INTO YOUR HAND

1In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!

2Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!

3For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;

4you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.

5Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

1. 1.What pictures does David use to describe God? Which one speaks to you most today, and why?
2. 2.David speaks of “the net they have hidden for me.” What traps or pressures are you facing right now?
3. 3.Both Jesus and Stephen prayed the words of verse 5 at the moment of death. Why do you think these were the words on their lips?
4. 4.David grounds his trust in the fact that God has “redeemed” him and is “faithful.” How does remembering what God has already done help you trust him with what you are facing now?

Have you noticed who falls asleep on a long road trip? Picture the van heading home to the province. Within an hour, the children in the back are fast asleep, heads tilted, mouths open, completely at peace. They do not know the road. They cannot see the sharp curves ahead. But they trust the one at the wheel.

You only fall asleep when you trust the one who is driving. Psalms 31 is the prayer of a man who learned to rest that way. David is surrounded by danger. There is a “net they have hidden” for him (verse 4). Yet his prayer is full of shelter words: refuge, rock, fortress. And then comes the line at the heart of the psalm: “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God” (verse 5).

These words have a remarkable history. Jesus prayed them on the cross. A few years later, as the stones were falling, Stephen prayed them too, but he prayed them to Jesus: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). Moments later, Luke says, Stephen “fell asleep.”

Notice the order in Stephen’s story. First he placed his life in Jesus’ hands. Only then did he open his own hands to forgive his enemies. A heart that is safely held is able to let go.

What are you clutching today? A fear about your health? Worry over a child? A money problem that keeps you awake at night? David does not pretend the danger isn’t real. He simply knows whose hands are stronger.

You do not have to hold your life together by yourself. The hands that formed the world, the hands that were pierced for you, are strong enough to hold you. Today, take one burden and say it out loud: “Into your hand I commit…” Then rest.

Faithful God, you are my rock and my refuge. Today I place into your hands the things I have been trying to carry on my own. Thank you that through Jesus I am redeemed and safely held. Teach me to rest in you, and from that rest, to open my hands to others. Amen.