The mechanic warned that my transmission was on its last leg, and as I sped down the highway, feeling the car shake, all I wanted to do was walk safely through my front door. Hands gripping the wheel I prayed over and over again, “Just get me home, Lord,” but with a difference my prayers often lack—heartfelt passion.

Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me

Psalm 31 is David’s cry to God, but unlike my car trouble, Israel’s King Saul wanted him dead. David knew there was a trap and that his only “out” was by the Lord’s hand.

“Into your hands I commit my spirit” he wrote in the fifth verse. A sentiment that rang down through the ages to one fateful day when David’s descendent cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46), as the nations executed Jesus on a cross.

I made it home safely and the transmission locked up as soon as I reached my driveway. No one chased me, there was no trap waiting for me, and I had not been nailed to a cross. But I did come to realize a new passion in prayer, one of absolute dependence on my heavenly Father—in every circumstance.

Love the Lord, all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him...(Psalm 31:23).