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This psalm is the heart-cry of a man in great trouble, surrounded by all sorts of difficulties, with his very life threatened. He was down in the very depths of darkness, and ringed about by all sorts of enemies at that moment. "Into Thine hands I commit my spirit," as a man standing in the midst of enemies, and bearing some precious treasure in his hand might, with one strong cast of his arm, fling it into the open hand of some mighty helper, and so baulk the enemies of their prey.

I. WHERE TO LODGE A SOUL FOR SAFE KEEPING, "Into Thine hands" — a banker has a strong room, and a wise man sends his securities and his valuables to the bank and takes an acknowledgment, and goes to bed at night, quite sure that no harm will come to them, and that he will get them when he wants them. And that is exactly what the psalmist does here. He deposits his most precious treasure in the safe custody of One who will take care of it. The great hand is stretched out, and the little soul is put into it.

1. Trusting Him for the salvation of our souls. Take your stand on the fact, and with emancipated and buoyant hearts, and grateful ones, work from it, and because of it.

2. Trusting Him in reference to daily life, and all its difficulties and duties. The act of trust is to run through everything that we undertake and everything that we have to fight with. Self-will wrenches our souls out of God's hands. A man that sends his securities to the banker can get them back when he likes. And if we undertake to manage our own affairs, or fling ourselves into our work without recognition of our dependence upon Him, or if we choose our work without seeking to know what His will is, that is recalling our deposit. Then you will get it back again.

3. This must be accompanied with corresponding work. Peter tells us that it is vain for us to talk about committing the keeping of our soul to God unless we back up the committing with consistent, Christlike lives.

4. This committing of our souls into God's hands does not mean that we are absolved from taking care of them ourselves.

II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THUS LIVING IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF CONTINUAL DEPENDENCE ON, AND REFERENCE TO, GOD, about great things and little things. Whenever a man is living by trust, even when the trust is mistaken, or when it is resting upon some mere human, fallible creature like himself, in the measure of his confidence is the measure of his tranquillity.

III. THE GROUND UPON WHICH THIS GREAT VENTURE OF FAITH MAY BE MADE. "Thou hast redeemed me, Lord God of Truth."

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

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

WEB: Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.