John Calvin Commentary Psalms 31:5

"Into thy hand I commend my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O Jehovah, thou God of truth." — Psalms 31:5 (ASV)

Into your hand I commit my spirit. David again declares his faith in God and affirms that he had such high thoughts of His providence as to cast all his cares upon it. Whoever commits himself into God’s hand and to His guardianship not only makes Him the arbiter of life and death for him but also calmly depends on Him for protection amidst all his dangers.

The verb is in the future tense, “I will commit,” and it unquestionably denotes a continued act and is therefore suitably translated into the present tense. It is also to be observed that no one can possibly commit his life to God with sincerity unless he considers himself exposed to a thousand deaths, and that his life hangs by a thread or is almost like a breath that passes suddenly away.

David, being thus at the point of despair, leaves nothing for himself to do but this: to go on his way, trusting in God as the keeper and governor of his life. It is marvelous that, although many things distress us all, scarcely one in a hundred is wise enough to commit his life into God’s hand.

Multitudes live from day to day as merry and carefree as if they were in a quiet nest, free from all disturbance; but as soon as they encounter anything to terrify them, they are ready to die from anguish. It thus happens that they never turn to God, either because they deceive themselves with vain delusions, flattering themselves that everything will still be well, or because they are so stricken with dread and stupefied with amazement that they have no desire for His fatherly care.

Furthermore, as various tempests of grief disturb us, and even sometimes throw us down headlong, or drag us from the direct path of duty, or at least remove us from our post, the only remedy that exists for setting these things at rest is to consider that God, who is the author of our life, is also its preserver.

This, then, is the only means of lightening all our burdens and preserving us from being swallowed up by too much sorrow. Since God condescends to undertake the care of our lives and to support them, although they are often exposed to various kinds of death, let us learn always to flee to this refuge; indeed, the more anyone is exposed to dangers, let him exercise himself all the more carefully in meditating on it.

In short, let this be our shield against all dangerous attacks — our haven amidst all tossings and tempests — that, although our safety may be beyond all human hope, God is its faithful guardian. And let this again arouse us to prayer, that He would defend us and make our deliverance sure.

This confidence will likewise make everyone eager to discharge his duty with alacrity, and constantly and fearlessly to struggle onward to the end of his course. How does it happen that so many are slothful and indifferent, and that others treacherously forsake their duty? It is because, overwhelmed with anxiety, they are terrified by dangers and inconveniences and leave no room for the operation of God’s providence.

To conclude, whoever does not rely on the providence of God, so as to commit his life to its faithful guardianship, has not yet truly learned what it is to live. On the other hand, whoever entrusts the keeping of his life to God’s care will not doubt its safety even in the midst of death.

We must therefore put our life into God’s hand, not only that He may keep it safely in this world, but also that He may preserve it from destruction in death itself, as Christ’s own example has taught us. As David wished to have his life prolonged amidst the dangers of death, so Christ passed out of this transitory life that His soul might be saved in death.

This is a general prayer, therefore, in which the faithful commit their lives to God, first, that He may protect them by His power, so long as they are exposed to the dangers of this world; and, secondly, that He may preserve them safe in the grave, where nothing is to be seen but destruction.

We ought further to assure ourselves that we are not forsaken by God either in life or in death; for those whom God brings safely by His power to the end of their course, He at last receives to Himself at their death. This is one of the principal passages of Scripture that are most suitable for correcting distrust.

It teaches us:

1. That the faithful ought not to torment themselves excessively with unhappy cares and anxieties.
2. That they should not be so distracted with fear as to stop performing their duty, nor falter and lose heart so as to grasp at vain hopes and deceitful aids, nor give way to fears and alarms.
3. And finally, that they should not be afraid of death, which, though it destroys the body, cannot extinguish the soul.

This, indeed, ought to be our principal argument for overcoming all temptations: that Christ, when commending His soul to His Father, undertook the guardianship of the souls of all His people. Stephen, therefore, calls upon Him to be his keeper, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). Because the soul is the seat of life, it is, as is well known, used to signify life.

You have redeemed me. Some translate the past tense here into the future, but, in my opinion, without any reason. For it is evident to me that David is here encouraging himself to continued confidence in God by calling to mind the proofs of His favor which he had already experienced.

It is no small encouragement to us for the future to be firmly convinced that God will watch over our life because He has been our deliverer already. Hence the epithet by which David recognizes God. He calls Him true or faithful because he believes that He will continue the same to him forever that He has already been.

Accordingly, this is, as it were, a bond by which he joins his confidence in prayer and his hope of aid for the time to come to the former benefits God had conferred upon him. It is as if he had said, “Lord, You who are ever the same and do not change Your mind like men, have already testified indeed that You are the defender of my life. Now, therefore, I commit my life, of which You have been the preserver, into Your hands.” What David here declares concerning his temporal life, Paul transfers to eternal salvation.

“I know,” he says, “whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him,” (2 Timothy 1:12).

And surely, if David derived so much confidence from temporal deliverance, it is more than wicked and ungrateful on our part if the redemption purchased by the blood of Christ does not furnish us with invincible courage against all the devices of Satan.