“Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”
commit their souls to Him
“Commit” is an accounting term meaning to deposit. “Commit” carries the ideas of to give or hand over to another, transmit. At certain times, we hand over our money to the bank. When we give our money to a bank, we charge them to keep it for us. If we deposit our souls with God, he will undertake the superintendence of our souls. When we do this, we are no longer in control; he is. Our soul operates on all systems go. He shows us how to do this seven verses later – “Cast all our care on the Lord” (1 Pe 5:7). We cannot solve all our problems ourselves.
Matthew uses the word “commit” for handing over the Son of Man to the control of sinners. They arrested him and took him into custody, and they placed him under their authority and control.
Mt 25:45, “Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into [hand over to] the hands of sinners.”
“Commit” is the very word Jesus used on the cross when he said, “I commit my spirit.”
Lk 23:46, “And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.'”
Ps 31:5, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.”
PRINCIPLE:
God desires that we deposit our trials to his care and charge.
APPLICATION:
Put trials in perspective. God is working through them in his own divine design. Can you trust that? We need to know that God uses suffering to mature us.
Banks are well equipped to take care of our money. If we keep our money under the mattress, there is a good possibility that someone might steal it. The moment we take the money to the bank, our fears are over. When we commit our souls to God, we grant him the opportunity to do something with them. We hand over the control of our lives to him.
