Psalm 31:1-3 – “Faith-Talk”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹In You, YHVH, I have taken refuge. Do not let me be ashamed to ages. In Your righteousness, deliver me. ²Incline to me Your ear. Quickly rescue me. Be to me to a rock from strength, to a house of fortresses to save me, ³because You [are] my Rock and my Fortress and for the sake of Your name You lead and guide me.

Over at least the last couple of years, one of my prayers has been, “Lord, teach me to pray.” In particular, I’ve always had a terrible problem with my wandering mind – that I can’t pray but a few sentences and my silly mind is off frolicking in a stream somewhere or designing someone’s chlorine analyzer. But beyond that, I’ve become more and more aware that somehow my prayers are just deficient. I have felt more and more that something is missing. Add to that the realization how much the Lord enjoys our prayers. He calls them “incense” and says Himself, “The prayer of the upright is His delight” (Prov 15:8). All that said and as I am studying even these few verses of Psalm 31, I feel He is answering my prayer – to teach me to pray.

I particularly notice the “because” which starts v3. In v2, David asks the Lord to “be to me a Rock and a Fortress” then says in v3, “because You are my Rock and my Fortress.” As Alexander McClaren and others point out, that almost sounds illogical: “Be to me a Rock and a Fortress because You are my Rock and my Fortress.” If we were talking to another human being, perhaps it would be a rather nonsensical statement, but we’re not talking to another human; we’re talking to God.

The statement itself is actually an expression of faith. David is saying that he believes that God is a Rock and a Fortress. The very soul of his prayer is believing that God is who He says He is. He comes to God needing Him to be a Rock and a Fortress and so he asks, “Be to me a Rock and a Fortress.” “Be to me what You are.” “I believe You are a Rock and Fortress … but I need You to be those things to me.” And the full expression of this faith-talk hinges around the “because” of v3. “Be to me a Rock and a Fortress because You are my Rock and my Fortress.” “… because You are my Rock and my Fortress.”

“Be to me because You are.” That’s faith-talk.

I’m reminded again of Jesus’ words, “For this is eternal life, that they might know You …” The very essence of real faith is to know God. And what grows out of truly knowing God is prayer that is not just “saying prayers” but rather this dynamic merger between who He is and the cries of my needy heart. “Be to me because You are.”

And notice too the personal element in it all. Here I am speaking to the God of the Universe who inhabits eternity – “Be to me a Rock and a Fortress because You are my Rock and my Fortress.” Is this not more faith-talk? John 3:16 says “God so loved the world …” but Paul can say in Gal 2:20 of Jesus, “who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Faith, in a sense, would be useless if it wasn’t also personal. Prayer, in a sense, is where God’s “very great and precious promises” become personal to me. Real prayer is the personal expression of real faith.

I recently noticed Isaiah 62:6,7: “You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.” I noticed the “give Him no rest.” That of course immediately reminds us of the importunate widow in Luke 18, where Jesus told them the story specifically to the end that “they should always pray and not give up.” The Lord has recently really burdened my heart with a particular person’s salvation and so, based on Isaiah 62 and Luke 18, I told Him I would “give Him no rest” until He saves them and then embarked on a habit of every day specifically taking this prayer to Him.

I feel, in so doing, I’ve actually learned a little about “how to pray.” It feels “odd” to, in a sense, barge into His throne room to basically demand an audience with Him and then beg importunately for Him to do something. But I find in Isaiah and Luke the “permission” to do it and then I’m only further encouraged remembering Heb 4:16, “Let us therefore [because of Jesus] come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Each day, as I pray for this person, I have to overcome this rather “strange” feeling that I am somehow being inappropriately persistent with this great King. I think to myself I don’t know that I’d ever do this with any earthly ruler or boss, but then I think that depends on my relationship with them. If I was really, really close to a ruler or boss, and if I was really confident in my relationship with them, and if they had even encouraged me to be persistent “if I needed something,” I suppose I would.

There you go – it “depends on my relationship.” If it makes sense at all to anyone, I am feeling this persistent praying actually strengthens my relationship with God, it “improves” my praying, because I am dealing very specifically with exactly what that relationship is. I’m finding the same thing as here in Psalm 31 – that real prayer arises from actually knowing God. “Be to me because You are” and what You are is “my Rock and my Fortress.”

I should close but I want to say I am ceaselessly amazed with this “knowing God” business. After nearly 40 years of “knowing Him,” I’m still learning to know Him better, but then what is so amazing is how everything I learn about Him only makes me want to know Him more. He really is everything our hearts could have ever dreamed, and the more we know Him the more we find it true.

“Be to me because You are.”