But I do not think that death is the only occasion on which we may use these words, or that we are to lay them by unused till we require them in our dying hour; for, as far as we can gather from the psalm, they are to have a present life-use likewise. The psalm is not a death-bed psalm, but one composed under difficulties. Nor did David write it under any expectation that he would be overpowered by these difficulties, for in verses 2, 3, and 4, he prays for deliverance; and in verse 8 he expressly declares, ‘Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.’ We must, therefore, regard these words as spoken by one who was in difficulty, and being in difficulty, availed himself of the privilege of committing all his difficulties into his Father’s hand. But you will observe that in this verse he does not speak so much of his difficulties as his spirit. He does not say, ‘Into thy hand I commend my difficulties,’ but ‘Into thy hand I commend my spirit.’ He may in those words have prayed for the preservation of his life, but I think it was rather the preservation of his own spirit, what St. Paul describes ‘the spirit of the mind,’ for which he required help. We all know how the spirit is harassed, and the rest of the soul disturbed, when we are placed in circumstances of perplexity. At such times we are often distracted in prayer, and are so much occupied by the things that trouble us that we are tempted to forget our resting-place. Hence the importance of especial prayer, not merely that difficulties may be overcome, but that our own spirit may be kept unruffled and undisturbed in perfect peace reposing on the Lord. This is just what David did in the psalm. He earnestly prayed that he might be delivered. ‘Deliver me in thy righteousness.’ ‘Deliver me speedily.’ He earnestly sought God’s guiding hand, in order that in his own conduct he might do God’s will: ‘For thy name’s sake lead me and guide me.’ And meanwhile he trusted his own spirit, his mind, his thoughts, his temper, his whole man into his Father’s keeping, and said, ‘Into thy hand I commit my spirit.’