God's Open Secret
Introduction: The Siege and the Shelter
We live in what you might call a besieged city. The walls of our Christian civilization are being hammered daily by enemies both without and within. And one of the primary weapons in this siege is the strife of tongues. Our world is awash in slander, accusation, conspiracy, and lies. The digital age has not made us wiser; it has simply given every fool a megaphone and a mob. Words are weapons, and they are flying thick and fast.
In such a time, the natural human response is to either run for the hills and hide, or to pick up your own verbal weapons and start flinging them back with equal venom. We are tempted to despair, to think that we are cut off, that God has abandoned the field to the loudmouthed sons of men. We feel the pressure of the siege, and we grow frantic.
But the Word of God offers us a third way. It is not the way of retreat, and it is not the way of carnal imitation. It is the way of refuge. But this refuge is a peculiar kind of fortress. It is a shelter that is hidden in plain sight. It is a secret place that is found in the very presence of God, right in the middle of the battlefield. David, a man who knew a thing or two about besieged cities and the strife of tongues, shows us in this psalm that our greatest safety is not found in escaping the noise, but in being hidden by God within the noise.
This passage is a potent antidote to the panic and alarm that so easily besets us. It teaches us about the vast treasury of God's goodness, the secure location of His secret shelter, the right response of praise even in affliction, and the honest confession of our own frail faith. This is theology for the trenches.
The Text
How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You, Which You have worked for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men! You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be Yahweh, For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city. As for me, I said in my alarm, “I am cut off from before Your eyes”; Nevertheless, You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried to You for help.
(Psalm 31:19-22 LSB)
The Divine Treasury (v. 19)
David begins with an exclamation of wonder at the sheer magnitude of God's goodness.
"How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You, Which You have worked for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men!" (Psalm 31:19)
Notice first that God's goodness is not some generic, sentimental benevolence that He sprinkles down on everyone indiscriminately like rain in a parade. It is a specific goodness, a great goodness, that is "stored up." Think of a treasury, a vault, a storehouse packed with riches. This is not pocket change; this is generational wealth. And this treasury has a lock on it. It is reserved for a particular people: "for those who fear You."
The fear of the Lord is not a cowering dread; it is the beginning of wisdom. It is the sane and healthy recognition of who God is and who we are. It is to tremble before His majesty and to delight in His mercy. To fear God is to stop fearing men. This is the first key to the treasury. The second key is to "take refuge in You." This is the essence of faith. It is to run to God for protection, to trust His character and His promises when all other shelters have failed. Fearing God and taking refuge in Him are two sides of the same coin of living faith.
But this stored-up goodness is not meant to remain a secret. God has "worked" it, or displayed it, "before the sons of men." This is a public demonstration. God does not just comfort His people in private; He vindicates them in public. He shows His goodness to His children in such a way that the watching world, the "sons of men," are forced to bear witness. Our God loves to show off His kindness to His kids in front of the neighbors. This is not for our glory, but for His. He is demonstrating the value of fearing Him and the security of taking refuge in Him.
The Secret Shelter (v. 20)
Having described the treasure, David now describes the fortress where God's people are kept safe.
"You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues." (Psalm 31:20)
Where is this hiding place? It is "in the secret place of Your presence." This is a staggering thought. Our safety is not in a location, but in a Person. We are hidden in God. To be in His presence is to be shielded from all harm. The conspiracies of man, their proud plots and schemes, cannot touch the one who is dwelling with the Almighty. The safest place in the universe is to be near to God.
And what are we being protected from? Specifically, "the strife of tongues." This is a direct reference to slander, gossip, false accusations, and the constant verbal assaults of the wicked. In our day, this is the 24/7 news cycle, the social media mob, the character assassins who ply their trade online. Words can be brutal, soul-crushing weapons. And God's solution is not to give us thicker skin, but to hide us in a pavilion, a shelter, where those words cannot penetrate. He keeps us secretly. The world may be screaming accusations, but in the secret place of His presence, there is a holy quiet. This is the peace that passes all understanding, a gift to those who are hidden in Christ.
The Marvelous Mercy (v. 21)
The logical response to such a great goodness and such a secure shelter is an outburst of praise.
"Blessed be Yahweh, For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city." (Psalm 31:21)
David blesses the Lord. He gives his testimony. And the reason for his praise is that God has shown him His "marvelous lovingkindness." The word here is hesed. This is one of the great covenant words of the Old Testament. It means loyal love, steadfast mercy, covenant faithfulness. It is a love that is based not on the loveliness of the beloved, but on the unbreakable promise of the lover. God's love for His people is not a fickle emotion; it is a blood-bought, covenant-sealed commitment.
And where did David experience this marvelous hesed? "In a besieged city." This is crucial. God's lovingkindness is not just for the mountaintop experiences when everything is going well. He shows its marvels most clearly when the walls are surrounded, the food is running out, and the enemy is shouting threats. It is in the tightest spots, the most desperate situations, that God's covenant loyalty shines the brightest. He is a God who shows up in the siege. He doesn't promise to keep us from the siege, but He promises to be with us, and to show us His marvelous love, in the middle of it.
The Honest Confession (v. 22)
Finally, David contrasts his own wavering heart with God's unwavering faithfulness.
"As for me, I said in my alarm, 'I am cut off from before Your eyes'; Nevertheless, You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried to You for help." (Psalm 31:22)
Here is the raw honesty of a true saint. David admits that in his "alarm," or in his "haste," he spoke foolishly. He looked at the circumstances of the siege, and his faith faltered. He felt that he was "cut off" from God's sight, abandoned, forgotten. This is the cry of near-despair. It is a temptation common to every believer who has ever been in a tight spot. Our feelings scream that God is gone.
But feelings are not the final reality. The word "Nevertheless" is the great hinge upon which this verse turns. It is the pivot from human feeling to divine fact. "Nevertheless, You heard." Despite my panic, You heard. Despite my doubting words, You heard. Despite my feeling cut off, You were listening. God's faithfulness is not contingent on the stability of our emotions. He hears the cry of His children even when that cry is mixed with the static of fear and alarm.
This is immense comfort. God does not demand that we come to Him with perfect, unwavering faith. He just asks that we come. He invites us to cry to Him for help, even from the depths of a besieged city, even in a state of alarm. Our God is a Father who hears the substance of our prayer, the cry for help, and graciously overlooks the foolishness of our panic.
Hidden in Christ
This entire passage finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who perfectly feared the Father and always took refuge in Him. And yet, for our sakes, He was not delivered from the ultimate besieged city of the cross. He was surrounded by the conspiracies of men and battered by the strife of tongues. He cried out in His alarm, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He truly was "cut off from before Your eyes" so that we, who take refuge in Him, would never be.
Because of His faithfulness, the great treasury of God's goodness has been thrown open to us. All the stored-up blessings are ours in Christ. The "secret place of Your presence" is now our permanent address, for we are hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). He is our shelter from the strife of tongues. And because He was cut off, we can now be certain that God always hears our cry. When we are in our own besieged cities, when we are tempted to say in our alarm that we are cut off, we must remember the cross. We must remember that our feelings of abandonment were fully borne by Christ so that we could have the reality of acceptance.
Therefore, do not fear the siege. Do not be dismayed by the strife of tongues. Run to the secret place. Take refuge in the presence of your God. Bless Him for His marvelous, covenant love. And even when you falter, cry out to Him. He will hear you. For you are hidden in the one who has already won the war.