ENTRUST

verb: to give to someone for safe keeping, to commit, to hand over

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” 1 Peter 4:19 ESV

There is a lot in this verse that I don’t completely understand. “Suffering according to God’s will,” is a tough line for me. Suffering and God’s will are hard concepts to reconcile sometimes.

I realize that Peter was writing to new Christians who were being talked negatively about–and even being persecuted–for choosing to follow and obey Jesus. It might not be as common in this country or in this century, yet we know it is still happening in many parts of the world.

But even if we don’t suffer for our faith choices, we all experience times of being misunderstood or criticized. I have been struggling with this recently, and I’m hurt and sad about it. I don’t know if I am “suffering according to God’s will,” but I do know that my heart has been greatly encouraged by this verse, and in particular the word entrust.

I am trying to “…entrust my soul to a faithful Creator while doing good.”

Several translations of the Bible use the word commit in place of entrust here.

According to a commentary by David Guzik, the ancient Greek word translated “commit” meant to leave money on deposit with a trusted friend. This kind of trust was considered one of the most sacred things in life, and the friend was bound by honor to return the money intact.

I guess we do that with our financial institutions, don’t we? We deposit our checks or cash, and we trust them to hold our money for us. Most of the time, that feels completely safe. We don’t have to keep taking it out to count it, and we don’t have to call every day to make sure it is there. We entrust, we commit our money to the bank or credit union we have chosen, and we go on with our lives.

But can we do that with our souls? Can we deposit them with Jesus?

I want to. I want to hand it over–the anger, the tears, the doubt. He says he will hold my soul for me while I’m in the middle of a mess. And he tells me that I can trust him with it all. I don’t need to keep checking on it, recounting all the hard things, or asking Jesus if he’s still keeping it safe.

Peter wrote to these new Christians who were suffering to encourage them:

to keep doing good,

to never give up hope,

to keep looking to the only One who can redeem their suffering and replace it with overwhelming joy,

and to remember his faithfulness.

So when we feel discouraged, defeated, scared, or sad, we can remember this verse. We can keep doing the next right thing. We can go on with our lives because our souls are deposited with the One who loves us the most. The God who made us, who carefully watches over every single detail of our lives, can be trusted to hold our stuff.

INVITE HIM IN

I often encourage you to trust Jesus in this part of the devotion. Today, I want to encourage you to entrust yourself to him. Commit whatever you are struggling with to his care. He’s standing before you with open arms, ready to keep your soul safe and protected and covered with His sacrifice of love. He will be faithful to carefully hold everything you’ve got.  

Let’s hand it over.