Ps 31 5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;
redeem me, O LORD , the God of truth".
The Psalmist is making a confession to unite his trust in Gods refuge. Gods refuge is resting in Christ righteousness. The Psalmist believes that Gods righteousness is successful over all opposition because He is the Rock of Israel. The Rock of Israel is the commander of Israels armies. He is always successful in winning Israels wars. Gods kingdom on earth is established by God carrying out His law over the nations.

This is what the Psalms means by standing in Gods righteousness. He is totally secure within the walls of Jerusalem. Because God cannot be thwarted the Psalmist expresses his trust in God by the petition to prevent him from the trap of those who oppose Gods kingdom. This trap is being threatened and captured by his accusers. He has pronounced Gods laws, decrees, covenants, curses and promises that bring about Gods recreation of the Psalmist experience. This means that the Psalmist has encountered opposition. The world is a place when we stand for something we are opposed. There is no peace in a sinful and corrupt world. This opposition is always voiced in the atheistic pronouncement of he trust in God, let God deliver him. The humanist is saying that Gods silence is proof that God does not exist. They are always tempting the christian to put their trust in other gods.
This is the sword that the opposition uses to give Gods people a mortal wound. The Psalmist believes that there is a conspiracy that is natural in a corrupt world. If all men were perfect then they would promote Gods purposes by example. But every time a person sins they place an obstacle in the way of Gods purposes.Out of this natural communication comes these conspiracies. This is why sometimes you see a new born Christian whos trust is more pure and genuine than a mature christian. The fact that the mature christian does not rise up to the genuineness of his confession is like a stumbling block to the new born.This shows us that our growth must come as a result of extreme effort to kill anything that causes us to lose touch with our first love. Cursing is so extreme that we are always brought back to that first freedom.
We should always be able to find the christian attitude that the scripture encourages as a matter of discipline. In other words if there is rejoicing we should be able to display that by our control over our hearts. And if it is sorrow we should be able to control that so that we can be of help to those new Christians. Whatever they display as genuine because it is new should be greater under our mature control. So the Psalmist is confessing the way to overcome all opposition and sealing it by giving himself into Gods hands. This is emptying ourselves in the christian life.

Ps 30 6 When I felt secure, I said,
"I will never be shaken."
7 O LORD , when you favored me,
you made my mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed".
The Psalmist is teaching that salvation is being delivered from death. When man fell into sin, he began to experience physical and spiritual death. This struggle was not natural to man as God created him. If God allowed us to experience the full effects of the fall , we would all be evaporated in an instant. So God had to become the agent by which we are prevented and allowed to experience the quality and the depth of this opposition. 8 To you, O LORD , I called;to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 "What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit?
Will the dust praise you?Will it proclaim your faithfulness?10 Hear, O LORD , and be merciful to me;O LORD , be my help."
Our natural response in dealing with opposition from the world and our personal struggle is to attack it by dividing it up and defining it. So we look at struggling with opposition as a list of things to do. But the Psalmist teaches that opposition to the christian is a state of struggling with our low view of the expectations that come from our personal view of the world. You must see that its not the event itself or our view of the weight that we experience in the struggle that creates our insecurity but its the weight of this spiritual and physical struggle with death that is in Gods hands.
You must understand that Gods view of all opposition goes to the very molecule of corruption. If God chose to give us absolute power over all opposition then everything that we do would be accomplished with the most insight and understanding that would enable us to know the future of our present choices. This is why in the Psalms , emotional experiences are made up of the mystery that is a result of our incomplete knowledge of this opposition. If we reduce the standard that has for our security then our world would be defined by how we achieve in facing our responsibilities. But the Psalmist expresses His frustration out of mystery that comes from eternity dwelling in our hearts. This is what I call ...wanting unity of purpose and gifts.
In other words when sin and corruption entered the world they opposed us by the weight of the curse. Corruption prevents us from our full expression of our gifts and the experience of pleasure that we find in expressing them. The Psalmist is saying that when God favored him ...he was at his highest pleasure of success as a result of his gifts. This pleasure that the psalmist experience was burned in his soul. He is describing this experience as the feeling of security. The Psalmist teaches that this deep pleasure that God allows and prevents teaches him the amount of passion that he has in speaking the laws, decrees, statutes ,curses and covenants. He is attacking the opposition to his pleasure in the pronouncements.
We must understand that Gods gifts are the causes of His perfect creation. When the Psalmist speaks the gifts , he experiences the unity of purpose. He finds that the search has no limits and no bottom. We are seeking something that we cannot understand ..something that is greater than we can think of ....and something that is eternally satisfying. In finding the pleasure that is drawn out of mystery ...we advance to more pleasure and more mystery. This is defined by the Psalmist as security.

