Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. 2 Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. 3 Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. 4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. 5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.
15 My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me. 16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.
My mother was particular about time; she set all her clocks somewhere between 12 and 18 minutes ahead. We used to get text message reminders when we were supposed to "spring ahead" for daylight savings. She detested being late; she was a stickler for time, and my mother was also different about timing. I compared my mother to the stories of Eagles. Eagles are rumored to push their offspring out of the nest to start flying before they may think they are ready. The parent eagle knows when it is time, even when the baby eagle has gotten comfortable. We have moved houses, changed careers, started businesses, got married, had children, and done many things before I could check all the boxes I wanted to check first. My mother's favorite phrase was God will work it out. Be on time and be in God's time.
Knowing the time is critically important in our fast-paced society. Fortunately, we seldom need to ask, "What time is it?" The current time is right there in the corner of our laptops, at the top of our tablets, or on the face of our smartwatches, accurate to the second, courtesy of the internet. If we're in the car, we can find the time glowing at us digitally on the dash somewhere.
We generally are aware of time and our need-to-know what time it is. We need to get to work on time. We need to catch a flight and be on time. We need to arrive early for our daughter's ballet performance in The Nutcracker. The office won't wait for us; the plane won't wait for us; the performance will not be delayed until we arrive.
We use a variety of devices to ensure we're on time. We have pop-up reminders on our laptops, tablets, and smartphones. We maintain online calendars — probably several — to manage appointments, travel plans, and school events. We may even buy a book or two to help us manage our time more efficiently. All of this happens because we assume, and to some extent correctly, that our time is ours alone to manage. If we mismanage it, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Psalm 31 is a text about time. The Psalms are a collection of prayers, songs, liturgies, and poems. David is credited as the author of Psalm 31; he is going through a rough time.
David seeks deliverance.
David urgently and prayerfully pours out his heart to God. He entrusts his very being to him, relying on the divine presence to rescue him from his vicious, plotting enemies and to continue to keep him safe. One scholar says that Psalm 31 doesn't follow a logical or literary order. I can relate to that; when you are at your wit's end, sometimes you are not as eloquent as you would like. Sometimes your subject and verb don't agree; sometimes, you won't have perfect grammar and syntax. Sometimes when you need help, you can't turn into an award-winning author; you just know to call on someone for help. I need somebody to come save me, and I need them to save me now!
David Suffers Despair
David prayerfully acknowledges his pain to the Lord. He is facing persecution and multiple death threats. His enemies, although unspecified, are real, and they cause him severe distress. They are among those "who pay regard to worthless idols" (v. 6). Because of them, he faces affliction (v. 7). David lays all his hurt out before God in his lament in verses 9-13. He cries out, "Have mercy on me" (many translations of v. 9) because of his extreme distress (the Hebrew word means dire straits — a difficult narrowing situation), which has constricted him physically and emotionally. He speaks of his sorrow, sighing, misery, and wasting away. Not only that, but his adversaries scorn him, and even his neighbors turn away from him in alarm when he needs them the most. He's afraid that people will forget him. Many folks use whispering campaigns to plot against David (see also v. 20).
David Shows Dedication
David is not speaking about the length of his life but about what will be happening in his life, which depends largely on God. "My times" (NRSV, NIV, NASB, KJV) is translated as "my destiny" (NET, NAB), "my future" (NLT, CEB), "my fate" (Tanakh), and "every moment of my life" (NJB). David trustingly places his precarious life (due to his persecuting enemies and snubbing acquaintances) in God's trustworthy, providential care.
In acknowledging that his life and times were in the hands of God, David seems to have arrived at a conclusion ahead of his time. Perhaps, he wished he had come to this conclusion more quickly, but it was quick enough. Maybe even more than quick enough — he was ahead of most of his contemporaries. There is one God, and David put his trust in his God, and it was this trust that gave him peace.
Isn't this where we want to be? Ahead of time. Early and eager. Ready and steady. Living life to the fullest.
But in the hands of God. The Psalmist knows he can turn to God for help because God has helped him before; if he did it before, he can do it again! David says, "Into your hand, I commit my spirit." (Psalm 31:5). "I'm putting everything I have in this rocky refuge. My times are in your hand. My past and my future, not to mention my present."
David says that in this time of trouble, I trust God fully!
David's words in verse 15a, "My times are in your hand," mean essentially the same thing as his words in verse 5a. Steadfast love.
"All hands on deck," from the traditional nautical command for every sailor to report for duty, refers to the necessity of everyone involved to lend a hand or assist.
To take someone by the hand is to lead or nurture them
To bite the hand that feeds you is to be hostile to someone who has been kind to you.
To have your hands full is to be busy
To know something firsthand is to be directly familiar with the facts
To hand something off is to pass it along to someone else
To force someone's hand is to compel them to act prematurely or involuntarily
To gain the upper hand is to obtain control
To get your hands dirty
You can catch these hands
Because of David's confidence in God, he can declare, "Into your hand, I commit my spirit" (v. 5a). Christian people will readily remember Jesus' final, dying words spoken on the cross: "Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.' Having said this, he breathed his last." (Luke 23:46). The deacon-martyr Stephen's last words are similar: "While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'" (Acts 7:59). Even though David himself was not dying, he was nevertheless trusting God in the midst of mortal danger. NET and similarly, Tanakh translates his words in verse 5a as "Into your hand I entrust my life." David relies primarily on the Lord, not on himself, even though he is a strong, skilled, and shrewd warrior and leader.
Luke 24:46
46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.
all in his hands, I put it all in his hands
all in his hands, I put it all in his hands
All of my burdens, problems, if I have a question
I put it all, yes I put it all, I put it all in his hands
Drive:
Whatever the problem, I put it all in his hands
I know that he can solve them; I put it all in his hands
This, this, this, and that repeat 3x
I put it all in his hands. He can handle it, that's a fact, I put it all in his hands
No matter how great or small, he's the master of them all
I put it all, yes I put it all, I put it all in his hands.
The concluding verse of Psalm 31 reads: "Be strong [you faithful followers of the Lord — v. 23] and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord" (v. 24)
No comments:
Post a Comment