The Great Hand-Off Text: Psalm 31:14-18
Introduction: The Christian in the Crosshairs
We live in a time when the enemies of God are feeling particularly bold. They have taken over the schoolhouse, the statehouse, and the movie house, and they are not shy about their intentions. They slander, they pursue, they devise evil, and they do it all with a sneer of lofty pride. For the faithful Christian, who simply wants to live a quiet life, raise his children in the fear of the Lord, and worship God according to His Word, this can be a profoundly disorienting experience. It feels like the walls are closing in. Fear is on every side, just as David described it in the verse immediately preceding our text.
What is the Christian to do when he becomes a reproach among his enemies, a pariah to his neighbors, and a fear to his acquaintances? What is our recourse when the culture decides that our faith is not just wrong, but wicked, and that our very existence is a form of harm? The world offers two basic responses: fight or flight. You can either take up carnal weapons and try to brawl your way out of it, or you can capitulate, trim your sails, and try to find a respectable corner to be quiet in. But the Word of God, and this psalm in particular, offers us a third way, a radically different way. It is the way of defiant trust.
This is not a passive, head-in-the-sand kind of trust. This is a robust, declarative, God-centered confidence that stares the slander and the threats square in the face and refuses to flinch. David, hunted by Saul and betrayed by his own people, is in a desperate situation. He is surrounded by whispers, plots, and open hatred. And it is right at this pivot point, right when the pressure is at its maximum, that he makes the great turn. He turns from the horizontal threats to the vertical reality. This passage is a master class in how to conduct ourselves when we are in the crosshairs. It teaches us where to place our trust, how to view our circumstances, what to ask for, and how to think about our enemies.
The Text
But as for me, I trust in You, O Yahweh, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue me. Make Your face to shine upon Your slave; Save me in Your lovingkindness. O Yahweh, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon You; Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol. Let the lying lips be mute, Which speak arrogantly against the righteous With lofty pride and contempt.
(Psalm 31:14-18 LSB)
The Great “But” of Faith (v. 14)
We begin with the hinge of the entire psalm, verse 14:
"But as for me, I trust in You, O Yahweh, I say, 'You are my God.'" (Psalm 31:14)
Everything turns on this "But as for me." David has just finished cataloging the horrors surrounding him: slander, fear on every side, plots to take his life. The horizontal reality is bleak. But faith introduces a vertical reality that changes the entire equation. This is the great pivot. It is a conscious, deliberate act of the will. He is not trusting in God because his circumstances are pleasant. He is trusting in God in despite of his circumstances.
This is the essence of biblical faith. It is not a feeling; it is a declaration. "I say, 'You are my God.'" He speaks it out loud. He preaches to his own soul. In the face of a thousand voices telling him he is finished, he raises one defiant voice that says, "Yahweh is my God." This is covenantal language. To say "You are my God" is to say "I belong to You, and You have pledged Yourself to me." It is to plant your flag on the bedrock of God's covenant promises when the earth all around you is shaking.
This is the fundamental choice every believer must make when under pressure. Will you define your reality by the whispers of your enemies, or by the Word of your God? Will you be catechized by the 24-hour news cycle, or by the eternal covenant? David chooses his authority. He chooses God. And that changes everything.
Sovereign Timetables (v. 15)
Having declared his allegiance, David now rests in the implications of that allegiance.
"My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue me." (Psalm 31:15)
This is one of the most comforting truths in all of Scripture. "My times are in Your hand." The word for "times" here refers to the appointed seasons, the opportunities, the entire course and destiny of a life. David is saying that the length of his life, the trials he will face, the deliverances he will experience, are not ultimately in the hands of Saul, or his counselors, or his betrayers. They are in the hand of God.
His enemies have hands, yes. They have hands that lay nets (v. 4), and he asks to be delivered from the "hand of my enemies." But their hands are creaturely hands, contingent hands, hands that can do nothing unless it is first permitted by the sovereign hand of God. This is the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty applied to the nitty-gritty of a life under threat. Our days are not determined by accident, or fate, or the malice of men. They are held securely in the palm of a loving, all-powerful Father. No one can snatch us out of that hand (John 10:28). No one can shorten our days by one second beyond what He has ordained.
Because his times are in God's hand, he can confidently ask for deliverance from his enemies' hand. He is not asking for something contrary to God's will; he is asking God to act in accordance with His own sovereign control. He is appealing from a lower court (the plots of men) to the supreme court (the hand of God).
