Incline thine ear to me, deliver me speedily; be a strong rock to me, a house of defence to save me.
Psalm 31 opens with David under pressure from enemies and slander, and verse 2 is his urgent plea: listen, act fast, be my shelter. Behind the pictures of rock and fortress lies one question — on what ground can anyone ask God for that? (Some older translations say "a strong rock" and "a house of defence"; the writers quoted below use that wording.)
David asks God to bend His ear down to him. One writer reads that as David admitting how far below God he stands.
He takes the lowly place, asking the Lord to "bow down" His ear to him (v. 2), realising that it is a great stooping down on God's part even to listen to David. He wants quick deliverance from God, his Rock of refuge. We know God will not delay it longer than necessary, but will act in His own time and way.
The verse names two pictures, not one. One commentator gives each of them its own job.
Here he pleads Jehovah's righteousness as a ground for deliverance, and that speedily. "Be my strong rock, a house of defence to save me" — a rock to stand on, a house to take shelter in. Urgent indeed was his need. "Pull me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me; for You are my strength" (4). He was, as it were, in the net before he saw it, and he could not get himself out. God alone could rescue him.
Notice the logic. David asks God to be his rock, and then in verse 3 he says, "for you are my rock." He asks God for what God already is. One writer calls that the strongest argument prayer can use.
That Jehovah — God in His unchangeable self-consistency — is the rock of faith needs no proof, of course, and none is given. It is used with God Himself as a winning argument, to get Him to show Himself in that character. Must He not be to the soul that trusts Him everything it counts on Him for? The one who prays can plead His righteousness even on his own behalf; for does He not encourage faith to take hold of Him? "Be to me," therefore, he cries, "a rock of strength, a house of defence, to save me: for You are my rock and my fortress."
David asks for rescue "speedily." Later in the same psalm he says his times are in God's hand, and one writer builds an answer out of that for everyone who has to wait.
David says, "My times are in Your hand" (Ps. 31:15). If our times were in our own hand, we would have deliverance too soon. If they were in our enemy's hand, we would have deliverance too late. But my times are in Your hand, and God's time is always best. Everything is beautiful in its season: when the mercy is ripe, we will have it… Deliverance may be later than our time, but it will not be later than God's time.
One writer reads the rock and the fortress as Christ Himself, with the peace of God on guard inside.
And let us not forget that all is "in Christ Jesus". Christ Jesus is my Rock and my Fortress (Ps. 31:2-3) within which the Peace of God keeps guard over hearts and thoughts. So the picture is complete: we have the Fortress and we have the Garrison that guards it. Both are Divine. What perfect safety, and what perfect peace, is there for every believer!
One writer names the thread that runs through the whole psalm.
The special character of the psalm is trust. It is handing your case over to Jehovah, out of personal knowledge of Him. This is a deep principle of true godliness: knowing the Lord so well, and trusting what He is so fully, that the soul can cast everything on Him when distress and hostility reach their worst.
- Bow — asking God to bend His ear down is taking the lowly place; it is a great stooping on His part to listen at all.
- Be — "be to me a rock" rests on "you are my rock"; faith asks God to show Himself as what He unchangeably is.
- Stand — the rock is ground under your feet, the house of defence is walls around you, and the peace of God is the guard inside.
- Wait — "speedily" is an honest cry, but our times stay in God's hand. Deliverance may be late by our clock, never by His.
- Trust — the psalm's whole character is handing your case to a God you know, just when hostility is at its worst.
For thou art my rock and my fortress; and, for thy name's sake, thou wilt lead me and guide me.
David is already sure of what God is to him: his rock and his fortress. So he asks God to lead him — and he asks on the ground of God's name, not his own worth.
The two names David uses are not decoration. One is the ground under his feet. The other is the wall around him.
David's confidence is in the Lord as his rock and his fortress. The rock is the solid basis of his very existence, and the fortress is his all-encircling defence. David does not ask for guidance for his own sake, but for the sake of the name of the Lord. Since the Lord alone is his rock and fortress, he is sure that God will go before him as Leader and guide him as he goes on his way.
But why is God a rock at all? The answer here is His righteousness.
The godly man looks to the Lord to save him from all his enemies. He trusts in the righteousness of God. God is perfectly righteous. So He becomes the rock on which faith can build, and the defence against the enemy on which faith can depend. Since God is his rock and defence, he asks God to lead and guide him in keeping with His Name.
Notice the order in the verse: the reason comes before the prayer. David is not telling God something new. He is turning what God is into a reason for God to act.
That Jehovah — God who never changes and is always true to Himself — is the rock of faith needs no proof. Faith takes that truth and uses it with God Himself as a winning argument, to move Him to show Himself in that character. Must He not be to the soul that trusts Him all that it counts on Him for? And would He not be known for what He is? That is, would He not act for His Name's sake, and lead and guide His people in line with this?
This phrase moves the ground of the prayer off the one praying and onto God Himself.
Notice too that He leads us like this "for His name's sake." Again — and it cannot be said too often — the reason is what He is, because of His own name. So His own glory is at stake in guiding us into these paths of righteousness. We can always plead with Him on this ground; and whenever we do so, our plea is irresistible.
This is why such a prayer is safe to pray.
"For Your goodness' sake," "for Your name's sake" — there is ground on which the soul founds its confidence. It is impossible that God should fail His own name (John 17:6). He is "good and upright." What does the goodness of God do for a trembling and miserable sinner? It does not throw his misery back at him, but takes note of it to fill him with full confidence and give him courage. God would deny Himself if He failed in His goodness in this case.
Later in the psalm David asks for God's face to shine on him. The two prayers belong together.
God wants to reveal His will to us about our life. And if we recognise and carry out His will, He will grant us the assurance that the way we are going matches His will. We shall see His face shining over our way. In Psalm 31 we find these two aspects: first David asks for God's guidance and leading … then he expresses the wish: "Make your face shine on your servant."
Commentators note that the psalm reaches beyond David. Jesus used words from it. Yet not every line fits Him, and the psalm also speaks for the remnant — the faithful few in Israel.
Psalm 31 shows how Jesus could use the devout and holy words of a psalm. He could even pass through it all in spirit, though the psalm does not apply to Him literally. Here we find the words He used: "Into your hand I commit my spirit." That was true in the fullest sense. But the psalm continues: "You have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God." Those words cannot apply to Him. So the whole complaint of the psalm is not David's only. It is also the complaint and confidence of the remnant. It joins two principles, trust and righteousness, and looks for guidance for the LORD's name's sake.
- Because — the prayer rests on a fact: God is rock and fortress. It starts from what He is, not from what the one praying deserves.
- Rock — the rock is the ground under you, the fortress the wall around you. God's righteousness makes Him a base faith can build on.
- Argument — faith turns God's character into a plea. Must He not be to the trusting soul all that it counts on Him for?
- Name — leading "for His name's sake" ties God's own glory to the answer. A plea on that ground is irresistible, for He cannot fail His own name.
- Result — David also asks God to make His face shine on him. Guidance comes with the assurance that the road is His.