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He Kept Entrusting Himself
"And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Pet. 2:23).Here we see Jesus showing us the key to a successful life: entrusting yourself to God. We also see how we can make it through the suffering and pain we’ll have to endure from time to time.
Our Lord Jesus was suffering on our behalf in this context, and He didn’t lean on Himself, but instead kept entrusting Himself to God. Jesus suffered mightily on the cross and even went through various sufferings before the cross.
Think about the Garden of Gethsemane where our Lord was mere hours away from being betrayed by His own disciple Judas. In the garden, Jesus says in Mark 14:34 "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." Jesus was struggling emotionally and mentally being in great agony because He knew the cup He had to drink. Jesus was about to be betrayed and lay His very life down on the cross. During this great moment of suffering where does Jesus turn? Does He lean upon His own strength? I think the verse in 1 Peter 2:23 answers it "He kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously."
Peter then applies Jesus’ example of suffering to the wife whose husband is not living right (1 Pet. 3:1). He continues his theme of enduring suffering by saying “Likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives” (1 Pet. 3:1). He exhorts us to look to Christ to endure suffering.
Are you entrusting yourself to God? What does that look like?
I think first we need to establish that God is indeed trustworthy (i.e. worthy of our trust). It’s no coincidence that in the passage in 1 Peter 2:23 that Peter mentions the character of God.
Jesus didn’t entrust Himself to an unrighteous judge, but One who judges righteously. This God that we serve can indeed be trusted and He will repay each according to his deeds (Rom. 2:4). Jesus knew that God was trustworthy and had no problem entrusting Himself to Him.
Jesus of all people would know this since "He is in the bosom of the Father" (i.e. in closest relationship with God) (Jn. 1:18). Do you believe God is trustworthy? Do you believe God can and will save you as you obey His gospel?
Let’s look at a passage in Titus 1:2: "in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago." God cannot lie, He has promised eternal life to those who serve Him, let us trust in Him and lean on Him for eternal life.
Next, I want us to look at what entrusting ourselves to God looks like.
Let’s look at what Jesus Himself says in Matthew 18:2-4 "And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, 'Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'"
When we entrust ourselves to God, we entrust our entire being to Him, not just a part of ourselves. We entrust our will, heart, body, mind, soul and spirit over to the God of heaven. Romans 12:1-2 says our body is to be a living sacrifice to God. This is not a checklist type of mentality where reading our Bible and praying is just part of a checklist get through each day.
Entrusting your very life over to God means owning Christ as your Lord and allowing Him to be Lord over your life. You allow Jesus to be the Lord over your thinking and reasoning processes, your political life, your social life, your work life, your family life, etc. Jesus is Lord over you and your decisions and motivations. You allow Him to be your Lord because you love Him and want to be like Him (2 Pet. 1:4; Rom. 8:28-29). You seek the Lord’s instruction in all that you do from a genuine heart because you want to please Him.
Too many professed Christians compartmentalize their service to God and say things like “well this is my religious life, this is my intellectual life, this is my social life, my work life, my recreational life”. What happens is those individuals put God and Jesus in a box. That is not what entrusting yourself to God looks like.
Let’s look at a motivation for entrusting yourself over to God.
Jesus says in John 8:29 "And He who sent Me is with Me; and He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." When you entrust yourself to God, He will be with you. Just as God was with Jesus during His agony in Gethsemane and during His entire earthly ministry, God will be with you as you entrust yourself to Him.
Let’s remember our Lord, and how He continued to entrust Himself over to God and let us seek to do the same!
