“Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.” Luke 23:46
Without a doubt, “Trust” is a very important word for us. From birth, we place our trust in our relationships and in what we are taught. However, when we are confronted by a crisis, an illness, and especially death, where do we place our trust and how strong is that trust?
Throughout my years in the ministry, I have noticed that the majority of people fear death more than anything else. Death is feared because it deals with the unknown. From our own personal experience, we simply do not know what happens at the point of death. Of course, Jesus most definitely did not feel that way. Yes, the realization of carrying the sin of the world and suffering through the agony and torture of hell on the cross led Him to pray, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done”. (Luke 22:42) It was that torment and not death that made His sweat become like great drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22:44). For Jesus, death itself was simply a doorway to experiencing life to its fullest.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus said to His disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe (trust) in God; believe also in Me. In My father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1-3) Even during His crucifixion, Jesus told the criminal next to Him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42) Jesus knew what was beyond death. So, even as He was nailed to the cross, experiencing the total absence of the Father, His trust did not waver. His final words express this beautifully, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” (Luke 23:46) Jesus trusted that in His death His Father would receive Him into His loving hands. Understand though, this trust was not just some weak resignation, as if it was His last hope. Instead, this was His witness to the world. Look at the entire verse. “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice said, ‘Father into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Shouting out these words with His final breath was His proclamation to the world that His life, His spirit was in the hands of His father.
So, how does our trust in the Lord compare with this? I kind of think that our trust is more like a roller coaster, where sometimes it’s easy to trust and sometimes it’s not so easy. What I mean is that, at times our trust in ourselves is much greater than our trust in the Lord. This makes it difficult to let go of that control that we want in our life, especially when we are facing a life-altering or life-ending circumstance. You see, it all comes down to where we place our trust.
The question remains, is it even possible for us to have the kind of trust that we see in Jesus? To answer that, I look back to Jesus’ words here. He was actually quoting from Psalm 31 where David writes, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” (Psalm 31:5)
When David wrote this Psalm he was surrounded by his enemies. In fact, the threat was so powerful that all of David’s friends abandoned him. So, David with all this turmoil and uncertainty going on in his life, committed his life and his spirit into the Lord’s hands. David affirmed his total trust in the Lord as Jesus did.
What about us though? Can we do the same? To answer that I want you to answer a question I’ve asked of others countless times; “Do you want God in hand or do you want to be in God’s hand?”
Unfortunately, many prefer to have God in hand because it is so convenient. With God in hand, you can bend and shape Him, kind of like a Gumby doll that I used to play with many years ago as a child. This way He becomes the kind of God that you want Him to be, where it is your will that matters, not His. There are so many people and even mainline Christian denominations who want this kind of god. However, understand this god is very small and very weak. This most definitely is not the god that David or Jesus wanted. The God they wanted is the Almighty, Holy and Loving God, the God who is fully capable and willing to hold them in His hands.
This is the God that you and I desperately need in our life. However, placing our life and our spirit in His hands means that we need trust as David did. This means letting go of that control that we want and handing it all over to the Lord. Then, with our trust, fully in our Heavenly Father, we also must commit our life and our spirit into His hands. Daily, we need to strive to consciously let God take the controls. This calls for us to trust, not with a weak resignation, as though we feel there is nothing else we can do, I might as well give it a shot. But instead, having a very real trust in God, with a full conviction that our God is big enough, strong enough, and loving enough to hold us in His hands through anything, even death itself. I pray that every one of us would open our life and our heart to the Lord in this and truly know this trust.
Father, even with His last breath Jesus proclaimed His trust in You by placing His spirit in Your hands. By Your Spirit’s power, help us to know to the depth of our soul, that You are our loving God who is big enough and strong enough to hold us in Your hands. Give to us the strength to surrender to You our spirit, our life, our concerns, our future, and our hopes into Your hands. Through Christ You have shown us Your life, Your forgiveness, and the life that You freely want to give to us. Enable us to cling to this truth, that our trust in You would be complete. We pray this in the name of Your Son, our Lord, and our Savior. Amen.
Keith Enko