Read Psalm 31:9-18. 9Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. 10For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails cause of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. 11Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. 12I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel. 13For I hear the whispering of many—terror on every side!—as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. 14But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” 15My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! 16Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love! 17O Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol. 18Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.
Have you ever felt anything like what the psalmist is feeling here in Psalm 31? Distressed? Hopeless? Demoralized? Terrified? And, of course, the cause of these feelings is complex. There are internal and external factors at work. Internal grief and guilt over iniquity, and external adversaries who refuse to offer any sort of compassion or grace. Only whisperings, schemes, and plots. He is surrounded on every side by those who have rejected him. Can you relate?
Our Savior can. We can easily hear these words coming from the mouth of Jesus. Like the psalmist, his life was one of grief, sorrow, sighing, and even reproach as his adversaries constantly plotted against him. And like the psalmist, while he hung on that cruel cross, Jesus knew the weight of guilt, having taken the iniquities of the world upon himself. Yours and my iniquities melting his bones, and crushing his soul.
But just as the cross was not the end, the psalm resurrects us into faith in the sovereign rescue of God. My times are in your hands he declares. And in Christ we can and must make the same faith filled declaration. Christian, your life, including all your sin and all your suffering, is not happening by chance. God has his hands on every part of your life, and he is resurrecting it all, even your iniquity, into a beautiful tapestry of Christ-like glory and grace. No matter how thick your darkness feels, his face is shining on you in the face of Christ’s never ending steadfast love for you.
To live is Christ is to rest within the knowledge of God’s loving control over your life.
Prayer. Jesus, when my bones melt, and my soul is crushed shine your face on me. I trust my life to you completely. My times are in your hands.
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To Live is Christ 