Psalms 31:21

Psalms 31:21

Psalms 31:21-22 says, “Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.” In the previous verses of Psalms the Bible reminded us how Christians can be persecuted, and slandered, and treated as the outcasts of society. It happened to Jesus and it will happen to you if you pick up your cross and you follow Christ because the children of wrath are like reeds blown about in the wind. It says of them in Ephesians 2:2, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”

Sometimes the sufferings of life and the persecutions against the believer in Jesus can be so severe of a trial of one’s faith that one might be tempted to think just as King David did that, “I am cut off from before thine eyes.” The rain falls on the just and the unjust. Good and bad things happen to both saved and unsaved people. However Christians often suffer much more than the lost people of the world do because of the hatred of the evil forces and evil men that are opposed to the truth.

The word, “cut off” is a very interesting word. It is only found in this one verse of the Old Testament and it means, “separated.” If there is anything a believer in Jesus should remember, it is that God keeps His promises. God’s Word is true and without error. God is Holy. Once saved always saved. Once you turn from your sins to Jesus Christ of Nazareth and pray to him and ask him to come into your heart to forgive you of your sins, you are saved. You then have eternal life and an eternal inheritance that fadeth not away. And most importantly you have a personal relationship with Christ. You will not be, “cut off.” You will not be separated from Jesus. Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” John 10:27-29, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to puck them out of my Father’s hand.” II Corinthians 1:18-22, “But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by men and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”

The promises of God are yea to all those who turn from their sins and turn to Jesus. Even if our own hearts deny us, Christ cannot. A person who has repent of their sins and trusted in Jesus cannot be “cut off” or separated from the promises of God or the presence of Jesus no matter how weak their faith is and no matter how much they fail in this life. This is why the believer can always continue to serve Jesus and accomplish things for the glory of God.

The best example of this truth is the nation of Israel. Despite the failures of Israel as a nation, God has not cast them away nor cast away the promise that was given to Abraham. The same is true for the believer in Jesus. Romans 11:1 says, “I Say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid.” You will never be cut off or separated from Jesus once you have turned to him for salvation. A human being can be cut off from the grace, the love, the mercy, the blessings of God. This happens to those who die without repenting of their sins to Jesus. They are cut off forever when they are judged and cast into the lake of fire. It is no wonder in this verse, the word used here for “cut off” is only used in this verse in the Old Testament. It is a way of emphasis that the person who trusts in Jesus Christ will never be, “cut off.”

Psalms 31:21-22 says, “Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. Nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.” If anything, the promise of never being “cut off” shows the marvelous kindness of God. Exodus 34:10 says, “And He said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.” Here the word marvelous is translated marvels. There is no greater marvel than Jesus Christ and His life, death, and resurrection. The covenant of the law is fulfilled in Christ. What a marvel this is! This is the marvelous kindness of God. Those who trust in Christ for salvation are never “cut off.” When you turn to Jesus in supplication and prayer, be sure to remember and to thank Him for the marvelous kindness of forgiveness of sins and eternal life that is found by faith in His name.

Psalms 31:23, “O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.” God is love. We love Jesus because He first loved us. The first and greatest commandment is to love the LORD with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love for Jesus begins when a person repents of their sins and turns to him for salvation. This is the reason the truth of preservation is so important. We know that God keeps His promises. We know that salvation is a free gift by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Eternal life once gained cannot be lost. This great promise of the resurrection should give for us love for Jesus because we are so sinful and Christ is Holy. Not only this, but if you understand and remember the truth about preservation, you keep your faith strong and will not think you are, “cut off” when persecution comes.

Now notice the last phrase of verse 23, “plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.” As we learned in the previous verses of Psalms, faith and pride are not the same thing. God hates pride. But faith in the promises of God, faith in Jesus Christ is what brings righteousness. The word “pride” in this verse can be and is elsewhere in the Bible translated, “triumphed gloriously.”

Exodus 15:1, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

One of the greatest failures of men is that of pride. Men boast of themselves and their own accomplishments and men trust in themselves instead of God. But it is God through Christ that brings glorious triumph. If you truly are a “proud doer,” then you are someone who turns from your sins to Jesus. And you are also someone who will sing the song of Moses in your heart, the song of praise to God for his greatness and His doings, and not man.

Consider the truths taught in these verses: to never be “cut off”, to love the LORD Jesus, preservation, and glorious triumph. What does man really have to boast of? Nothing. Man is weak and sinful. If man has abilities and gifts, they were given to him by God to be used to accomplish the will of Jesus Christ of the Bible. How sinful and how prideful we are! Everything that you do and think you are accomplishing in this life is a waste unless you are a “proud doer.”

The best example of a “proud doer” is Jesus himself. Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Psalms 31:24 says, “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.” True courage begins by turning from your sins and turning to Jesus Christ. Until you have turned from your sins to Jesus for salvation, you have yet to understand what courage is. Most men turn away from Jesus and His glorious gospel because of fear: the fear of the truth of their own sinfulness, the fear of persecution, the fear of what others will think of them, the fear of what they might lose in this life. Man is weak and sinful and therefore he by nature tends to fear.

There is much to fear in life. But in Christ there is strength. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” First John 4:4 says, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” The Christian’s strength comes through the glorious triumph of Christ on the cross of Calvary. The Christian has the great hope of the resurrection. The Christian is never “cut off” from the presence of God or the promise of all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Because of these things, the Christian praises Jesus and not himself or other men. He that speaks of himself seeks his own glory but he that speaks of Jesus glorifies Jesus and the gospel.

If you have never repented of your sins then do so now. Can you hear Jesus calling to you? He died for your sins and he rose again. Through Jesus you can have the promise of never being “cut off” from the spiritual blessings of eternal life.

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