FATHER INTO YOUR HANDS, I COMMIT MY SPIRIT

Scripture Text: Luke 23: 44-46

CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S CHARACTER - ‘FATHER’

We may have lost a loved one, at some time in our lives. It is almost two years since my mum has passed away, but I can still remember clearly the day she died. I was fortunate to be by her bedside when she breathed her last breath. A few hours before she died, I remembered she had smiled, struggled to raise her hand and waved goodbye to me as I was leaving after my noon visit – a gesture that she had never done before. I had not for one second thought that it was strange at that moment, but only after some reflection did it occur to me that it was peculiar.

When I went back to visit her in the evening, she was conscious for a while, but later lapsed into a coma and died. I realized that she had known she was going to the Lord and she would not be experiencing any more physical pain. She died without any fear of death as she knew that she was going to a better place.
Before Jesus breathed His last, He committed His life to His Father. He put His complete confidence in God. He knew His Father absolutely, that He entrusted everything to Him, even His life. In the same way, we can put our trust in Him.

CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S POWER – ‘INTO YOUR HANDS’

The metaphorical usage “the hand of God’ as power or strength also depicts God’s attributes.
Power – His mighty power (Ex. 15:6)
Creativity – The creation of the Heavens proclaim the work of His hands (Ps 19:1)
Sovereignty – His control over the universe (Isa 40:12)
Compassion – His love for us. He has promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. (Isa 41: 10)
Righteousness – God’s righteousness (Heb 10:31)

CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S PROMISES – ‘I COMMIT MY SPIRIT’

Jesus committed His spirit to God. The soul is the most important part of any being. The outer man is the setting, but the soul is the diamond. The body will go to dust, but not so the spirit. It is the spirit that is made in the likeness of God. “What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

APPLICATION

When should we submit our spirit to God? We should commit our spirit in times of conversion, temptation, affliction, confusion and death.

Prayer Response

Dear Lord, thank you that I can trust in you completely. I can come to you just as I am. Thank you for being the Almighty and Sovereign God, who is in control of all things. Thank you that I can confidently commit my spirit into your hands. Amen.

Devotional based on message by Rev Vincent Goh