Psalm 31

In this world of (what seems like) never-ending suffering, many of us are looking for a way out of it. We want freedom from suffering. Well, I hate to tell you this, but there is no freedom from suffering—not even for God. We followed Satan into sin, and it has messed up the universe. That’s the reality. But don’t stop reading just yet. There may not be freedom from suffering, but there is freedom in suffering.

What? you ask. Yes, freedom in suffering. God may not be able to erase the suffering, but He can cure it. And we find the blueprint for that in Psalm 31. David starts out by asking God to save him, and as he goes along, it’s pretty clear that he’s in a dire situation:

I am in distress. (vs 9)
My eyes grow weak with sorrow. (vs 9)
My soul and body [grow weak] with grief. (vs 9)
My life is consumed by anguish. (vs 10)
My strength fails because of my affliction. (vs 10)
I am the utter contempt of my neighbors. (vs 11)
I am forgotten as though I were dead. (vs 12)
They conspire against me and plot to take my life. (vs 13)

David is in a bad way. Everything is bleak and miserable. To put it simply, he is in the throes of great suffering. Yet, by the time we arrive at the end of the psalm, he says this: “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” (vs 24)

Huh? That seems rather odd, doesn’t it? Just a few verses before, David was describing how his life was rapidly coming to an end, surrounded by anguish and misery. Now, all of a sudden, he’s encouraging others? How did he get from point A to point B?

Praise.

I trust in you, Lord. (vs 14)
My times are in your hands. (vs 15)
How abundant are the good things that you have stored up. (vs 19)
In the shelter of your presence you hide [us]. (vs 20)
The Lord preserves those who are true to him. (vs 23)

When David was surrounded by his enemies and his feelings told him there was no way out, he decided to praise. He decided to declare that—despite his feelings—he would trust in the Lord, remembering that he was in God’s hands, declaring that the Lord had stored up good things for him. And it was that praise that led him out of his miserable feelings to his bold statement of encouragement at the end of the psalm.

The principle at work here is one my father was able to articulate during his own battle with ALS: Praise affirms that there is a higher reality than what I am sensing and feeling at the moment. You see, when we turn our face away from our pitiful situation and lift up our heart to God in praise, we automatically end up in our “proper place.”

Instead of feeling like our world is coming to an end, we remember (as we have always known) that everything in this life is perishable and that God—who is sovereign—gets the last word over sin and death. What looks like the end to us is most definitely not the end to Him. Our lives are securely in His hands, and He knows what He’s doing—even when we can’t see things like He does. From the testimony of Jesus and the rest of Scripture, we know that He is faithful and good and that everything is working together for the best.

When we take the time to praise, as David did, all of a sudden, our dire situation doesn’t look so dire anymore. If God knows what He’s doing (and that’s a big if…. we must answer that question for ourselves), then we can relax in His hands and even be an encouragement to others in the midst of our own suffering.

So, the next time you’re looking for a way out of suffering, remember that there is no way out. But there is a way through. It’s the cure for suffering. It’s praise.