Into Your Hand, I Commit My Spirit

Psalm 31: 1-13

 

January 18, 2022

 

 

 

 

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily!  Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!   For you are my rock and my fortress, and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me; you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.  Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.  I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.  Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also.  For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.  Because of all my adversaries, I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.  For I hear the whispering of many— terror on every side!—as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.

 

Do you know the enemy of your soul has a net hidden to change the direction of your life, a net has no value if you know it is there, so should you and I not ask the Lord to be our refuge, just as David did?  Look back on your life, reflect on the net that the devil has trapped you in and the personal cost to your marriage, children, or testimony, mine are too many to count.

 

To whom do you go in time of affliction, and do we recall Jesus telling us that in this world you are going to have problems, often in my life, they have been self-inflicted.  They are the worst but from the same source, pride, and arrogance, not from God, but a world system with the evil one behind the scenes, setting up traps that are designed to steal, kill, and destroy.

 

I’ve often taught my young couples, you cannot have it round a square, one of the conflicts in young couples' marriage is he is always working.  I would ask the wife if she likes all the things you have, a nice car, a nice home, maybe the evil one behind the scenes is trying to destroy your marriage.  Just maybe less desire from you will have him coming home earlier.  I would also remind the husband, it is not the hours you put in on the job for God has made it clear in the Scripture, it is not your hard work but God’s blessing.  Many of us are driven to have more, but at what cost?  Often it is a higher price than we are willing to pay.  Make Jesus your refuge, for in Him you will have peace and contentment.  

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice