The Gift of an Offered Life (Psalm 31:5)

Children's Lesson (click here)

I. A Gift for God?

What would you be saying if you said to God, “Into your hand I commit my spirit”? (2x) As we've worked through Our Bible Reading Plan this month, one of the things we've been looking at together are some of the gifts that you won't find on your Christmas list this year. In our first study this month, as we listened to Paul's loving correction to the Corinthian disciples, we talked about the gift of the Old Testament. Then, in considering Luke's description of Joseph and Mary in the Temple, we thought together about the gift of godly examples. Then, last time, as we thought about God's promises in Leviticus regarding the Tent of Meeting, and the fulfillment of those promises in Jesus, we rejoiced in the reality of that gift of God's presence.

But this morning, I'd like us to think, not about a gift God has given to us, but about something we can give to God. Of course, as Paul told the Athenians, the true God doesn't live in temples built by people...

...nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. (Acts 17:25)

But just because God doesn't need anything from us, that doesn't alter his desire for the very thing we talked about only moments ago: “Into your hand I commit my spirit.” Do those words sound familiar to you? Yes, they're the words of... David. Look with me at Psalm 31.

II. The Passage: “In You... Do I Take Refuge” (31:1-5)

Listen as I read the opening verses of Psalm 31, a psalm of David. Verse 1...

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.

So we might ask again, but more specifically, what is David saying when he says to God, “Into your hand I commit my spirit”? I believe there are two elements that can help us understand the intention behind David's confession here. First...

David commits his spirit in light of life as difficult. As we should always do, no matter which verse of the Bible we're studying, it's critical to ask, “What prompted or inspired the writing of this verse?” We find a clue in verse 4 where David writes, “you take me out of the net they have hidden for me”. Who are the “they” referenced in that verse? We don't know. We do know that David goes on to tell us more about his opponents in v. 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. And in verse 20 he speaks again of the “plots of men” and “the strife of tongues”. David was facing danger (“terror on every side”), and that hard reality helps us to better understand his statement in verse 5... “Into your hand I commit my spirit”. But the bigger picture is that, second...

David commits his spirit in light of God as refuge. The overall theme of the psalm is summar-ized in that single word from verse 1: “refuge”. We find this idea throughout the psalm. Verse 1: “refuge”, verse 2: “rock of refuge”, verse 2: “strong fortress”, verse 3: “rock” and “fortress” again, verse 4: “refuge”, verse 19: “refuge”, verse 20: “in the cover of your presence you hide them”, verse 20: “you store them in your shelter”, verse 23: “Yahweh preserves the faithful”. In the face of life's difficulties, in the face of painful people and scary circumstances, David knew where he could go to find safety. He found refuge, he found shelter, protection, safety... in God.

This is why he confesses so clearly in verse 5, “Into your hand I commit my spirit”. What does he mean by “spirit”. Well, like the Greek word for “spirit”, this Hebrew word is often translated “wind”. But throughout the Psalms, we find that this word usually refers to the innermost person (so synonymous in many cases with the word “heart”), or it refers to one's life in general; that is, to the breath of life in you and me. So in the face of death, David commits his spirit to God.

But what does the word “commit” mean? I think a helpful translation would be 'to entrust' rather than “commit”. “Into your hand I [entrust] my spirit.” Though he may have been tempted to trust in his military prowess in order to secure his life, though he may have been tempted to trust in material wealth to pay off his enemies, though he may have been tempted to trust in shrewd negotiating and compromise with these opponents, or simply to lose himself in fear and anxiety, David had learned, over many years, that God was good, that God was powerful, and that God was trustworthy, and therefore... he could be trusted with David's life. As David would go on to say six psalms later, “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. (Psalm 37:5) And as David had rejoiced earlier in Psalm 10, “to you the helpless commits [or entrusts] him-self” (v. 14) So I think what we see here in Psalm 31:5, in light of the context, is that...

To commit your spirit into God's hand is to entrust your very life to him, believing that he is willing and able to shelter and preserve you through even the hardest storms.

