Psalm 31
When was a time in your life that you have felt full of anguish? When have you felt “up to your eyes in sorrow”? Has there ever been a time that you have felt like a “besieged city” being attacked on every side? If the answer is yes, know you are not alone! In Psalm 31:9-10, David cries out, “Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.”
A good question for us to all think about is when you are “up to your eyes in sorrow” or you feel full of anguish, what do you turn to in order to find refuge? What is the object of your trust? What is the source of your hope? For David, the answer was clear. Despite the trouble, the anguish, the pain, and the suffering David exclaims in verse 14, “I trust in you, LORD; I say, “You are my God.” Instead of finding refuge in anything or anyone in this world, David finds refuge in God. David’s Masada (fortress) was God and God alone.
Today, it is so important to remember that God is the only fortress that will never crumble. If we choose to find refuge in something temporary (e.g. alcohol, success, relationships, health) we will only have a temporary refuge. However, if we put our hope and trust into an eternal, trustworthy, faithful, and sovereign God we will have an eternal fortress that we can find refuge in. The good news is that our God is a God who is waiting for us to find refuge in Him and so as you go through the struggles and sorrows of life, remember the words of King David, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”
