Like a Little Child

 

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 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. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, the praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. (Luke 23:44-48 ESV).

 

For many children the first bedtime prayer they are taught their parents is “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” In Jesus’ day, little Jewish children were also taught a prayer. Every night, in houses all across the countryside, little children would pray the words of Psalm 31:5: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” As parents tucked little ones into bed, each child spoke those comforting words of trust in the Lord. It’s likely that Jesus too was taught that prayer as a child. And some thirty years later it was the last thing he said before he took his last breath. On the cross Jesus had reached the climax and the end of his entire mission. And as he took his dying breath, his final words were the words of that prayer he learned at his mother’s knee: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

 

That’s the type of trust we’re all called to. Jesus had taught earlier that “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15). Jesus approached his Father both in life and in death with that simple childlike trust: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

 

It is no easy task to live with this kind of faith. However, I find it easier when I remember that God’s love is far deeper and greater than mine. If I can be trusted even in the slightest way by my children, how much more ought I be able to trust Him? As fallible and weak as I am God is infallible and all-powerful; yet I use every bit of my strength and love to protect and keep my children safe. How can I doubt God’s love for me when He gave His only begotten Son on my behalf. Therefore, I know He will keep me forever in peace and love. Trust Him!