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You Have Redeemed Me, O Lord
“In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
Incline your ear to me; make haste to deliver me.
Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe,
for you are my crag and my stronghold;
for the sake of your Name, lead me and guide me.
Take me out of the net that they have secretly set for me,
for you are my tower of strength.
Into your hands I commend my spirit,
for you have redeemed me, O Lord, O God of truth.”
Psalm 31:1-5
This portion of Psalm 31, appointed today for the Daily Office in the Book of Common Prayer, is known at my house as the “special prayer.” Thanks to my wife, before bed each night, our three boys pray this Psalm together (well, not the two-year-old, but he’ll get there), and that’s why they call it the “special prayer.” They have memorized it better than their papa!
I’ve come to associate this Psalm with that time we have together. My hope is that they’ll always associate these words, like the Lord’s Prayer, with that daily time of love and trust when we commend our spirits into God’s hands before we lay our heads to sleep.
I know that there will come a time in life for my boys when someone breaks their trust, when someone hurts them or lets them down. I know there will be a day when they feel ashamed or feel like a failure. I know there will be times when they come to the end of their rope or feel afraid. Those days happen for all of us.
Yet, I hope that this “special prayer” burrows even deeper into their hearts, so that they will always know and feel that no matter what, they can take refuge in the Lord, who will never let them be put to shame. I hope they will always know that in the Lord, they have a strong rock, a castle to keep them safe, a deliverer in whom they can place all of their trust. I hope they can rest in that, safe and loved in God’s hands.
This week, we have turned a page to the season of Lent. It’s a season of penitence, of seeking forgiveness and God’s help to live as we ought. I think for some of us, if we don’t have that deep heart knowledge of God’s love and redemption, Lent can be a difficult season, one that we’d rather avoid, but it should not be. As Lent begins, let us place first in our hearts the redeeming, forgiving, tender love and compassion of God. He wants us to rest in His hands. Because of His love, we can confess our sins, knowing that He has already redeemed us in Christ.
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