For you are my rock and my fortress. And for your name’s sake, you lead me and guide me.
– Psalm 31:3
There’s so much in this Psalm that I could read and we could pray according to, but Psalm 31:3, in such a small amount of space represents such a mammoth truth, really kind of couplet that we see all throughout the Bible. So let me read it again and see if you can catch it. For you are my rock and my fortress. And for your name’s sake, you lead me and you guide me.
God should be the foundation and center of our lives.
Psalm 31:3 Reveals God’s Character
So here’s the truth, kind of couple truths tied together. God loves and leads and guides his people by his grace. God loves you and me. All who have put your trust in Jesus and you’re a child of God, you can know God loves you and leads you and guides you by his grace. Not because you’ve earned it, not because I’ve earned it, but because he is gracious and merciful. And he does this for his name’s sake. God loves and leads and guides us. He’s a rock and fortress for us by his grace for his glory. Why does God love you and me? We ask, why does God lead you and me? Why does he guide us? In fact, why is he a rock and a fortress for us? Psalm 31:3 says, God does this for his name’s sake.
And as we hear that, we might think, “Well, that seems kind of self-centered of God.” And in a sense, of course, it is. Of course, God is centered around God. Of course, God does what he does for ultimately the glory of his name because he’s God. If he were to center around someone else or something else, if he were to exalt someone or something else, he would no longer be the God who’s worthy of all exaltation. That’s what it means for him to be God. But the beauty of this verse and the beauty of what we see all over the Bible, this is the beauty of the gospel, that God glorifies himself how? Supremely by sending his Son as a substitute sacrifice for our sins to save us from our sins.
How Does God Glorify Himself?
God glorifies himself by saving sinners like you and me, drawing us to himself and leading us and guiding us and being a rock for us and a fortress for us to rejoice in both of these truths and how they couple together all throughout the Bible, that God pours out his grace on his people and you and me in so many ways. He does this ultimately for his glory, for his name’s sake. And that affects the way we pray about everything. Just think about it. Let’s pray in light of Psalm 31:3.
A Prayer Based on Psalm 31:3
Oh God, we praise you that you are our rock and our fortress in a world where everything is shifting around us all the time. We praise you. You are a rock. You’re a fortress for us, a refuge it says in Psalm 31:3. And you lead us and you guide us. God, we praise you for your leadership in our lives, for your guidance of our lives. We praise you that don’t leave us. We praise you that you don’t leave us alone.
God, we praise you for your grace. And we pray that you would be glorified in this grace that you have poured out on us. That you would be glorified in the grace you give us today all day long and tomorrow and the next day. God, that you would lead and guide us for your name’s sake, for your glory, that other people might know you as the rock and fortress that you are. That other people might know how good it is to be led and guided by you.
God’s Glory in Our Lives
God, that we might glorify you and we might lead others to glorify you. For your name’s sake, lead and guide us today. God, we pray for your glory in our lives, we pray for your glory in our families, for your glory in our churches. We pray for your glory among the nations, God, among the Azeris of Azerbaijan. 8.7 million of them, hardly any of them followers of Jesus. God, we pray that you would bless the few followers of Jesus among the Azeris in Azerbaijan. That you would lead and guide them for your name’s sake among the Azeris people. And God that you would send out more people to the Azeris for your name’s sake among them.
God, we look forward to the day when your name will be glorified by every nation and tribe. And so we pray lead and guide our lives today toward that end. Lead and guide our lives by your grace, as our rock, as our fortress today so that others might know the greatness of your name as they see your leadership in our lives. As you are a rock and fortress for us, glorify yourself through us. God, we love being recipients of your grace. We love knowing you as our rock and our fortress in Psalm 31:3. We love your leadership and your guidance in our lives. So lead and guide us we pray for your name’s sake through us. May your grace toward us be to great effect for your glory through us. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
