“But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 37:39 Mean?
David declares the source of the righteous person's salvation: it's from the LORD. Not from strategy, not from allies, not from personal strength. The LORD is both the salvation and the strength — He's the rescue and the resource. In the time of trouble, He's everything.
The phrase "salvation of the righteous" (teshu'at tsaddiqim) makes the salvation specific to a category: the righteous. This isn't universal salvation offered to everyone. It's the salvation that comes to those who live rightly. The righteous aren't saved BY their righteousness (it's from the LORD). But they're the ones who receive it.
"Their strength in the time of trouble" means God functions differently during crisis: He becomes strength. Not just a helper or an advisor. Strength itself. The resource you're missing when everything collapses is God's own capacity lent to your frame.
Reflection Questions
- 1.In your current trouble, are you looking to the LORD for both salvation (rescue) and strength (daily power)?
- 2.How does God being strength 'in the time of trouble' (crisis-specific, not pre-loaded) change your expectations?
- 3.Does the distinction (salvation from God, not from your cleverness) challenge your self-reliance in crisis?
- 4.Are you waiting for the salvation (long-term rescue) while relying on the strength (daily capacity) — and are both from the LORD?
Devotional
The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD. He's their strength when trouble comes.
Two gifts. One source. Salvation (the rescue) and strength (the resource) both come from the same place: the LORD. In the time of trouble — when everything else fails, when the strategies collapse, when the allies disappear — God is both the way out and the power to walk it.
The salvation is "of the LORD" — not from the righteous person's cleverness or contingency planning. The rescue originates in heaven. The righteous person doesn't save themselves. They're saved. By God. From the LORD. The preposition is the whole theology: salvation originates with God and arrives at the righteous.
"Strength in the time of trouble" — this is crisis-specific provision. God doesn't just give you strength in advance and let you spend it as needed. He becomes your strength in the moment you need it. The trouble arrives. And God's strength arrives with it. Concurrent. On time. Specific to the crisis.
The combination (salvation + strength) covers both the long-term and the immediate: salvation is the ultimate rescue (the big picture). Strength is the moment-by-moment capacity to endure until the rescue arrives (the daily picture). One is the destination. The other is the fuel to get there.
David ends Psalm 37 with this declaration because it's the summary of everything he's said: the wicked prosper temporarily. The righteous endure permanently. And the reason is the LORD — who saves them from the crisis and strengthens them through it.
The trouble will come. When it does, the LORD is both the rescue and the power. He's the salvation that's coming and the strength that's here right now.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And the Lord shall help them,.... In their distress, and out of their troubles, when none else can, and they themselves…
But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord - Or, salvation comes to the righteous from the Lord. While the wicked…
The psalmist's conclusion of this sermon (for that is the nature of this poem) is of the same purport with the whole,…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture