Temp help – permanent protection
I entrust my spirit into your hand. Rescue me, LORD, for you are a faithful God. – Psalms 31:5
Psalms 31:1-10
1 O LORD, I have come to you for protection; don’t let me be disgraced. Save me, for you do what is right.
2 Turn your ear to listen to me; rescue me quickly. Be my rock of protection, a fortress where I will be safe.
3 You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger.
5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit. Rescue me, LORD, for you are a faithful God.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.
8 You have not handed me over to my enemies but have set me in a safe place.
9 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. Tears blur my eyes. My body and soul are withering away.
10 I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.
Competing in 21st-century gymnastics requires strength, flexibility, coordination, conditioning, and balance. This comes through commitment and practice. Gymnasts work very hard to develop the necessary skills to compete at the highest levels. The actual competition is done on various types of equipment including the rings, the balance beam, the pommel horse, the high bar, parallel bars, and the uneven bars.
In Psalm 31, we encounter a very weary and diminished David. He has reached out to the Father for rescue. The Father has protected him in the past and he fully expects that He will do it again. Simply because that is what the Father does. “The key words refuge, deliver, rescue, a rock of refuge, fortified dwelling, save, cave, and fortification. God is seen as a place of safety in troubled times, and God is called upon to save and rescue, not because of the one praying, but because of God’s own character” (Jacobson and Tanner).
David stands firmly and securely on uneven ground.
As children of the King, we find ourselves repeatedly in many “uneven” situations as we walk with Him on planet Earth. Our circumstances can be the result of our own sins and errors in judgment.
Psalms 31:10 Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.
In other times, we have done nothing wrong and yet we are persecuted and harassed by others. We do have real enemies
Psalms 31:8 You do not deliver me over to the power of the enemy.
Why do children of the King face such difficulties in life? The Father takes us into these circumstances that we might learn to live by faith and depend upon Him to maintain balance.
Psalms 119:67 Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I closely follow your word.
David was totally dependent upon the Father and was confident that He would protect him and see him through all of the exigencies of life. David was often a hunted man. He was a tremendous fighter and warrior, but vulnerable as any other man. Further, some of his character flaws read like front-page news scandals of our day.
Psalms 31:3-7
3 You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger.
5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit. Rescue me, LORD, for you are a faithful God.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.
David becomes our example. He shows us the way to get through the most difficult situations in life by faith and trust in the Father. He commits his spirit into his Father’s hands, knowing that the Father has his back and will rescue and comfort him.
“When we place our trust in God through Christ, He becomes our stronghold and identifies us with Him forever. Our destiny is bound up with His future” (Stanley).
REFLECT & PRAY
Life is often uneven to one degree or another. Although we cannot change the ground upon which the Father has planted our feet, we can control how we respond to it.
Father, I spent much of my life searching in vain for someone, anyone, I could trust and depend upon. Finally, I realized that it was You! Time and again You have rescued me and got me through. I commit my spirit into Your Hands.
INSIGHT
Much of David’s life was God-centered. He places his confidence in the Father and wants his life to honor and glorify Him.
David refused to resign himself to the capricious upheavals of life. Rather David committed his spirit into the Father’s hands. He was all in. Nothing is held back. David trusted the Father completely. His trust grew out of his relationship with the Him.
When we think of David, one thing stands out. He was in love, in love with the Father. David had felt and experienced marvelous, wondrous closeness to Him. David also knew firsthand what it was like to be loved by the Father Because he knows how much the Father loves him, he is certain that the Father knows the intimate details of his struggles and will deliver him from his distress.
1 John 4:16-18
16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
Psalms 31:5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit
The Hebrew verb translated commit is paqad. Paqad means to entrust, to turn over for safekeeping, to leave in the care of, leave in custody. Paqad has the sense of allowing someone to carefully examine and take note of your circumstances and then respond appropriately. The hands of David’s enemies were against him, but he knew he was safe in Father’s hands (Psalms 31:8, 15).
David committed his life to the Father for safekeeping. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed the same prayer of trust: “Into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
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Dr H Reflections 