Psalm 31:3

3 For thou art my strength and my refuge; and thou shalt guide me for thy name’s sake, and maintain me.

Psalm 31:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 31:3

For thou [art] my rock and my fortress
What he prayed for he knew him to be, and to have been in times past, and could claim his interest in him; and therefore entreats that he would appear to be to him what he was in himself, and what he had been to him;

therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me;
either as a shepherd does his flock, gently, as they are able to bear it; into the green pastures of the word and ordinances, and beside the still waters of divine love, and to the overflowing fountain, and fulness of grace in himself; or as a general leads and guides his army; Christ being a Leader and Commander of the people, and the great Captain of their salvation, and who being at the head of them, they fear no enemy; or as a guide leads and directs such as are ignorant, and out of the way. The psalmist desires the Lord would lead him in the way of truth and paths of righteousness, according to his word; and guide him with his counsel, and by his Spirit, that so he might walk in the way in which he should go; and this he entreats he would do "for [his] name's sake"; not for any merit or worthiness in him; but for the glory of his own name, and for the honour of his free grace and mercy, for which the Lord often does many things; he defers his anger, he purges away the sins of his people, he forgives their transgressions, and remembers their sins no more, for his name's sake.

Psalm 31:3 In-Context

1 O Lord, I have hoped in thee; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness and rescue me.

2 Incline thine ear to me; make haste to rescue me: be thou to me for a protecting God, and for a house of refuge to save me.

3 For thou art my strength and my refuge; and thou shalt guide me for thy name’s sake, and maintain me.

4 Thou shalt bring me out of the snare which they have hidden for me; for thou, O Lord, art my defender.

5 Into thine hands I will commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

6 Thou has hated them that idly persist in vanities: but I have hoped in the Lord.

7 I will exult and be glad in thy mercy: for thou hast looked upon mine affliction; thou hast saved my soul from distresses.

8 And thou hast not shut me up into the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a wide place.

9 Pity me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with indignation, my soul and by belly.

10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with groanings: my strength has been weakened through poverty, and my bones are troubled.

11 I became a reproach among all mine enemies, but exceedingly so to my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that saw me without fled from me.

12 I have been forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am become as a broken vessel.

13 For I heard the slander of many that dwelt round about: when they were gathered together against me, they took counsel to take my life.

14 But I hoped in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.

15 My lots are in thy hands: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies,

16 and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me in thy mercy.

17 O Lord, let me not be ashamed, for I have called upon thee: let the ungodly be ashamed, and brought down to Hades.

18 Let the deceitful lips become dumb, which speak iniquity against the righteous with pride and scorn.

19 How abundant is the multitude of thy goodness, O Lord, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! thou hast wrought it out for them that hope on thee, in the presence of the sons of men.

20 Thou wilt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the vexation of man: thou wilt screen them in a tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.

21 Blessed be the Lord: for he has magnified his mercy in a fortified city.

22 But I said in my extreme fear, I am cast out from the sight of thine eyes: therefore thou didst hearken, O Lord, to the voice of my supplication when I cried to thee.

23 Love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord seeks for truth, and renders a reward to them that deal very proudly.

24 Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.