My Times; His Hands

Psalm 31

“My times are in Your hand..." (Psalm 31:15). 

Two small words in the Hebrew text. Two nouns with pronominal suffices. No verb. “My times; your hands.” 

"My times; your hands.” I think of days when I feel ignored, marginalized, overlooked, forgotten, set aside. When “I have been forgotten like broken pottery”—a useless, discarded chard (31:12). Yet I will trust in you, Lord. I will say, “You are my God.” I will shelter myself in his unfailing love and the good things he has stored up for me (31:16).

My times; your hands. I think of all that is contingent and changing around me as I age. Change is not chance. God’s hands control and contain every circumstance, even events that seem random and arbitrary. “God is the stability of (my) times,” Isaiah wrote. “An abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge…” (Isaiah 33:6). 

My times; your hands. Good times; bad times.  “Into your hands I entrust my spirit (31:5).”

David Roper

2.24.20