Into Your Hands, Lord

“Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me Lord, my faithful God.”– Psalm 31:5 (NIV)

Yesterday I went to my neighbor’s house. She was sitting on her front porch in the shade with her friend, Jim. Evidence of weed-pulling and digging were around her sidewalk. Rose plants rose up toward the light and an unidentified weed with yellow flowers bent toward the railing. A beagle face peered out the glass door, wiggling its chunky body closer to me. As I sat in the August sun, we talked about life, our families, our house projects, and then I heard Jim’s story. Jim was a miracle man. He was lucky to be alive. He described his multiple-hour heart surgery, the one where his doctor said that anyone else who had had that type of surgery didn’t live after it. I told him I couldn’t believe he was alive, and he replied, “God was good to me.”

As Jim described his harrowing health experience and his recovery from it, he said he learned to say, “Into your hands, Lord. Into your hands.” He surrendered his life, knowing it was a gift he was alive, and has lived since with this mantra—“In your hands, into your hands.” This act of faith, of giving your life to God, because you know it is not your own, moved me.

So many times in life, we think we have the ultimate control over ourselves. It takes a major crisis like Jim’s to show him how little control he actually had. God truly has our lives in His hands.

As I sat in the sun on that porch and we shared our faith stories, I was moved— we were in a holy space. We shared some common experiences of the difficulties of giving our lives and everything in them (including families, daily living, etc….) up to God. Because it is difficult to say–“into your hands, Lord.” I have pondered our experience the last few hours, and know God was speaking to me through Jim. I have many things I hold on to, many things I like to figure out and control about my life and my loved ones. But I remember Jim’s words, and it reminds me that my life is a gift, and that God ultimately gave it to me, so He should have control of it.

Let us find the faith this week to surrender our lives to God. Let us find the courage to let go of our family and concerns, surrendering it all to God, knowing that all is well in His very capable hands. “Into your hands, Lord.”  Let’s live it out this week.

Prayer–“Gracious God, my life is a gift. Help me to surrender myself and all that I am to you. Help me to surrender my family members and my daily life to you as well, knowing you can do even more for them than I can. Into your hands I give these things. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”