Psalm 31:23,24 – “Triumphant!”

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

²³Love the LORD, the all of His loved ones. The LORD guards faithful ones and repays abundantly one doing pride. ²⁴Be strong and He will strengthen your heart, all of ones hoping to the LORD.

In the last post, I tried to ponder what I see as the exegetical issues particularly in verse 24. I think I’ll wrap up my study of this Psalm with just a few random thoughts.

What do I do with the idea, “Be strong and He will strengthen your heart?” First of all, I am not strong. At 61 years old, I believe I have finally begun to understand that Jesus meant it when He said, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” He didn’t say, “You can’t do much.” He said, “You can do nothing.” As David said back in v.4, “You are my Strength.” I am not strong – but He is.

So how can I “be strong,” as David is encouraging us to be? As Paul said in Eph 6:10, “Be strong in the Lord.” Back in I Sam 30:6, when David’s men were threatening to stone him, we’re told he “strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” I have found it is not so much trying to be strong as I face the issues of life, but rather of finding strength in the Lord. Finding our strength in Him is what makes us “strong.”

Many times as I have been faced with something very difficult, I would simply open my Bible to Psalms and start reading. So, so, so, so often, He very quickly shows me something that just gives me strength. I would even say it is something I can’t really explain, you just have to experience it your self. His words just do something in the very depth of my soul so that suddenly “I can do this.”

I’ve also often found strength in prayer. As I face those difficult times, I go to the Lord and tell Him all about it. I tell Him I know that, whatever it is I should do, I will totally fail unless He helps me. I ask Him to give me the wisdom to know what to do and I ask Him to give me grace at those very moments in the challenge when I will be weak. I think this is what Jesus meant when He said, “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Somehow, some way I always find myself strengthened and I actually end up doing a few things right, when I have very deliberately prayed these things to Him. Once again, they’re always “unexplainable” when they happen, but having prayed I know it’s Him.

I would also say I find strength just in reading and studying Psalms like this one specifically as I am reminded again of who God is. So many of the Psalms let us look the Lord directly in the face, as it were, and, as I remember His love, His grace, His kindness to me and as I remember His wisdom and strength, His promises to help me, I find myself “strengthened.”

In all of these ways, I guess I’m saying that is what I think He means when He tells us, “Be strong and He will strengthen your heart.” We are “strong” when we take refuge in the Lord, and in so doing, we find ourselves “strengthened.”

One more thing I should add – sometimes He “strengthens” me by helping me to do right as I actually work through that hard situation. Sometimes it is by helping me figure out something like “how can I make this process work?” “What is the matter with this thing?” or “What is the best way to handle this?” Right now I’m working on a project in a community where every time it rains, their sewers flood and backup in people’s basements. We have been chasing down the problem for over a year and finally have it cornered in what we think is a single city block – but we still can’t figure out where it’s coming from. So I am praying somehow the Lord will show us – and I am confident He will. Somehow. He will “strengthen us” with the knowledge of how to solve this terrible problem.

We just have to be strong “in Him.”

Last of all, I’d like to note this appellation to us, “all you who hope in the Lord.” The fact is we do. We do hope in the Lord. He is our hope. Without Him we have no hope. He gives us hope and, in spite of all our weakness and bungling, we actually do live as people with hope. I want to close with a quote on these very words from Albert Barnes:

“He does hope in God – in reference to all that is needful for himself as an individual; all that will be for the good of his family; all that will tend to bless the world; all that he desires in heaven. Hope in God cheers him, sustains him, comforts him; makes life happy and prosperous; and makes death calm, serene, triumphant.”

We began this Psalm saying, “In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge. Let me never be ashamed.” It’s nice to end my study with the word, “Triumphant!” That is exactly what Jesus makes me – triumphant!

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name!”

Thank you, Jesus, for this wonderful Psalm. Thank you for Your encouragement. Thank You for being our Strength. Thank you for always giving us hope.

Thank you that in You we can actually be triumphant!