Psalm 31:17-24 NKJV
17 Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You;
Let the wicked be ashamed;
Let them be silent in the grave.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence,
Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
19 Oh, how great is Your goodness,
Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who trust in You
In the presence of the sons of men!
20 You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence
From the plots of man;
You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion
From the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!
22 For I said in my haste,
“I am cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications
When I cried out to You.
23 Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!
For the Lord preserves the faithful,
And fully repays the proud person.
24 Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the Lord.
Although not part of the assigned verses for today, the correct sense of Psalm 31 is indicated in verse 5: “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” This verse, according to Luke 23:46, was the final prayer of our Lord from His cross, and it can be taken to indicate the proper “voice” of this whole psalm.
Speaking to His Father in the context of His suffering and death, it is the prayer of “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Her. 12:2). This Psalm is part of His prayer of faith. In making this psalm our own, we Christians are brought into the voice and prayer of Christ Jesus. We partake of His own relationship to the Father. No one, after all, knows the Father except the Son and the one “to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27).
Our only access to God is through Christ Jesus and the mediation of His atoning blood. Our incorporation into Christ is the foundation of all of our prayer. Only in Christ do we call God our Father. The only prayer that passes beyond the veil to His very throne is prayer saturated with the redeeming blood of Christ. This prayer cries out more so than the blood of Abel.
The reason that the voice of Christ in His Passion must become our own voice is that His Passion itself provides the pattern for our own lives. We are to be baptized with His baptism; the bitter cup that He drinks we too are to taste in our own souls. The prayer of His Passion becomes our own, because “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).
There’s a fancy theological word entitled “proleptic” that means “Now, but not yet,” which is displayed in the psalm—a changing of tenses, back and forth between past and future. So with us, even as we taste the coming enjoyment of God’s eternal presence, hope’s struggle in this world presses on.
Let us pray: O Lord, bring us to pray as Jesus, who is our sure and certain hope amidst the struggles of this world. Amen.