts 7:59).
- Paul quotes Psalm 31:24 in 1 Corinthians 16:13
The word Abundant means more than sufficient and plentiful. God has abundant good things. The abundant goodness is available to me based on my relationship with God. The abundant goodness of God helps me to prevail over my times. The abundant goodness of God brings rewards to me.
Let us meditate one by one.
1. My relationship with God
My relationship with God is important for me to get anything from the Lord. How I relate to him, he relates to me on the same wavelength and of course, even beyond. The psalmist says to God, “I trust in you”, O Lord. He tells his associates that ‘I seek him’ (Psalm 31:1,6). Whatever problems he had to face he says ‘I commit my spirit’ (Psalm 31:5). Not only that in distress of every situation of my life, ‘I will rejoice and exult in your steadfast love’ (Psalm 31:7). He further says to his listeners ‘Love the Lord.’ He says to his audience ‘I fear the Lord, and take refuge in him’ (Psalm 31:19). Webster says that refuge is "a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble."
David trusted in the Lord for his stability, security, and protection. In this Psalm he contrasts the greatness, goodness, and reliability of God with the insignificance, inconsistency, and limitations of man. God's goodness is not a doctrine, not a concept but means of grace, compassion and mercy of God which helps us to trust God when things are not going well as Psalm 31:19, Romans 8:28, and other verses demonstrate.
Spurgeon says, “There is goodness in the present as well as goodness in the future, goodness wrought out as well as goodness stored up.”
The Message Bible: ‘What a stack of blessings you have piled up for those who worship you, Ready and waiting for all who run to you to escape an unkind world. You hide them safely away from the opposition. As you slam the door on those oily, mocking faces, you silence the poisonous gossip.’
New Living Translation: ‘How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world. You 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.’
Psalm 31:19 speaks of the rich blessings for us. The Lord has abundant grace, goodness, and love for all of us. He stored up those great blessings for us when we continue to fear him, serve him, and honor him through our commitment, words, and deeds. One important observation and revelation we get through This verse is that God is going to give this abundant blessing to the godly in the sight of men on the earth. Abundance is something God offers to those who trust in Him. Abundance means a life full of everything we need to sustain ourselves in joy and purpose.
Now, let’s move on to the second point of our devotion, My Times.
2. My times
He says that his time was not good. He says that Shame is awaiting for him. He prays to God, and pleads, ‘Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors, human plots, contentious tongues, and wicked.’ He says ‘I am a city under siege.’ He cries out to God telling his condition in life ‘I am in distress, grief, sorrow, sighs, misery, my strength in body and soul fails, my bones waste away’ (Psalm 31:9-10). He looks into himself and looks around at how they treat him. He says ‘I am a scorn’. They look at me as a horror, a scary person. Because of this approach of my neighbors, colleagues say that ‘I became mad’ (Psalm 31:11) and ‘became a broken vessel’ (Psalm 31:12). The Terrors of people and schemes and plots are against me.
However, David praises God for the times when he experienced divine rescue. The life of David was miserable and things were not going well in his life. He pleaded with God to prevent his everlasting shame. When David asked God to "shine His face upon him", he was asking for divine approval and blessing upon his kingship, leadership. It is something a child cries to his mother for something to be done. The smiling look of a mother nods the approval for anything a child pleads for. David understood that Yahweh was his God and greater than all his troubles. David could not bear the thought of being given over to the hands of his enemies because his times were in the hands of God.
The commentator Boice says the meaning of my times is in your hand applies to all stages of our lives. “The times of our youth are in God’s hands, times when often we are subject to the decisions others make for us. The times of our manhood are in God’s hands, to give us success and failure in our careers. The times of our old age are in God’s hands to care for us and bless those days as much as the others.”
This means that God knows, and decided what should and could happen to David. So, we can say ‘God is good and his love endures forever.’ It is His nature. All of His plans are good.
G. Campbell Morgan comments to “my times” to the whole Psalm as divided into four seasons of a year Autumn (Psalm 31:1-8), Winter (Psalm 31:9-13), Spring (Psalm 31:14-18), and Summer (Psalm 31:19-24). Everything is in his hand.
Spurgeon says, “My times are not in the hands of my enemies; they can’t hurt me without God’s permission.”
Mathew Henry says ‘Instead of yielding to impatience or despondency under our troubles, we should turn our thoughts to the goodness of the Lord towards those who fear and trust in Him. All blessings and goodness comes to me though a sinner through the wondrous gift of the only-begotten Son of God, who was the atonement for my sins.’
Discover the Books of the Bible commentary explains: ‘All times; both times of prosperity and of adversity. Times of darkness, desertion, and temptation; times of joy, peace, and comfort. These were all in the hands of the Lord, at his disposal, ordered by him for the good of his servant, and for the glory of his own name.’ The Targum: my times refer to “The times of my redemption”.
3. My rewards
My rewards come from the Lord. The Abundant goodness, and the rewards are from the Lord. David says, ‘Lord, You lead me guided me. You sets my feet on a broad place’ (Psalm 31:8). Wait for the Lord (Psalm 31:24).
Often, we start our weeks clouded by the fear, anxiety, or mundaneness that we foresee in it. No matter how we feel regarding the week ahead, the reality is that God has abundant good things stored up for His children.
Surely, The unseen, spiritual warehouse, of good things, gifts, challenges, situations, and opportunities that God has stored up for us is so exciting to bring into our lives.David praises the Lord for His lavish goodness upon him. He does not place a measure on God's goodness, because it is immeasurable. It extends far beyond our needs. His goodness abounds in times of trial as well as in times of peace. The believer does not have to worry that the Lord's goodness will suddenly run out. God’s goodness is like an inexhaustible treasure stored up, and at the proper time brought out and used for those who take refuge in Him. Goodness has saved me and is available for the future.
According to Clark: God's goodness is infinite; there is enough for all, enough for each one, enough for every situation, and evermore, everyone who trembles at his word, may expect all he needs from this fountain that can never be dried up. The Lord declared through Prophet Jeremiah, “I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:14).
Matthew Henry Comments: “O how great is thy goodness! How profound are the counsels of it! how rich are the treasures of it! how free and extensive are the communications of it! Those very persons whom men load with slanders God loads with benefits and honours. This goodness is laid up in his promise for all that fear God, to whom assurance is given that they shall want no good thing.”
Notes from the Bibles: KJV notes that ‘the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.’
Amen. God bless you with His abundant grace.
