The Daily Verse – Psalm 31:5

Do you feel at times you need to be delivered from your thoughts or the situation you are in?

Do you see God as being faithful to you as you try to be to him?

In this Psalm King David declares that God is his refuge and asks that He comes quickly to his rescue.

He continues throughout the Psalm to state that he trusts in God, despite the terrible people around him trying to trap him.

David tells us how his strength fails and his bones are like broken pottery.

Now let us jump ahead to Luke 23:46:

‘Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last.’

Jesus has been hanging on the cross and finally calls out these words and passes away.

Remember that Jesus had called out earlier,

‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The first words of Psalm 22.

So also here in Luke, Jesus deliberately speaks the words of Psalm 31 as a declaration and a teaching to those nearby who could understand.

The Psalms teach us many things about the Messiah, and Jesus was still, even on the cross and near death, teaching that God was faithful to His people.

The end of Psalm 31 reads,

‘Love the Lord , all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him . . . Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.’

We often say, ‘would you like a hand’ or ‘can I lend a hand’, but how many times have we actually asked for God’s hand?

How often do we reach spiritually for the hands of God, like a small child would when the need support or comfort when afraid?

The imagery here in Psalm 31 is of a very present and personable presence.

For David, God is there in physical presence and he places himself into his hands. He asks God to deliver him and fully expects the end result as he declares God faithful.

When we have troubled or dark thoughts, when we are in difficult circumstances, do we respond with the same confidence as David?

Sometimes yes and sometimes no, possibly?

David was confident, just as Jesus was, all those years later. He could confidently declare into your hands Father I commit my spirit.

Likewise we can confidently declare, as we reach out to God’s hands, that he will deliver us from our circumstances.

God is faithful towards us, even knowing that sometimes we stumble and fall. He reaches out to us to ‘lend a hand’.