Psalm 31:19,20 – “Protected”

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

¹⁹What great Your good which You have stored up to ones fearing You, have made to ones taking refuge in You, before the sons of mankind? ²⁰You will hide them in the hiding place of Your faces from plots of man. You will hide them in a booth from [the] contention of tongues.

As I’ve studied v20, in particular, I have been amazed to realize just how true it is that our God loves to hide things! It might be that He is hiding His wisdom from the “wise” and the “great” of this world, as in I Cor 2:7, “We speak of God’s secret wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.” In v.19, He has hidden away or “stored up” good He intends to do for us – like a parent storing away gifts to give their children as they grow older.

However, what has amazed is me is how He hides us.

Once again, in v19, David spoke of the “good” that the Lord has “stored up” for us – that He has hidden away good He intends to do us. That has certainly been true in my life. I am amazed to see how blessed I am and to look back and realize that, through all the very painful, difficult times, He knew He was going to bring me here. All I knew at the time was that it all hurt (a lot). But even while I was hurting, He had hidden away all this blessing. He knew I had to go through the pain, before He could give me these blessings, but He knew all the time He would. He had it all hidden away, stored up to give me at just the right time!

But then, interestingly, in v20, He hides us! The verse says He hides us “from the intrigues of men” and “from accusing tongues.” He is hiding us, so to speak, from the meanness of this world. For myself, as I’ve said before, I haven’t had to deal too much with people’s meanness. On the whole I work all day every day with what I find to be a lot of very nice people. I’m not rich or famous or powerful, so I suppose I don’t necessarily attract meanness like David would have being a king. But the fact is, it’s still there. It’s always there.

It is there ultimately because Satan is a liar and a murderer and “the accuser of the brethren.” Unfortunately too many people are in reality his children and “the lusts of their father they will do.” Jesus never did anything but love people and yet the religious leaders of His day lied about Him and accused Him and finally murdered Him for it. The meanness is there.

With Satan being so venomously determined to kill us, it is a wonder we know any peace or friendship at all. And why do we? This verse tell us exactly why – because the Lord has “hidden us” from it all. Satan complained about this very fact in relation to Job when he said to the Lord, “Have You not put a hedge around him and his household and everything He has?” (Job 1:10). Satan couldn’t touch Job without the Lord’s permission.

I guess I’ve known for years about this “hedge” and certainly prayed that the Lord would in fact keep it about my family; but I’ve never really thought about, for instance, why I basically find people pretty nice, even though I know the world is a pretty mean place. I’ve never thought about how it is actually very specifically because the Lord Himself is actually “hiding” me from it all.

That leads me to another thought, which is that, if the Lord is protecting us from people’s meanness, then there is a sense in which we don’t have to worry any longer about protecting ourselves. I fear a lot of times, that is what drives people to do what they do, that at times it’s even what is driving their meanness – that in one way or another they are protecting themselves.

I realized not too long ago, that is actually one of the things that drives mean, cruel people – that they are in reality fearful people who think by being angry and threatening and overbearing they can make things work to their advantage – that they can, in effect, protect themselves. If only those very people could realize that the Lord would take care of them, they’d realize they can just settle down, be nice, and in the end it will all work out anyway.

But do I really realize that? Do I really realize that I can count on God to protect me – so therefore I don’t need to be overly concerned about protecting myself – and that especially against other people’s meanness? I don’t know that I’ve ever really pondered these thoughts exactly. Obviously I still need to lock my doors at night and pay for uninsured motorist coverage. I still need to be responsible – but like worry or fear in any of its forms, I don’t need to be driven by it. I should do the basic things I need to do, but then I can rest in the goodness of the Lord.

I need to carry these thoughts with me into my day, even today, and try to be aware of this protection I’m enjoying. The real reason anyone is “nice” to me is because the Lord has hidden me away from the meanness they are capable of. And whether they are or not is in reality in His hands. He is the One wisely, kindly deciding just how high to keep the hedge about me. I am free to just be nice myself, to love people, to be kind to them, specifically because I don’t have to worry about protecting myself! God will do that.

Hmmmmmmmmmm. “In the shelter of Your Presence You hide them from the intrigues of men; in Your dwelling You keep them safe from accusing tongues.”

What a blessing to live protected!