My life is continually in my hand; but I do not forget thy law.
These words come from a man under daily threat of death. He says in the same breath that he has not forgotten God's law. So what does it mean to carry your own life in your hand? And how does a man in that danger keep the word in view?
The picture is of something small and easy to drop. One writer draws out how weak that hand is:
Verse 109 is striking. To have one's life always in his hand tells us of the frailty and shortness of life, as though it hung on the puny strength of one's hand! Yet his weakness does not stop him remembering God's law.
The word behind "life" is broader than we might assume. And the whole sentence is a set phrase, not a literal description:
The Hebrew word naphesh or nephesh can mean soul, breath, body, creature, or simply life. The Hebrew text here reads: "My life is in my palm continually…" Life here includes everything I am and do each day. My whole being: me! In effect, the believer is always in the very jaws of death. We have countless spiritual enemies in the powers of darkness. The verse is a Hebrew way of describing extreme danger. Paul knew that chains and prison waited for him in every city. He said: "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself" (Acts 20:24). "I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 21:13).
The same phrase appears elsewhere in Scripture. Commentators point to those places:
The trial is so real that the godly man's life is always in his hand, and the traps of the wicked surround him (1 Sam. 19:5; Job 13:14). Still, the constant presence of evil does not make him forget the Word. He has the light of the Word, so his soul escapes the traps of the wicked.
This verse sits in a section that opens by calling the word a lamp to the feet:
Now it is a guide for our path through the world we walk in — a very different service. It "is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." That is what it is. It is the means of a right walk. That is not only because it sets the heart right, but because it casts light on this world. And not just light on the world as it is, but light on our path through it.
The danger shapes his prayer. He does not ask God to take him out of it:
The path the godly man has to walk is often one of deep affliction. Even so, the light of the Word shows a path through the trial. So here he does not pray to be rescued. He asks for strength in the trial (v. 107), for praise the Lord accepts despite it, and for the Lord's teaching through it (v. 108).
Danger does not silence him. He keeps praising and keeps praying:
The opposition of men keeps him in constant danger. The affliction has all too much power over him. He sees his need of God's strength and asks for it. God has promised that strength, so he can count on it. So he can bring the free-will offerings of his mouth — his acknowledgment of the help given — and still pray to be taught the Lord's judgments. And he passes through the danger. It does not distract him into forgetting what still rules over him: the law of his God.
The second half of the verse is the marvel. Danger can fill a mind and crowd out everything else:
His affliction, and even his danger, was great. His soul was always in his hand, but this did not change his purpose; he does not forget God's law. He was not so taken up with the danger that it pushed God's law out of his mind. This is a blessed witness to the power of the link with God that grace gives! Where faith is at work, what we know of God counts for more than the strongest effects of circumstances, and more than any power Satan can use.
- Frailty — a life held in the hand is held by "the puny strength of one's hand". The phrase is a set expression for extreme danger, not a literal description.
- Light — the word is a lamp to the feet. It lights not just the world, but the path through it.
- Not escape — he does not ask to be rescued. He asks for strength in the trial, praise despite it, and teaching through it.
- Praise — danger does not stop the free-will offerings of his mouth. He passes through it and still does not forget God's law.
- The link — a man in danger still holds the word. What he knows of God outweighs the strongest pressure of circumstances.
The wicked have laid a snare for me; but I have not wandered from thy precepts.
A trap is not a fight you can see coming. It stays hidden until your foot is already in it — so how does a man keep walking straight when his life is full of them?
A snare hides what it really is. That is why knowing a lot of truth is not, by itself, protection.
Does not a snare represent evil hidden under a fair exterior? … We may think we can escape snares and keep clear of heresies by our own intelligence and knowledge of the truth. But whatever our knowledge and gifts, unless we are in secret communion — abiding in Christ — there is no snare into which we cannot fall. The believers at Corinth found that though they had all knowledge, it was not enough to keep them from the destructive heresy that denied the resurrection.
These traps surround a man whose life is already at risk. The light he walks by is what gets him through.
The trial is so real that the godly man's life is continually in his hand, while the snares of the wicked surround him (1 Sam. 19:5; Job 13:14). Even so, the constant presence of evil does not make him forget the Word. Having the light of the Word, the soul escapes the snares of the wicked.
The claim in the second half of the verse is stronger than "I escaped." The trap failed to alter his direction at all.
He goes further, and speaks of more positive attainment. The snare of the wicked had not made him swerve from the path of divine precept.
The snares were there to take the heart out of him. Something inside him met them.
Craft and subtle schemes were in his path. To an upright mind this is trying and painful, but his feet were steady in the way. They were set in that way to discourage him in it, but the word had its own power within.
Darby weighs that danger against the link with God which grace gives.
His state of affliction, and even danger, was great. His soul was continually in his hand, but this did not change his purpose — he does not forget God's law. He was not so absorbed in the danger that it drove this out of his mind. This is a wonderful witness to the power of the link with God which grace gives. What is known of God, where faith is in exercise, outweighs the strongest effects of circumstances and the power that Satan can exercise.
If the snare is hidden, then cleverness cannot be the defence. What defeats it is refusing to move without God's word.
The spirit of obedience is the great moral safeguard against every scheme and every snare of the enemy. The enemy may shift his ground, he may change his tactics, he may vary his agents. But obedience to the plain and simple Word of God preserves the soul from all his wicked schemes and crafty devices. The devil can do nothing with a man who is completely ruled by the Word of God and refuses to move a hair's breadth without divine authority.
One writer asks how we overcome the enemy, and points to the words the Lord Jesus used.
How then can we resist and overcome the enemy? Only by using the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit. Like our Lord Jesus Christ, we must be able to say, "It is written." If we do that, then we can join the Psalmist and give this testimony: "…but I do not stray from Your precepts." The Lord will keep us as we stay close to Him.
- Hidden — a snare is evil dressed up to look harmless. It is not open attack, so cleverness and knowledge alone will not spot it.
- Aimed — the traps target a man already carrying his life in his hand. Their purpose is to discourage him out of the path.
- Lit — the light of the word carries the soul past the snare. Constant evil around him never pushes that word out of his mind.
- Steady — the result is not just escape but no swerving; the trap failed to move him off the line of God's precepts.
- Kept — obedience is the safeguard. The enemy changes tactics, but he can do nothing with someone who refuses to move without God's word.