Ps 1 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers."

The Psalmist teaches when man is born in sin, he attempts to eliminate God in describing the origins of the universe and the moral responsibility each man has in the culture. When we are born again we are part of the renewal of all things. The Psalmist is comparing the renewed man with the man of destruction. Because of the sin of Adam the world has become a place where God is devalued so that man becomes destructive in his relationship to the creation and to his neighbor. Just as man has been alienated from God so to he has been separated from the moral compass in the value of Gods order in creation and recreation.
In describing the works of God the Psalmist teaches that understanding the order of creation is essential in understanding ones self. This is why he is always comparing the miracles of God with His work in the order and value of creation. In other words a man who is blind and dead in his sins is not only alienated from God but he does not understand the true value and order in relation to the things of creation and how they are applied to the healing of mankind. In this first Psalm the man of God is described in the unity of Gods order of creation. The tree gets its sustenance from the streams, it grows down in the deep roots of the soil, it yields fruit, and is not part of the destruction or curse that sin has brought into the world.In other words he describes the unity of all things in both positive and negative terms. Yeilds its fruit and leaf does not wither.
But the wicked cannot escape the cell of destruction. They are like worthless twigs that dry up and blow in the winds.He is teaching that the two descriptions of mankind are not explained from both ends, going out from the beginning of salvation and coming back from the end , or as the reformers teach that both the production of justification and the commands of sanctification are the same. But the Psalmist teaches that true gospel freedom is pronouncing the positive which is the blessing (the axiom controls the responsible choice-whatever he does prospers) and the negative which is the cursing teaches us the purpose of the law and the true expression of human inability. In pronouncing the gifts we are going beyond our understanding of the judgement, and exceeding our understanding of the blessing. We are growing in our image reordering thoughts from the pragmatism of contradictions and back to the reality of man ruling over himself and creation. In our pronouncing we are more and more connecting ourselves to the unity of creation.

Ps 143 11 For your name's sake, O LORD , preserve my life;
in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.
12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies;
destroy all my foes,
for I am your servant".

There are some teachers that teach that Gods anger is limited in His universal love. We are taught that our suffering in this world is normal because we are sinners. This is why some theologians reject the use of the curses. They teach that we deny ourselves when we turn the other cheek. And in fact it is a command of God as self denial. This really is a two line view of Christian doctrine. In other words we are being sanctified by the conviction we experience as a result of being confronted by the law. So the normal christian growth is enforced by suffering in order that we would be converted by the experiencing the condemnation of the law.
They believe that cursing of the law is a imbalance understanding of Gods love for all mankind.Their question is ...how can you love your neighbor when you are cursing the wicked? So they say that to curse is to hate people. Ive had other Christians threaten me with receiving the curses that i repeat that I speak from scripture. After 30 years of speaking the Psalms it is my view that these people are trying to control their growth. The Psalms teach that if we can control Gods wrath, love, kindness etc then we can control God. Their doctrine is filled with using the means to control their growth. They use the laws threat to control their will. They teach that the curses that are clearly set forth in scripture are not allowed. So they control the curses. This is a very dangerous way to use scripture.
We must understand that Gods salvation is to release us from the control of people and threats of perdition. This is why we need to examine every word of scripture so that we can be more detailed in our understanding. I disagree with the view that the curses are no longer part of the gospel. And the truth is that Calvinism teaches that our new wills must be given to us by God. Where as these other teachers believe that our new wills are still in need of changing. They do not believe that our old wills were destroyed. They believe that the will needs to be changed by the process of sanctification. So modern day Calvinist believe the same teaching on sanctification that an armininist teach. But if you examine the Calvinist position on the will it is historically taught the old will was destroyed.
The question is does Calvinistic salvation address our control over these means of grace? Does it take away our control in the initial salvation...that being it is by grace alone and the give our control back in sanctification. The Psalms address the evils of trying to control Gods attributes. I will explain.

