John Calvin Commentary Psalms 31

In thee, O Jehovah! have I put my trust. Some are of the opinion that this psalm was composed by David, after he had most unexpectedly escaped from the wilderness of Maon; I do not object to this, although it is only a doubtful conjecture. Certainly, he celebrates one or more of his greatest dangers.

At the beginning, he tells us what kind of prayer he offered in his agony and distress; and its language breathes affection of a most ardent nature. He takes it as a ground of hope that he trusted in the Lord, or continued to trust in him, for the verb in the past tense seems to denote a continued act.

He held it as a principle that the hope which depends upon God cannot possibly be disappointed. Meanwhile, we see how he brings forward nothing but faith alone, promising himself deliverance only because he is persuaded that he will be saved by the help and favor of God. But as this doctrine has been expounded already, and will occur more than once, it is sufficient for now to have touched upon it.

Oh! that all of us would practice it in such a way that, whenever we approach God, we may be able, with David, to declare that our prayers proceed from this source: namely, from a firm persuasion that our safety depends on the power of God. The particle signifying for ever may be explained in two ways.

As God sometimes withdraws His favor, the meaning may suitably be: Although I am now deprived of Your help, yet do not cast me off utterly, or for evermore. Thus David, wishing to arm himself with patience against his temptations, would make a contrast between these two things—being in distress for a time, and remaining in a state of confusion.

But if anyone prefers to understand his words in this way, “Whatever afflictions befall me, may God be ready to help me, and from time to time stretch out His hand to me, as the case requires,” I would not reject this meaning any more than the other.

David desires to be delivered in the righteousness of God, because God displays His righteousness in performing His promise to His servants.

It is too much a refinement of reasoning to assert that David here resorts to the righteousness which God freely bestows on His people because his own righteousness by works was of no avail. Still more out of place is the opinion of those who think that God preserves the saints according to His righteousness; that is to say, because they have acted so meritoriously, justice requires that they should obtain their reward.

It is easy to see from the frequent use of the term in the Psalms that God’s righteousness means His faithfulness, in the exercise of which He defends all His people who commit themselves to His guardianship and protection.

David, therefore, confirms his hope from considering the nature of God, who cannot deny Himself and who always remains true to Himself.

incline thine ear unto me. These words express with how much ardor David’s soul was stimulated to pray. He does not affect splendid or ornate language, as rhetoricians are accustomed to do, but only describes in suitable figures the vehemence of his desire. In praying that he may be delivered speedily, the greatness of his danger is shown, as if he had said, My life will soon be over, unless God acts quickly to help me. By the words, house of defense, fortress, and rock, he intimates that, being unable to resist his enemies, his hope rests only on the protection of God.

For you are my rock. This verse may be read as one sentence, as follows: Since you are like a tower for my defense, for your name’s sake direct and guide me throughout my whole life. And so the conjunction, as in many similar cases, would be superfluous. But I prefer a different interpretation: namely, that David, by interjecting this reflection, encourages himself not only to be earnest in prayer but also to have a confident hope of obtaining his requests.

We know, in any case, that it is usual for him to include such things in his prayers as may serve to remove his doubts and to confirm his assurance. Therefore, having expressed his need, he assures himself—to encourage and uplift himself—that his prayer will certainly receive a favorable answer.

He had formerly said, Be my strong rock and fortress; and now he adds, Assuredly you are my rock and my fortress, implying that he did not speak these words rashly, like unbelievers, who, although they are accustomed to ask much from God, are kept in suspense by the dread of uncertain events.

From this he also draws another encouragement: that he will have God as his guide and governor throughout the whole course of his life. He uses two words, lead and guide, to express the same thing, and he does this (at least, this is how I explain it) because of the various misfortunes and unpredictable changes by which people's lives are tested. It is as if he had said, "Whether I must climb the steep mountain, or struggle through rough places, or walk among thorns, I trust that you will be my continual guide."

Moreover, since people will always find reasons for doubt within themselves if they look to their own merits, David expressly asks that God would be moved to help him for His own name’s sake, or out of regard for His own glory. For, properly speaking, there is nothing else that can move Him to help us. Therefore, it must be remembered that God’s name, as opposed to any merit whatsoever, is the only source of our salvation.

In the next verse, under the metaphor of a net, he appears to refer to the snares and cunning schemes with which his enemies surrounded him.

We know that conspiracies were frequently formed against his life, which would have left him no room for escape. Since his enemies were deeply skilled in strategy and, hating him with an inconceivable hatred, were eagerly bent on his destruction, it was impossible for him to be saved from them by any human power.

On this account, he calls God his strength, as if he had said, "He alone is sufficient to tear apart all the snares in which He sees His afflicted people entangled."

Into your hand I commit my spirit. David again declares his faith in God and affirms that he had such high thoughts of His providence as to cast all his cares upon it. Whoever commits himself into God’s hand and to His guardianship not only makes Him the arbiter of life and death for him but also calmly depends on Him for protection amidst all his dangers.

The verb is in the future tense, “I will commit,” and it unquestionably denotes a continued act and is therefore suitably translated into the present tense. It is also to be observed that no one can possibly commit his life to God with sincerity unless he considers himself exposed to a thousand deaths, and that his life hangs by a thread or is almost like a breath that passes suddenly away.

David, being thus at the point of despair, leaves nothing for himself to do but this: to go on his way, trusting in God as the keeper and governor of his life. It is marvelous that, although many things distress us all, scarcely one in a hundred is wise enough to commit his life into God’s hand.

