David Boudia, who just won the gold medal in the 10 meter platform diving in the 2012 Olympics in London, had a very shaky preliminary round, and thought he might not even make it to the finals.  But he was calm about it.  He was quoted in the Baptist Press (8-13-12) as saying: “The coolest thing about this is that I know that God is perfect and sovereign, and if I made it, great.  If I didn’t, great.  I was totally content …”.  Boudia had peace about his Olympic results, because he knew that God was sovereign.  His attitude was similar to that of David’s in Psalm 31:15, when he wrote: “My times are in Your hand.”

Both of these Davids are great examples for those of us who are tempted to worry about our circumstances.  We need to remember that God is on the throne, and OUR times are in His hands. 

It should also help us to go back to verse 5, and read some of “the rest of the story.”  Verse 5 includes the familiar words, “Into Thy hand I commit my spirit” — known to all of us as the words Jesus spoke from the cross.  But perhaps we have let the familiarity of those words overshadow the next: “You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth (literally “faithfulness”).”  That One Whose hands we are committing our spirits into is the same One who has redeemed us, and Who is absolutely faithful.   

If God has loved us enough to buy us back for Himself with the blood of His Son, and if He is a God of faithfulness, then we can surely entrust our spirits into His hands with all confidence.  Thus each of us who knows Him are able to fearlessly declare, whatever our current circumstances: “My times are in Your hand!”