Ps 30 9 "What gain is there in my destruction,
in my going down into the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD , and be merciful to me;
O LORD , be my help."
The Psalmist teaches that the reason that we were put on this earth was to praise the Lord. When the Psalmist describes our lives as praise to God he is talking about the blessing that comes from calling on God or speaking the laws, decrees, statutes , curses and covenants.8 To you, O LORD , I called;to the Lord I cried for mercy:" Our cry for mercy is speaking the law against those who oppose us. Cursing the evil that we experience, pronouncing the covenants that are the foundation of our petitions and rolling every trouble that we experience over to God.
The Psalmist teaches that we are a praise to God because we repel death and destruction. Ps 30 1 To you I call, O LORD my Rock;do not turn a deaf ear to me.For if you remain silent,I will be like those who have gone down to the pit." The Psalmist fights the spiritual battle by opposing trouble that he faces. All troubles in the Psalmist are motivations to overcome the opposition through the curses and covenants. Death is an enemy that ends the life of pronouncement. He is teaching that troubles to the elect are like judgements upon the wicked. This is why the Psalmist says that 5 For his anger lasts only a moment,but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,but rejoicing comes in the morning". Our lives as the elect are supposed to be going from one morning to the next with hope of Gods intervention and a new level of praise. The psalmist complains to God by saying that when he experienced sorrow God was treating him like a wicked man. Gods anger or His favor is equal to the Psalmist experience of sorrow or joy.The whole point of this psychology is to enforce Gods covenant with His elect as a life of deliverance and praise. This is Gods covenant promise of blessing. For the Psalmist to experience trouble is being opposed by the curse and the wicked.
Some people teach that trouble is the normal experience of a christian. They lower Gods standard of relationship. They teach trouble as if letting into our bosom is humility. They do not understand that the curse has been taken by Christ. We have a responsibility to avoid abuse. The christian life is not a life of receiving abuse. We are taught that we must oppose the Devil and stand firm in the word and Spirit and he will flee from us. Our faith in Gods care of us is as strong as our familiarity with His blessing.Our fight with destruction in the curses is as passionate as the level of fellowship we have experienced with our Father. 7 O LORD , when you favored me,you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face,I was dismayed."11 You turned my wailing into dancing;you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy," Wailing is not really the acceptance of the inevitable trouble but its the practice of cursing the opposition in being consumed in Gods anger. He goes from wailing to dancing. This is the disposition of deliverance that moves the Psalmist from one conversion to another.
Destruction is the threat from the language of the natural man. Every argument that turns the elect to look inward is a form of cursing God. When the elect turn the anger on themselves ..through weakness they are cursing God. Unlike the wicked who curse God with impunity. The Psalms teach that all of our evil opposition must be turned into positive motivations in the spirit of the curse. This is why it is very important to be taught the logic of deliverance. Naturally we accept the opposition as normal.

