The times were not great for King David. He was sad. In Psalm 31 he expressed his frustration to the Lord. Some of the words he used to describe his situation were: trapped (v. 4); afflicted (v. 7); distressed (v. 9); anguish (v. 10a); weak (v. 10b); forgotten (v. 12); slandered (v. 13a); conspired against (v. 13b), and lied about (v. 18). It sounds like he had just received the worst job review of his life.
David did what we all can do when we receive bad news—he sang. He was not in denial. He was in pain. His psalm was a song of affirmation and confidence in God. He knew the source of his strength; it was the Lord God. He proclaimed (in verse 14), “I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands.”
In his sermon, “My Times Are in Thy Hand,” C.H. Spurgeon observed that “the Psalmist now stays him-self upon a grand old doctrine, one of the most wonderful that was ever revealed to men…he had no fear as to his circumstances, since all things were in the divine hand.”
How comforting is that? Major, I would say. What “times” were included in David’s song? Take your pick; they all were there. They included his highs and lows…his health (or lack of it)…his family… his wealth (or lack of it)…his security (or lack of it)…his enemies…his friends and former friends…his supporters and those who conspired against him…the honorable and the wicked—virtually everything and everyone in his life were in the hands of God.
Apply David’s psalm to your life. Affirm that it is not fate or chance, but God who arranges for the events of your life to unfold. Declare that God is your rock and fortress. Commit all of your “times” to God. Pray the prayer that David prayed in verse 5—the same prayer that was voiced in part by Jesus when he was dying on the Cross:
“Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.”
Spurgeon continued, “If our lives were not appointed of heaven, we should wish they were. If there were no overruling Providence , we would crave for one. We would merge our own wills in the will of the great God and cry, ‘Not as we will, but as thou wilt.’ It would be a hideous thought to us if any one point of our life-story were left to chance, or to the frivolities of our own fancy; but with joyful hope we fall back upon the eternal foresight and the infallible wisdom of God, and cry, ‘Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us.’”
One of the great hymns written by William F. Lloyd sums up the thinking of the Psalmist:
My times are in Thy hand; My God, I wish them there;
My life, my friends, my soul I leave—Entirely to Thy care.
My times are in Thy hand; Whatever they may be;
Pleasing or painful, dark or bright—As best may seem to Thee.
My times are in Thy hand; Why should I doubt or fear?
My Father’s hand will never cause—His child a needless tear.
My times are in Thy hand; Jesus, the crucified!
Those hands my cruel sins had pierced—are now my guard and guide.
My times are in Thy hand, I’ll always trust in Thee;
And, after death, at Thy right hand—I shall forever be.
Wherever you are in your pilgrimage with God, make this hymn-prayer yours. Beginning today.
~ Tom Barnard
David did what we all can do when we receive bad news—he sang. He was not in denial. He was in pain. His psalm was a song of affirmation and confidence in God. He knew the source of his strength; it was the Lord God. He proclaimed (in verse 14), “I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands.”
In his sermon, “My Times Are in Thy Hand,” C.H. Spurgeon observed that “the Psalmist now stays him-self upon a grand old doctrine, one of the most wonderful that was ever revealed to men…he had no fear as to his circumstances, since all things were in the divine hand.”
How comforting is that? Major, I would say. What “times” were included in David’s song? Take your pick; they all were there. They included his highs and lows…his health (or lack of it)…his family… his wealth (or lack of it)…his security (or lack of it)…his enemies…his friends and former friends…his supporters and those who conspired against him…the honorable and the wicked—virtually everything and everyone in his life were in the hands of God.
Apply David’s psalm to your life. Affirm that it is not fate or chance, but God who arranges for the events of your life to unfold. Declare that God is your rock and fortress. Commit all of your “times” to God. Pray the prayer that David prayed in verse 5—the same prayer that was voiced in part by Jesus when he was dying on the Cross:
“Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.”
Spurgeon continued, “If our lives were not appointed of heaven, we should wish they were. If there were no overruling Providence , we would crave for one. We would merge our own wills in the will of the great God and cry, ‘Not as we will, but as thou wilt.’ It would be a hideous thought to us if any one point of our life-story were left to chance, or to the frivolities of our own fancy; but with joyful hope we fall back upon the eternal foresight and the infallible wisdom of God, and cry, ‘Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us.’”
One of the great hymns written by William F. Lloyd sums up the thinking of the Psalmist:
My times are in Thy hand; My God, I wish them there;
My life, my friends, my soul I leave—Entirely to Thy care.
My times are in Thy hand; Whatever they may be;
Pleasing or painful, dark or bright—As best may seem to Thee.
My times are in Thy hand; Why should I doubt or fear?
My Father’s hand will never cause—His child a needless tear.
My times are in Thy hand; Jesus, the crucified!
Those hands my cruel sins had pierced—are now my guard and guide.
My times are in Thy hand, I’ll always trust in Thee;
And, after death, at Thy right hand—I shall forever be.
Wherever you are in your pilgrimage with God, make this hymn-prayer yours. Beginning today.
~ Tom Barnard
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