“My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!” (Ps 31:15).
Before this verse, David bemoans his problems with people who are out to get him (Ps 31:13). After the verse, he asks God to take care of them and even send them to hell (Ps 31:17). That was David, but what about you and me? We probably don’t have enemies who plot and scheme against us. Sure, we have problems and some of those are how to deal with people who are not as nice as we think we are. But the key thing to remember is that our times are in God’s hands.
The NLT translation says, “My future is in your hands.” I think that is limiting what the Lord wants us to understand. The Message says, “Hour by hour I place my days in your hand.” They got the timing right because every minute, every instant of time is in God’s hands. Our present and our future puts us in the exact place he wants us. Paul tells us that God “determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live” (Acts 17:26 NIV).
The Message didn’t get the last part right because they imply that it was David who placed his times in God’s hands. Rather, we should recognize that all of our lives are in God’s hands whether we are yielding to him in submission or rebelling in sin. He is in control and we are not. It is when we want to be in control and direct our times that we chaff against God’s way and he always wins the tug-of-war. Unfortunately, when we never yield, we will be like David’s enemies and we will be put to shame and go down to Sheol (Ps 31:17).
When we recognize that God is in control and we yield to him, our lives are much better. When we are not trying to be our own little sovereigns, we can have joy in knowing we are accomplishing his will and whatever difficulties that come upon us are there for a reason. The “enemies” may be there because our witness is needed to bring them to Jesus. He doesn’t want them to go down to Sheol. Maybe we need to learn something as well.
The prerequisite to having peace that our times are in God’s hands is to trust him and say, “You are my God” (Ps 31:14).
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