My Times Are in Your Hand

In you, LORD, I take refuge.Let me never be disappointed.Deliver me in your righteousness.

In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

The psalm opens by taking refuge in the LORD and asking never to be disappointed. The request for rescue is grounded in God's righteousness, not the speaker's.

Also read Romans 10:11, Psalm 143:1, Psalm 22:4-5, Isaiah 49:23

Bow down your ear to me.Deliver me speedily.Be to me a strong rock,a house of defense to save me.

Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

The speaker asks God to bend down and listen, and then to act quickly. He wants God to be a strong rock and a house of defense, both pictures of a solid place to shelter. The KJV reads be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

Also read Psalm 86:1, Psalm 69:17, Proverbs 22:17, Psalm 71:2-3

For you are my rock and my fortress,therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.

For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.

Verse 2 asked God to be a rock, and this verse says he already is one: you are my rock and my fortress. On that basis the speaker asks to be led and guided, for the sake of God's own name. Read with verses 4 and 5, it leads into the words into your hand I commend my spirit.

Also read Nehemiah 9:12, Luke 1:79, Psalm 23:2-3, Jeremiah 14:7

Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,for you are my stronghold.

Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.

The danger is a net laid in secret, a trap the speaker did not see being set. He asks to be plucked out of it, and the reason he gives is that God is his stronghold.

Also read Psalm 35:7, Psalm 25:15, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Proverbs 29:5

Into your hand I commend my spirit.You redeem me, LORD, God of truth.

Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

The speaker places his spirit into God's hand, entrusting his whole life to him. The same verse says why: you redeem me, LORD, God of truth. Trust here rests on who God is.

Also read Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2 Timothy 2:13, Psalm 130:8

I hate those who regard lying vanities,but I trust in the LORD.

I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.

The speaker draws a line between two kinds of trust. He hates those who regard lying vanities, things that are empty and false, and he trusts in the LORD instead.

Also read Psalm 96:7-9, Psalm 139:2, Jeremiah 10:8, Psalm 24:4

I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness,for you have seen my affliction.You have known my soul in adversities.

I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

Even in the middle of trouble, the speaker says he will be glad in God's loving kindness. The reason is that God has seen his affliction and known his soul in adversity. Being seen is treated as a comfort in itself.

Also read Isaiah 63:16, Job 10:9, Isaiah 49:13, Lamentations 5:1

You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.You have set my feet in a large place.

And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

God has not handed him over to the enemy. Instead he has set his feet in a large place, open ground in contrast to the net of verse 4.

Also read 1 Samuel 24:18, Deuteronomy 32:30, 1 Samuel 26:8, Psalm 88:8

Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress.My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.

Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

The psalm turns back to distress. The speaker asks for mercy because grief is wearing him away, eye, soul and body together. Sorrow is described as something physical.

Also read Lamentations 4:17, Psalm 88:3-5, Psalm 88:9, Job 33:19-22

For my life is spent with sorrow,my years with sighing.My strength fails because of my iniquity.My bones are wasted away.

For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

His life is spent with sorrow and his years with sighing. His strength fails, and he names his own iniquity as part of the cause. His bones are wasted away.

Also read Psalm 88:15, Romans 9:2, Psalm 39:11, Psalm 78:33

Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,a horror to my acquaintances.Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.

The speaker describes being cut off from ordinary company. Because of his enemies, neighbours hold him in contempt, acquaintances find him a horror, and people who see him in the street run away. The KJV says I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours.

Also read Mark 14:50, Psalm 64:8, Psalm 41:8-9, Psalm 69:19-20

I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.I am like broken pottery.

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

Also read Isaiah 38:11-12, Psalm 88:4-5, Romans 9:21-22, Revelation 2:27

For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,while they conspire together against me,they plot to take away my life.

For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.

Here the threat becomes words and plans. The speaker hears slander from many voices and feels terror on every side, while people conspire to take his life. The next verse answers all of it with a single line: but I trust in you, LORD.

Also read 1 Samuel 22:8-10, Psalm 101:5, Psalm 55:10, Luke 23:5

But I trust in you, LORD.I said, “You are my God.”

But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

This is the turning point. After the list of troubles, the speaker says simply: but I trust in you, LORD. You are my God.

Also read John 20:17, Psalm 43:5, Psalm 22:1-2, Psalm 140:6

My times are in your hand.Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

My times are in your hand means the course of his life belongs to God, not to his enemies. The verse joins that trust to a direct request for rescue from those who persecute him.

Also read Jeremiah 15:20-21, Acts 27:24, Luke 9:51, Job 24:1

Make your face to shine on your servant.Save me in your loving kindness.

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake.

The speaker asks God to make his face shine on his servant. It is a request for God's favour and attention, joined to a plea to be saved in his loving kindness.

Also read Psalm 4:6, Psalm 80:19, Psalm 106:45, Psalm 80:7

Let me not be disappointed, LORD, for I have called on you.Let the wicked be disappointed.Let them be silent in Sheol.

Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

Also read Psalm 71:24, Psalm 35:4, Isaiah 41:11-12, 1 Samuel 2:9

Let the lying lips be mute,which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

The speaker asks that lying lips be made mute. These are people who speak against the righteous with pride and contempt, which links back to the slander of verse 13.

Also read Revelation 21:8, Psalm 64:3-4, Proverbs 12:19, 2 Chronicles 32:16

Oh how great is your goodness,which you have laid up for those who fear you,which you have worked for those who take refuge in you,before the sons of men!

Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

The psalm breaks into wonder at God's goodness. That goodness is laid up, stored in advance, for those who fear him. It is also worked out in the open for those who take refuge in him, before everyone.

Also read Isaiah 35:10, John 3:21, Numbers 23:23, Colossians 3:2-4

In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man.You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.

Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Those who take refuge in God are hidden in the shelter of his presence. The threat now is the plotting of people and the strife of tongues, and the protection is a secret dwelling away from both.

Also read Psalm 27:5, Psalm 140:5, Psalm 40:4, Exodus 18:11

Praise be to the LORD,for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.

Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.

The speaker breaks into praise for something God has already done. He has shown marvelous loving kindness in a strong city, a picture of safety after the net and the slander of earlier verses. The psalm does not say which city is meant.

Also read Psalm 17:7, Jeremiah 1:18, 1 Samuel 23:7-13, Psalm 118:23

As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.”Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.

For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.

Also read Hebrews 5:7, Isaiah 38:10-12, Isaiah 6:5, 2 Chronicles 33:11-13

Oh love the LORD, all you his saints!The LORD preserves the faithful,and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.

O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

The speaker turns to address others and calls all God's saints to love the LORD. The reason given is that the LORD preserves the faithful and fully repays those who behave arrogantly.

Also read Deuteronomy 32:41, Deuteronomy 10:12, Psalm 30:4, Psalm 34:9

Be strong, and let your heart take courage,all you who hope in the LORD.

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

The psalm ends with a charge to everyone who hopes in the LORD: be strong, and let your heart take courage. The courage is tied to hope in the LORD, not to a change of circumstances. The KJV words it differently, saying he shall strengthen your heart.

Also read Psalm 146:5, 1 Peter 1:21, Romans 15:12-13, James 5:10-11