My times are in thy hand

“My times are in thy hand,” writes the Psalmist David (Psalm 31:15). The antecedent of “my” is David, found in the superscription “A Psalm of David.” The antecedent of “thy” is the Lord God, found in verse 14. David’s times, he recognizes, are in God’s hands. David’s times are the incidents of life, such as guarding the sheep, facing Goliath, running from Saul and Absalom, inflicted with chills from which he died.

David’s times are unique, his very own. However, the truth “my times are in thy hand” is applicable to every unique member of the human race. You and I can take it up and say with full assurance, “my times are in God’s hands” – “In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10).

We all share generalities in common, such as “A time to be born, and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2). The dash in between belongs to each uniquely, the race that God has set before him or her (Hebrews 12:1). Be we males or female, black or white, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, Americans or Chinese, our times – uniquely and individually – are in God’s hands. Since David knew and was assured that he was in God’s hands, he could pray with calmness and confidence to God for deliverance.

One day the dash will come to a close, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23; 6:23). It is appointed unto men once to die (Hebrews 9:27). Cancer or coronavirus, car wreck or heart attack, stillbirth or old age atroke, the time comes when, like Elisha, we will meet the thing whereof we die ( 2 Kings 13:14).

In life, by creation, every creature is in God’s hands. However, only some are uniquely in God’s hands for both time and eternity – his sheep who hear his voice (John 10:26-27). “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” (John 10: 28-20).

Sovereign ruler of the skies,

Ever gracious ever wise!

All my times are in thy hand—

All events at thy command.

Plagues and death around me fly;

Till he bids I cannot die:

Not a single shaft can hit

Till the God of loves sees fit.

O thou gracious, wise, and just,

In thy hands my life I trust.

Have I something dearer still?

I resign it to thy will.

(Isaac Watts)

Safely confiding

“Then we can go on without fear, trusting in the Lord who ‘worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,’ who turneth the king’s heart withersoever he will, as the rivers of water are turned, who declares that the wicked are his sword, and the men of the world his hand, who commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, and who saith to the sea, ‘Thus far shalt thou come, but no farther.’ In this glorious God, ‘whose counsel shall stand and who will do all his pleasure,’ we can safely confide, assured that he will in his own time and way bring us into the full enjoyment of that righteousness for which we hunger and thirst, and cause us to dwell in his presence forever.” – Silas H. Durand, February, 1887

The Lord is our shepherd, we never shall want; 
In him may we safely confide. 
He’ll guard us in danger, direct us in doubt, 
And everything needful provide.
Stanza 1, Hymn 286 in Sacred Poetry and Music Reconciled, Or, A Collection of Hymns Original and Compiled, by Samuel Willard, 1830

Their hearts shall not be moved 
Who in the Lord confide, 
But, firm as Zion’s hill, 
They ever shall abide: 
As mountains shield Jerusalem
The Lord shall be a shield to them.
Stanza 1, Hymn 672 (Psalm 125) in The Sabbath Hymn Book: for the Service of Song in the House of the Lord, edited by Edwards Amasa Park, Austin Phelps and Lowell Mason, 1858

Since all that I meet 
Shall work for my good,
The bitter is sweet, 
The medicine is food;
Though painful at present 
‘Twill cease before long,
And then, O how pleasant 
The conqueror’s song.
John Newton, Stanza 7 of “I Will Trust and Not Be Afraid” in Olney Hymns, which begins “Begone, unbelief, My Saviour is near…”

Habakkuk 3:17-18

1. Away, my unbelieving fear!
Fear shall in me no more have place;
My Saviour doth not yet appear,
He hides the brightness of his face;
But shall I therefore let him go,
And basely to the tempter yield?
No, in the strength of Jesus, no!
I never will give up my shield.

2. Although the vine its fruit deny,
Although the olive yield no oil,
The withering fig-tree droop and die,
The field elude the tiller's toil,
The empty stall no herd afford,
The flocks be cut off from their place,
Yet will I triumph in the Lord,
The God of my salvation praise.

3. Barren although my soul remain,
And no one bud of grace appear,
No fruit of all my toil and pain,
But desperate wickedness is here;
Although, my gifts and comforts lost,
My blooming hopes cut off I see;
Yet will I in my Saviour trust,
And glory that he died for me.

4. In hope, believing against hope,
Jesus my Lord and God I claim;
Jesus my strength shall lift me up,
Salvation is in Jesu's name;
To me he soon shall bring it nigh;
My soul shall then outstrip the wind,
On wings of love mount up on high,
And leave the world and sin behind.

By Charles Wesley