In my hands

 The longest Psalm in the Bible, Psalm 119, has 176 lines. In one verse after another it focuses on the way in which we should live, that is, according to the commandments and instructions of our Father God. 

But every so often there’s a line in this Psalm which seems puzzling, almost out of place. One such line is, My life is continually in my hands. 

In whose hands? You’d expect the writer to say my life is in God’s hands. But no, he writes: in my hands. 

How can that be? Surely one of the consistent statements of the Bible is that we should give our lives into God’s hands, not try and run our lives our own way. 

Even though God does allow us to live as though we had control of our lives, He doesn’t recommend it. Back in one of the first five books of the Bible, when the people of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, their leader Joshua warned them about not going off in their own way, doing their own thing.

After explaining what will happen to them - both if they didn’t live according to God’s laws, and if they did - he says, Choose you this day whom you will serve.

Even though God brought them out of slavery in Egypt, they were still given a choice as to whether to follow Him. Their lives were in their hands.

It’s a decision we all have to make, on a daily basis. Are we going to do what we want – or what God wants? 

However, the line back in Psalm 119, doesn’t just consist of my life is continually in my hands. There’s a second line, a kind of answer to the first, which says, But I do not forget Your law. That is, of course, God’s law. 

So we might say My life is continually under my control, but I need to choose who I’m going to serve. Is it me and things I idolise, or is it the one true God?

A verse from Psalm 119