The Sunshine of Favor (v. 16)
David's next request is for something even more profound than mere deliverance.
"Make Your face to shine upon Your slave; Save me in Your lovingkindness." (Psalm 31:16)
This is the language of the Aaronic blessing from Numbers 6. For God's face to shine upon you is the ultimate expression of His favor, His grace, and His benevolent presence. It is the opposite of God hiding His face, which is a sign of judgment and displeasure. David is not just asking for a change in his circumstances; he is asking for the manifest presence and smile of God in the midst of his circumstances.
He understands that the greatest good is not earthly safety, but the favor of God. If God's face is shining on you, you can endure the scowls of the entire world. But if God's face is turned away, the applause of the world is a hollow mockery. He identifies himself as God's "slave" or "servant," which is a position of humility and dependence. He is not demanding his rights; he is appealing to God's grace.
And the basis of this appeal is God's own character: "Save me in Your lovingkindness." The word is hesed, that great covenantal term for God's steadfast, loyal, unending love. He is asking God to be God. He is praying in line with God's own revealed nature. This is how we are to pray. We don't come to God based on our merit, but on His mercy. We don't appeal to our own righteousness, but to His hesed love, which has its ultimate expression in the face of Jesus Christ.
The Great Reversal (v. 17-18)
In the final two verses, David makes what is often called an imprecatory prayer. He calls for God to act in justice, to vindicate the righteous and judge the wicked.
"O Yahweh, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon You; Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol. Let the lying lips be mute, Which speak arrogantly against the righteous With lofty pride and contempt." (Psalm 31:17-18)
This is not, as our sentimental age often thinks, a matter of personal vindictiveness. This is a prayer for cosmic justice. There are two kinds of shame in the world: the shame of the righteous who are slandered, and the ultimate, eternal shame of the wicked who are judged. David is praying for the right kind of shame to fall on the right people. He says, "Let me not be put to shame," because he has called on the name of the Lord. His honor is now tied up with God's honor. If God lets His servant be ultimately shamed and destroyed, it will look like God is weak or unfaithful.
Conversely, he prays, "Let the wicked be put to shame." Why? Because their entire program is built on lies, arrogance, pride, and contempt for the righteous. Their lying lips are weapons used to assault the people of God. David is praying for God to disarm them. He is praying for truth to triumph over falsehood. To pray for their lips to be mute and for them to be silent in Sheol (the grave) is to pray for an end to their rebellion and for God's righteous kingdom to be vindicated.
This is a profoundly righteous prayer. It is a prayer that God would take His own side in the controversy. We live in a world where evil is called good and good is called evil, where lying lips are given the microphone and the righteous are told to shut up. To pray this prayer is to align ourselves with God's own passion for justice. It is to long for the day when every arrogant mouth will be stopped and every lie will be exposed in the blazing light of His truth.
Conclusion: Your Times in His Hand
This passage is a lifeline for the believer in a hostile world. It gives us a four-step playbook for when we are under attack. First, we make the great declaration of faith: "But as for me... You are my God." We consciously and deliberately plant our feet on the rock of His covenant.
Second, we rest in His absolute sovereignty. "My times are in Your hand." The plots of our enemies are real, but they are not ultimate. Our lives are governed by His loving and wise providence, not by their malice.
Third, we seek His favor above all else. "Make Your face to shine upon Your slave." We are to be more concerned with God's smile than with the world's approval. His lovingkindness is our ultimate salvation and our greatest treasure.
And fourth, we pray for justice. We hand the case over to the righteous Judge. We ask Him to silence the lies and to vindicate His own name by vindicating His people. We do not take vengeance into our own hands, but we cry out to the one to whom vengeance belongs.
All of this finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the truly righteous one, surrounded by enemies who spoke against him with lying lips, with lofty pride and contempt. He was pursued, slandered, and plotted against. And what did He do? On the cross, He enacted this psalm. He declared His trust in His Father. He placed His times in His Father's hand, saying, "Into your hand I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46), quoting this very psalm. He endured the shame, trusting that God would reverse it. And God did, by raising Him from the dead, silencing the lying lips of His accusers and putting the wicked to shame. Because Jesus did this, when we are in Him, our times are also in God's hand, and our ultimate vindication is secure.