October 31, 2014
O Lord, faithful God, Father
Into your hand I
commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me,
O Lord, faithful God.
Psalm 31:5 NRSV
Sometimes, when Jesus quoted
scripture he added his own interpretation. We see this in Psalm 8:2, “From the mouth of infants and nursing babes
You have established strength.” At
Matthew 21:16, Jesus quotes this verse saying, “Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared
praise for Yourself’”
Jesus also added his interpretation
to Psalm 31. Verse five states, “Into
your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.” In
Jesus’ final cry from the Cross he quotes this verse as, “‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ The expression, O LORD was
a formal, very reverent, rendering of the name of God. On the Cross, Jesus changed
this expression to, Father, and
expressed the intimacy of parent and child.
Throughout Psalm 31, David is
expressing his trust in God as he moves immediately from petition to
affirmation: “Be my rock of protection, a
fortress where I will be safe. You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor
of your name, lead me out of this danger” (Psalm 31:2b-3). David’s
foundation for trust is not in his own worthiness to receive God’s care;
rather, his foundation is the grace of God.
Over and over again David
communicates the wonders of trusting in God’s care: “But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, “You are my God!” My future is
in your hands. How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear
you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection. Praise the Lord,
for he has shown me the wonders of his unfailing love. He kept me safe. Love
the Lord, all you godly ones! For the Lord protects those who are loyal to him.
So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord!” (Psalm
31:14, 19, 21, 23-24).
Jesus took all of these gracious
expressions for the love and care of God and teaches us to come before God’s
throne, as his children, praying, “Our
Father, who art in heaven . . .”
Sē’lah
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(Selah is a word that appears in the
Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my
correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about
these things.)
These
meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his
way of life. The meditations are
published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/
and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may
subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by
subscription.
Publications by Alex M. Knight:
·
Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New
Testament and Psalms has been
published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.
·
The second
edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.
·
Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus
Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
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