But the salvation of the righteous is of Jehovah he is their strength in the time of trouble.
The psalm ends by placing two futures side by side: the end of the upright and the end of the wicked. Then it gives the reason the righteous survive at all. It is not their record or their strength. It is the Lord Himself, their fortress while the trouble lasts.
The psalm has watched the wicked flourish and then vanish. Its closing word says where the safety of the righteous lies. One writer pictures these verses as a siege:
Victory is for the righteous; their salvation is of One who cannot fail them. Even in the time of distress He is their stronghold; and what a fortress for the enemy to besiege! He will help and rescue them as surely as they have fled to Him for refuge.
The help is not earned. It is as sure as their running to Him.
In the Psalms the word "salvation" has enemies in view:
The believers in the Psalms hope and pray for salvation — which means to be saved from their enemies. This salvation will come when the Messiah steps in and destroys those enemies.
The verse joins two things: salvation, and a stronghold in the trouble. Some translations render that second word "strength". It matters most when the trouble does not lift:
"The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD." He knows how to deliver them from any adversity or enemy. And in the middle of trouble He is their strength to enable them to bear whatever trial He may allow them to have (v. 39).
God may let the trial run its course. The answer to trouble is not always removal.
The psalm says much about how the godly should walk. That can leave the impression that a right walk is what saves. One writer closes the psalm by ruling that out:
However right the walk and ways of the godly, let them always remember that their salvation is of the Lord. He is the strength in trouble, and help in time of need, and the deliverer from the wicked of all who trust in Him.
Circumstances in the psalm keep changing. This closing statement does not:
Finally Jehovah is the strength of the righteous in the time of trouble. This cannot fail. He will help and deliver them, saving them from their enemies because they trust in Him. This is always true.
The reason given is trust, not achievement. That is why the promise holds in every case.
Salvation comes from the Lord. That has a sharp edge for anyone asking how to be right with God. Religious activity is the first thing ruled out:
It does not say salvation is in taking the sacraments or singing psalms. It is not in your giving to the poor or your saying of prayers. These can never save. "Salvation is of the Lord." You are shut up to Him alone. For we read, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). You are shut up to Christ.
This verse comforts people who are losing right now. One writer describes the shape of the whole psalm:
The contrast has two parts. First, in the present life, the evildoers are the great majority and have the upper hand. Second, in the coming age, God will remove the evildoers in judgment and the godly will enter into the liberty of glory. In the present age the godly are often oppressed and always under some measure of trouble. So they need instruction from God about the way they should go through it, and the spirit in which they should meet it.
- Source. Salvation comes from the Lord — it rests on One who cannot fail, not on the believer's record or resources.
- Stronghold. The Lord is not only the rescuer at the end; He is the fortress the enemy has to besiege while the trouble lasts.
- Strength. Deliverance may come by removing the trial or by supplying strength to bear it — He knows how to do both.
- Trust. Help rests on their trust in Him. They run to Him for refuge; they do not earn Him.
- Scope. In the psalm, salvation means rescue from enemies. Taken to the full, the same words leave a person with Christ alone.
And Jehovah will help them and deliver them he will deliver them from the wicked, and save them; for they trust in him.
For thirty-nine verses the psalm has weighed two lives against each other. One flourishes and then vanishes. The other waits. The last verse names where rescue comes from, and gives one reason for it: they take refuge in Him.
The verse comes at the end of a long list of instructions about how the godly should live. One writer warns them not to rest on their own good conduct.
However right the walk and ways of the godly, let them always remember that their salvation is of the Lord. He is the strength in trouble, and help in time of need, and the deliverer from the wicked of all who trust in Him.
The verse piles up verbs — helps, delivers, delivers again, saves. One commentator sees two gifts in them. God gives strength to bear a trial. He also gives rescue out of it.
"But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord." He knows how to deliver them from any adversity or enemy. In the middle of trouble He is their strength. He enables them to bear whatever trial He may allow them to have (v. 39). If they need help, He will supply it. If they need deliverance, He will not fail them in any way. He both delivers and saves them (v. 40), simply because their trust is in Him.
The word "because" at the end of the verse ties the rescue to the act of fleeing to God. One writer pictures God as a stronghold. The help is as sure as the flight to Him.
Victory is for the righteous; their salvation is of One who cannot fail them. Even in the time of distress He is their stronghold; and what a fortress for the enemy to besiege! He shall help and rescue them as surely as they have fled to Him for refuge.
If refuge is the reason God saves, then everything hangs on the One you flee to. One writer makes the point with a picture of a drowning man.
Faith is the first stone of the building, but it is not the foundation. It is the act of holding on to Christ, but all its value depends on the worth of the Christ you hold on to. A man may have faith — real, eager, energetic faith — in saints and images, in priests and relics. Yet his faith does not save him. A drowning man puts out his hand. With more than natural energy he seizes a piece of froth dancing on the crest of a wave. His hand cuts through it like air, and he sinks helpless in the deep. He is lost. Not because his aim was poor, or his grasp weak, but because the phantom he fled to had no truth and no power in it. Our help is laid on One who is mighty. Christ saves to the uttermost… "Blessed are all who take refuge in Him."
One writer says the psalm speaks first to a faithful few in Israel, in an age still to come. So can a reader today claim this promise? His answer is careful.
The strict meaning belongs to the godly remnant of Israel and to the coming age. Then God will deliver them, and they will "inherit the earth."… But we may gladly apply it to people like ourselves, with the changes the new age makes necessary. We do not look to inherit the earth or the land. We look for the Lord to come and take us to our heavenly portion. God will deliver them, and He will deliver us too; only in different ways and with a different portion in view.
The same psalm sets out what refuge looks like in practice. The instructions build in order, and the fourth one is the hardest.
A fourth instruction follows in verse 7. "Rest in the Lord," or, as the margin says, "Be silent to the Lord, and wait patiently for Him."… Having rolled our way upon the Lord, so that the responsibility and weight of it are now His, we rest in Him and wait for Him to act. The wicked may still appear to flourish and bring his wicked schemes to pass, but that no longer frets us.
- Source — Salvation is from the Lord. However right the walk of the godly, it is He who is their strength, their help, and their deliverer.
- Supply — He gives strength to bear a trial He allows, and rescue out of it. He promises both, and He fails in neither.
- Stronghold — He is a fortress the enemy besieges in vain. He helps and rescues as surely as they have fled to Him.
- Substance — The grip matters less than the One you grip. Faith that seizes froth still drowns. Our help is laid on One who is mighty.
- Scope — The strict promise looks on to the day when God removes the wicked and His people inherit the land. The same God delivers us now, with a different portion in view.