— J R Miller —
“Into thine hand I commit my spirit” (Psalm 31: 5a)
These words are often quoted as if they were for the hour of death. Indeed, Jesus did use them as His last words on the cross, and they are fit words for any dying saint. But here the committal is for life, with its experiences.
The words imply complete surrender. They are suitable for the beginning of a Christian life, just such words as one should use who accepts of Christ and devotes himself to Him as Saviour and Lord. If any are asking how one is to be saved —here is the answer. Commit yourself, body and soul, for time and for eternity, into the hands of Jesus Christ.
This committing of oneself means the committing also of one’s affairs into the hands of Christ. Some people trust Christ as their Saviour—but do not commit to Him the interests of their everyday life. Yet life commonly is full of experiences which no human wisdom can make clear. We cannot choose our own ways. We cannot tell what will be the effect on our lives one year, ten years, thirty years hence—of a certain decision or choice which we make today. The only safe thing to do—is to put all this into the hands of One who is wiser than we are.
A pastor was sitting at a little child’s bedside with the anxious parents. It seemed that the child could not live. They were about to pray, and the pastor said to the parents, “What shall we ask God to do for your child?” He had been speaking of God’s love and wisdom, telling them that their Heavenly Father makes no mistakes, that whatever He does will be right, that He knows what is best for the child and for them. So when he said, “What shall we ask God to do?” there was silence for a moment; then the father answered in sobs, “We dare not choose - leave it to Him.” He could not have said a wiser, safer thing. No human parent can tell what is best for his child, whether to stay in this world and meet the battles, temptations, dangers, trials—or to be lifted over into the heavenly life, where there shall be no trial, no temptation, no peril.
Christ teaches us the same lesson. He exhorts us never to be anxious. He points to the lilies and the birds. Your Father cares for the birds and clothes the lilies; much more will He care for and clothe you, His child. The other day one said, “I have at last learned how to live—just day by day. I used to worry about the future, looking far on into the years; now I have learned Christ’s lesson—never to be anxious for the morrow—but to live as beautifully and as faithfully as I can today.”
“Lord, for tomorrow and its needs,
I do not pray;
Keep me, my God, from stain of sin
Just for today.”
“Into thine hand.” All through the Scriptures, the hands of God are spoken of in a human way. Then Jesus Christ came, the Son of God, revealing in human life—the gentleness, the mercy, the helpfulness of God. We may speak, therefore, of the hands of Christ—as the hands of God. What wonderful hands they were!
They were gentle hands. They never caused pain to anyone. The other day in the hospital a friend who had passed through a serious operation, spoke with much feeling of the gentleness of the surgeon, how kind he had been, how careful his touch. But no most kindly surgeon ever dealt so softly with a wounded or diseased body as Jesus dealt with wounded or sick hearts. No mother’s hands were ever so careful with her child - as were the hands of Christ in His touches upon the weak, the troubled.
We may trust ourselves absolutely to those hands—and know they will never hurt us. A prophet said of Him before He came, “A bruised reed shall he not break” (Isa 42: 3). What could be more worthless than a reed? Then a bruised reed - of what little value is it? Yet the hand of Christ is so gentle - that He will not even break off the reed that is bruised. We may trust our hearts in their sorrow, our spirits when crushed, our lives when bruised - to those hands, knowing that we will be most tenderly cared for. (… to be continued)
(Above article extracted from Gracegems website)