Ps 38 3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
my bones have no soundness because of my sin.
4 My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.
5 My wounds fester and are loathsome
because of my sinful folly.
6 I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.
7 My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body.
8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of heart.
9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you..... 16 For I said, "Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."
Sin has been taken care in the death and resurrection of Christ. When we were identified with Christ we died to sin and we were raised in righteousness. The death is a curse upon our opposition that is corrupted. The Psalmist teaches that dying to sin is the same as the old will being destroyed and replaced by the Gods will. This Psalm teaches the attitude of the new man. 9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;my sighing is not hidden from you" The Psalmist is saying that Gods desires are united with his wish to overcome his physical ailment that enforces and exasperates the weight of his sin. But the opposition to the Psalmist is expressed in the curse.
Let me give the context of this struggle. We are taught that when we are saved we are implanted with the word of God. This implantation is the entire context of His kingdom speech.You will find when the Psalmist proclaims his blamelessness it is always in the context of him being delivered from the old kingdom of violence. So David proclaims his new will as being blameless in his lack of desire to conceive and perpetuate other gods. Now listen to me...God reverse the logic of the renewal process. He kills everything that opposes us in the death of Christ. So we proclaim our innocence by the covenant of redemption and not our actual personal righteousness.
Our opposition is to strong for us in our natural struggle. Satan wants to make the struggle between our righteousness. Satan wants to overcome Gods actions of destroying our old will and give us the disease of the sorrow of the curse. No matter how we are implicated in a wrong the opposition is always aimed to destroy Christ through us. So our self hatred is embraced in the impersonal act of God destroying our old will. We push the desire to change this gift of the new will ...we push it away in the absolute pronouncements of God in blessing and cursing. The display of self hatred is being consumed in Gods anger. This is what the Psalmist means by 9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you..... 16 For I said, "Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."
But the Psalmist teaches us the relationship we have with our sin and the blessing that we enjoy in our renewal. 103 2 Praise the LORD , O my soul,and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
Here the Psalmist is teaching that all of our needs are met by our Father who is also the judge who declares us innocent. First we needed forgiveness, then we need to be healed of our physical and emotional diseases. He is simply saying that whatever we need is given in abundance by our loving Father.
God causes us to be successful by opposing those who want to abuse us. 6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed". Gods righteousness is His kingdom success on this earth. Gods justice is to oppose those who curse us and bless us with all things. God proved that He met all the needs of His people when He led them by Moses. 7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,slow to anger, abounding in love". He delivered His elect according to His covenant of grace. God established His covenant people by enacting the law against the wicked. At the same time our Father gives us all things so that we can be confident in His kingdom advancement and we are able to oppose the enemy. God who is the judge and our Father prevents and allows our success by cursing sinners every day. 9 He will not always accuse,nor will he harbor his anger forever"; The Psalmist is teaching that our troubles that come as a result of the wicked and evil in this world are seen by God as anger to the wicked that we experience. The Psalmist enforces our innocence in the promise of 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us. The Psalmist is saying that our troubles that we complain about are dwarfed by Gods declaration of righteousness. In other words when we are saved God does not keep a record of our sin nor does he bring sin to bear upon us in an accusation , but he is always renewing us by erasing our past sins and giving us present success by allowing and preventing us from sin.

Ps 1 1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers."

The Psalms teach that men are born to redefine Gods word. The Psalm is not teaching that we should avoid men who are wicked. It is teaching that we must mediate with the tools of Gods counsel. Gods counsel is His perfect word that creates all things. Everything that is in this world is speaking Gods counsel. God created everything according to His law, covenants, decrees, curses and statutes. The Psalms are a book of counsel in which through the pronouncements we receive illumination and wisdom. This is why the Psalmist puts meditation up against mans counsel. You will find that the Psalmist talks about receiving illumination when meditates day and night. This illumination is what he describes as Gods counsel.
The process is walking , standing , and sitting. Every man who redefines Gods word is doing a violent act against other men. This process is how a person gets into abusive relationships. When anybody speaks they are giving counsel in some form. The danger is that they do not think thoughts after God. All men are in danger of having imaginations that complicate life. The natural man thinks thoughts that are grandiose or on the other hand limits power of other men. The apostle says that every man has the disease of blaming other men while excusing themselves. We were made to reflect the glory of God by being united with His purposes which unites our gifts with our experience in this world. Every person who is born in sin is imaging themselves to be someone who they are not. So every person prevents the other person from experiencing their full potential. The warning in this verse is to avoid the redefining of Gods word and thus be under the threat of the wicked man. The threat is to walk in their way, standing is to believe they are correct and sitting is to be completely overcome.

2 Carolyn Garris and Kim Graysn