III. Because He Entrusted Himself

Now, clearly, that conclusion is relevant to us as well, isn't it? We also recognize life as difficult, don't we? We also face danger, and disease, and debt, and despair, and ultimately... death. But even more important, do we also recognize God as refuge?

Each and every day, you and I are tempted to take refuge from the storms of life in all sorts of places: in money, in comfort, in pleasure, in media, in novelty, in busyness, in romance, in drugs or alcohol or food or gambling, in our cleverness and competency, in degrees and careers, in self-help, self-righteousness, self-esteem, and in so many causes that are anything but ultimate; anything but eternally secure. While some of these examples are good and helpful, when we try to take 'spirit-entrusting' refuge in such things, its like running into a grass hut to find refuge from a category 5 hurricane (with sustained winds of at least 157 mph). Such things simply cannot protect us from the severity of what we're facing.

But God can. And the reassurance we need is found in the very one who, with one of his dying breaths, repeated these words of David. When I asked you earlier if you recognized the words, “Into your hand I commit my spirit”, you may have recognized them, not as the words of David, but as the words of Jesus. This is what the gospel of Luke tells us about Christ's final moments on the cross... (Luke 23:46) “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!'. And having said this he breathed his last.”

Many are familiar with the fact that Jesus quoted David from Psalm 22 when he cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” That was an expression of his anguish. But many are unaware of the fact that only moments later, Jesus again took the words of his ancestor David upon his lips, when he quoted Psalm 31:5 as an expression of his trust.

But you might say, “Okay. But God didn't preserve Jesus. The Son put his life into the Father's hands, but he died seconds later. How was God a refuge for him if he faced the storm of death and was consumed?” As you may know, not long before this, only a few verses earlier in Luke 23, Jesus answers the faith-inspired request of one of the crucified criminals with these words: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Though his physical life came to an end, the spirit of the man Jesus was safe and secure in the hands of God. And as most of you know, on the third day, Jesus emerged from the tomb, proving that his faith in God had not been in vain. As the Apostle Peter reminds us about all of Christ's suffering,

When he [Jesus] was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:23)

Like Jesus, and because of Jesus, you and I can also trust God as our ultimate refuge. Whether we are facing death, or any other danger in this life (physical, emotional, financial, relational, vocational, spiritual), we can and should cry out as well, “Into your hand I commit my spirit.” What storm or storms are you presently facing? What has you worried? What is tempting you to fear? What feels overwhelming? What is it that has inspired you to push up your walls, just a little bit higher? Whatever it is, and whatever grass hut you're tempted to take refuge in, please cry out to God instead, cry out to Him again, “Into your hand I commit my spirit.”

I say 'again' because, if you belong to Jesus Christ, by grace through faith, because of his death and resurrection.. if that's you, then you've already made this confession. What is saving faith if it isn't this kind of entrusting, “Into your hand I commit my spirit [my life, my heart, my health, my bank account, my family, my marriage, my possessions, my past, my future, my everything].” It was Jesus who, earlier in Luke, told his listeners: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses [whoever offers up; whoever surrenders] his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:24) And that pattern of trust and entrusting should characterize your entire Christian life. Isn't this what the Apostles Peter and Paul are describing in the following verses...

Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1 Peter 4:19)

That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. (2 Timothy 1:12)(NIV)

This Christmas, God doesn't need a gift from you. But because of rich mercy and astonishing love, his deep desire is that you would offer up to him, and continue to offer up to him, your very life. Let the gift tag read, “To: God, From: You”. As you face that hardship, pray, “Into your hands I entrust my life.” As you face that heartache, pray, “Into your hands I entrust my life.” As you face those distractions and diversions and notifications and earthly 'calls to action' and temptations, pray, “Into your hands, I entrust my life.” God gave you the greatest gift he could at Christmas. The only right response is to give him the greatest gift you can... your very life. I promise you, you will never, ever regret giving to God what we might call the gift of an offered life. He is good. He is powerful. He is trustworthy. In light of God's grace, in light of God as refuge, may trust and entrust be words that characterize every part of our lives, all throughout the year.