Psalm 31--Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

Psalm 31
English Standard Version

Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
31 In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!
2 Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!

3 For you are my rock and my fortress;
    and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;
4 you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
    for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

6 I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
    but I trust in the LORD.
7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
    because you have seen my affliction;
    you have known the distress of my soul,
8 and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
    you have set my feet in a broad place.

9 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
    my eye is wasted from grief;
    my soul and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
    and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
    and my bones waste away.

11 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.
12 I have been forgotten like one who is dead;
    I have become like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the whispering of many--
    terror on every side!--
as they scheme together against me,
    as they plot to take my life.

14 But I trust in you, O LORD;
    I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand;
    rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
16 Make your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your steadfast love!
17 O LORD, let me not be put to shame,
    for I call upon you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
    let them go silently to Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be mute,
    which speak insolently against the righteous
    in pride and contempt.

19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
    which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
    in the sight of the children of mankind!
20 In the cover of your presence you hide them
    from the plots of men;
you store them in your shelter
    from the strife of tongues.

21 Blessed be the LORD,
    for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
    when I was in a besieged city.
22 I had said in my alarm,
    “I am cut off from your sight.”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
    when I cried to you for help.

​23 Love the LORD, all you his saints!
    The LORD preserves the faithful
    but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the LORD!

---

We are once again in a place in David's life where he is trusting in the LORD to be his place of safety and protection and the one who will defend him from his enemies.  David actually calls the LORD his "fortress" here and these may be the words that inspired the hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."

In the next part, we see that David asks to be delivered from the snares and traps that have been set for him by his enemies, but it actually ends with words that we are more familiar with from Jesus speaking from the cross--I believe that He wanted the Jews who were listening to have their minds come back to this song that they heard so often, "Into Your hand I commit My spirit."  David says that he can commit his spirit to the LORD because it is the LORD that has redeemed him, and because the LORD is faithful.

David says that he hates idolatry and those who trust in worthless idols.  He chooses to praise the LORD for His steadfast love.  He knows our every distress and weakness and has never stopped fighting for us.  He has never allowed the enemy to truly have victory over us, even when it looks like we have lost the battle, God is still in control and the victory still belongs to Him.

David then cries out for the LORD to once more not turn away from David in his distress.  David is grieving and suffering greatly--David says this is result of his own iniquity, but he asks the LORD to once again have grace on him.  I don't know exactly when this is, but I'd imagine that it is likely either between the time of David's sin with Bathsheba and his confrontation by Nathan the prophet, or that this is slightly after that confrontation when the child of David's adulterous relationship was destined to die and David fasted and wept and refused to sleep both night and day until the child died, for he knew once the child was dead, he could do nothing to bring the child back, but every moment that the child was alive, he would fast and pray that the child would not die because of David's sins.  We do seem to have indications of other points in David's life where he also struggled with depression and feelings of being sapped of all of his energy, but I'd imagine these were two of the most trying times for him and it is one of the only "iniquities" that we have recorded in the life of David (iniquity is a high-handed sin of rebellion for which there would be no sacrifice for forgiveness--usually these were punishable by capital punishment).

David's enemies aren't satisfied to try to just physically assassinate him, but they also want to try to assassinate his character and reputation so that none of the people want to follow him.  David says that he hears the whisperings of his enemies everywhere he goes.  The sin of gossip is deplorable to the LORD and it should not be the identity of any who belong to Him.  James has much to say about what comes out of our mouths and if we use the same tongue to attack our brother that we use to praise God then we are liars because we cannot love God whom we have not seen and hate our brother whom we have seen.  Fresh water and brackish water cannot come from the same spring (the same water source).  So which kind of heart do you have?  One that is controlled by the flesh of which gossip is one of the evidences, or one controlled by the Spirit?  (See Galatians 5:16-26, Romans 1:28-32).  I hope only listed a few places where our tongues and mouths can get us in trouble and show what it in our hearts a general principle here though is spoken by Jesus:


Matthew 15:10-20
English Standard Version
What Defiles a Person
10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

David then says that he wants his life to match up with the things he says with his mouth.  He says, "You are my God" and "I put my trust in You," but he needs the strength to live this out day-to-day.  He entrusts God with all his days, and when God decides that David's purpose is over, then David has no expectation that he would live on this earth any longer.   David's one request is that he not be put to shame for worshiping the LORD, and I think that has to do with David's heart that people would know how great and powerful and glorious the the LORD is.  If David spent his whole life worshiping the LORD and He was unable to deliver David from his enemies, then what kind of God is that?  Is He really worthy of our worship?  The LORD seems to be okay with David implying that His name is on the line since David is called by the name of the LORD and everyone knows that David belongs to the LORD and the LORD belongs to David.

David wishes for the truth to come out and for all the liars to be shut up.  He desires the wicked to be put to shame and for them to go silently to Sheol--meaning that they would have no one mourning their death.  David does desire justice, but he wants it to come from the LORD so that no one can say that David took justice into his own hands.  He is going to let the LORD fight his battles for him.

God's promises and the identity He has given to us cover us and protect us from the lies, gossip and slander.  We know who we are in Him and what He thinks of us and what He has done for us.  That will never change!  His steadfast love endures forever and it is a rock and a fortress that we can find safety, shelter and security in.  The LORD is on our side (we'll see this in Psalm 124 when we see "Our Help is in the Name of the LORD").  We need not worry about the worthless words of evil men.  The LORD will judge them.

David imagined that he had messed up so bad with his sin that he had lost his salvation (been "cut off" from the LORD's people and the LORD's covenant), but he cries out to the LORD for mercy, and he receives it.  He was surrounded and the enemy was pressing in like a city that was being besieged.  The walls that seemed like they were there to protect him where now about to collapse in on him.  The LORD allows this to happen in our lives sometimes when we begin to trust in someone or something else other than Him for safety and security.  He also does this to show the enemy that even though they imagine they can trust in their own strength and numbers, that they cannot even touch one of us that belongs to the LORD unless the LORD allows it.  The LORD will protect those who belong to Him, so we can be sure of our salvation as we wait on the LORD to deliver us (even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!).