I typed this as if I were giving a sermon:
Write this down:
ps31:1
In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
This is my foundation scripture. I'll come back to this, but lets go over to Genisis.
read gen 8:8-12
In verse 9, Noah sent forth the dove, but she came back with no sign of dry land. Now, in verse 10 Noah "stayed." this was a very uncomfortable time for Noah. This word "stayed" is the Greek "Chuwl" (pronounced "cool" or "quel") It is the same word used elsewhere in the bible talking about labor pains. It also means "Twist". So for 7 days, Noah had a painful, emotionally twisting wait on the Lord, and sent her out again. In Verse 11 she returned with an olive branch.
Then in verse 12, the word "stayed" is "Yachal." It means wait, hope, expect. God has given him an olive branch, and Now he can wait with a confident expectation.
How much better, to wait, hope, and expect than to twist, trevail and suffer! God has given us much more than an olive branch.
He has given us his Son!
Contrast Gen 8:10 "stayed" = Chuwl = Pain, twist, trevail, bring forth, suffering, torture
Genesis 8:12 "stayed" = Yachal= wait, hope, expect
Lets turn back to psalm 31. You might want to read this whole chapter when you have time, but lets go on.
ps31:1
In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
As I said, this is our foundation scripture. Let's see that word "trust". It is "Chacah" (pronounce "kaw-saw"). It means to seek refuge, or to put trust in God. In the next few stanzas, David kind of Puffs up God, He's like God's Hype man. He uses phrases like "strong rock", "house of defense", and "fortress".
Now, why does David need a fortress? Stanza 4 begins to explain. He talks here about "the net that they have laid privily for me". Now, we don't use that word "privily" in today's English, but that just means "Secretly" or "In Private". That means someone's out to get him.
So let's drop down to stanza 13 and read a little more
read
PS 31:13-15
In stanze 13 it says "they devised to take away my life. " They were gonna' kill him!
But notice in Verse 14, It says "But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, 'Thou art my God.'"
That word "trusted" there is "Batach." (pronounced "Ba'takh" ) It means to trust, be secure, feel safe. Then see that word, "said". I like that word.
It is "'amar" It means say, speak, utter. It also means "to boast". David boasted "THOU art my God". That's why he could trust him, because David knew him as HIS God.
Now lets go down to stanza 22
read
PS 31:22-24
It looks like, in stanze 22, David had run off his mouth a little, and said something he shouldn't have. Nevertheless, God took care of him.
Stanze 24, David talking from personal experience, gives us some advice. He says "Be of good courage". Who should be of good courage?
"all ye that hope in the LORD. " That word "hope" is "Yachal" That's the word we saw earlier, Translated as "stayed". It means "wait, hope, expect", not "twist, trevail and suffer". So Let me ask again, who should be of good courage? All those who wait, hope & expect in the LORD.
Remember, this is coming from someone with great experience. If I say "You can trust Billy Bob, he's a good guy." You might believe me, but if you know that I've been around Billy Bob for a while and then I say "You can trust Billy Bob. He's stood by me when everything was falling apart. He helped me when it looked like it was helpless. He put his life on the line for me. Yep, you can trust Billy Bob." Well, now I think Billy Bob's trustworthiness just skyrocketed. Same thing applies here to God. David had, at this point, known God for a while. They'd been through some stuff. God had been his rock, his refuge, his fortress. David can vouch for God's trustworthiness because he has seen it for himself.
We can trust God.
I updated the verse links, this time I used Blue Letter Bible.