Multitudes live from day to day as merry and carefree as if they were in a quiet nest, free from all disturbance; but as soon as they encounter anything to terrify them, they are ready to die from anguish. It thus happens that they never turn to God, either because they deceive themselves with vain delusions, flattering themselves that everything will still be well, or because they are so stricken with dread and stupefied with amazement that they have no desire for His fatherly care.

Furthermore, as various tempests of grief disturb us, and even sometimes throw us down headlong, or drag us from the direct path of duty, or at least remove us from our post, the only remedy that exists for setting these things at rest is to consider that God, who is the author of our life, is also its preserver.

This, then, is the only means of lightening all our burdens and preserving us from being swallowed up by too much sorrow. Since God condescends to undertake the care of our lives and to support them, although they are often exposed to various kinds of death, let us learn always to flee to this refuge; indeed, the more anyone is exposed to dangers, let him exercise himself all the more carefully in meditating on it.

In short, let this be our shield against all dangerous attacks — our haven amidst all tossings and tempests — that, although our safety may be beyond all human hope, God is its faithful guardian. And let this again arouse us to prayer, that He would defend us and make our deliverance sure.

This confidence will likewise make everyone eager to discharge his duty with alacrity, and constantly and fearlessly to struggle onward to the end of his course. How does it happen that so many are slothful and indifferent, and that others treacherously forsake their duty? It is because, overwhelmed with anxiety, they are terrified by dangers and inconveniences and leave no room for the operation of God’s providence.

To conclude, whoever does not rely on the providence of God, so as to commit his life to its faithful guardianship, has not yet truly learned what it is to live. On the other hand, whoever entrusts the keeping of his life to God’s care will not doubt its safety even in the midst of death.

We must therefore put our life into God’s hand, not only that He may keep it safely in this world, but also that He may preserve it from destruction in death itself, as Christ’s own example has taught us. As David wished to have his life prolonged amidst the dangers of death, so Christ passed out of this transitory life that His soul might be saved in death.

This is a general prayer, therefore, in which the faithful commit their lives to God, first, that He may protect them by His power, so long as they are exposed to the dangers of this world; and, secondly, that He may preserve them safe in the grave, where nothing is to be seen but destruction.

We ought further to assure ourselves that we are not forsaken by God either in life or in death; for those whom God brings safely by His power to the end of their course, He at last receives to Himself at their death. This is one of the principal passages of Scripture that are most suitable for correcting distrust.

It teaches us:

1. That the faithful ought not to torment themselves excessively with unhappy cares and anxieties.
2. That they should not be so distracted with fear as to stop performing their duty, nor falter and lose heart so as to grasp at vain hopes and deceitful aids, nor give way to fears and alarms.
3. And finally, that they should not be afraid of death, which, though it destroys the body, cannot extinguish the soul.

This, indeed, ought to be our principal argument for overcoming all temptations: that Christ, when commending His soul to His Father, undertook the guardianship of the souls of all His people. Stephen, therefore, calls upon Him to be his keeper, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). Because the soul is the seat of life, it is, as is well known, used to signify life.

You have redeemed me. Some translate the past tense here into the future, but, in my opinion, without any reason. For it is evident to me that David is here encouraging himself to continued confidence in God by calling to mind the proofs of His favor which he had already experienced.

It is no small encouragement to us for the future to be firmly convinced that God will watch over our life because He has been our deliverer already. Hence the epithet by which David recognizes God. He calls Him true or faithful because he believes that He will continue the same to him forever that He has already been.

Accordingly, this is, as it were, a bond by which he joins his confidence in prayer and his hope of aid for the time to come to the former benefits God had conferred upon him. It is as if he had said, “Lord, You who are ever the same and do not change Your mind like men, have already testified indeed that You are the defender of my life. Now, therefore, I commit my life, of which You have been the preserver, into Your hands.” What David here declares concerning his temporal life, Paul transfers to eternal salvation.

“I know,” he says, “whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him,” (2 Timothy 1:12).

And surely, if David derived so much confidence from temporal deliverance, it is more than wicked and ungrateful on our part if the redemption purchased by the blood of Christ does not furnish us with invincible courage against all the devices of Satan.

I hate all that give heed to lying vanities. To better express that his faith was firmly fixed on God, he affirms that he was free from the vile affections which usually turn away our minds from God, and under which unbelievers for the most part suffer.

For we know that by contrasting things which are opposite, a subject is better illustrated. To restrict the Hebrew word הבל, hebel, which we have rendered vanities, to magical arts, as some interpreters do, is absurd. I confess, indeed, that Eastern peoples were so much addicted to these impostures, that it was a common evil among them.

But as the devices by which Satan ensnares the minds of people, and the allurements by which he draws them away from God, are innumerable, it is not at all probable that the prophet mentions one kind only. Whatever vain hopes, therefore, we form for ourselves, which may draw us away from our confidence in God, David generally calls vanities, indeed, false or lying vanities, because, although they feed us for a time with magnificent promises, in the end they beguile and disappoint us.

He affirms, therefore, that casting away the vanities which people usually invent to support their hopes, he relies solely on God.

And since people not only intoxicate themselves personally with the deceitful allurements of the world, but also deceive one another in this respect, the prophet expressly declares that he hated all who involved themselves in such lies. He makes this declaration so that we may carefully avoid them, unless we wish to be willingly entangled in their dangerous toils.

The second clause, I have trusted in Jehovah, must be read in connection with the first, because it both gives the reason for his hatred of lying vanities, and shows that it is impossible for people to have any true faith in God, unless they abhor whatever would draw them away from him.