Frequently, especially at certain points in our hearing of Scripture, God’s Word astounds in its monumentally life-altering simplicity, as it does here:
“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
I look around, and as I do so, I hear my inner voice, mingled with the audible voices of the multitude as they go about their daily routines, and I perceive that, more often than not, many of us don't entreat God to protect us from gut-reactive thoughts—especially thoughts that retaliate in repudiation of whatever we perceive to have insulted us.
In other words, we—I—don’t trust God with the safe-keeping of my attitude and mindset: with the preserving of my heart in Godly integrity (Psalm 51:10).
Generally speaking, trust in God is commonly, and I would say more easily, rendered during rather obvious times: such as when we hope to land a new job, or hear “yes” to a marriage proposal, or for healing of a disease or protection from a weather event.
But entrusting ourselves to God so that He will keep us from our own sinful daily reactions?
To trust Him to hold another person accountable (when we are clearly not in a position to hold someone accountable)?
Or to expect God to keep us in His grace when we are in a relationship or position of authority and leadership in which we must hold someone accountable (Galatians 6:1)?
And the second half of that: If the accountability which we provide in grace is rejected, do we rely upon God for our self-control so that we do not resort to scorn or berating? Can we, in all honesty, consistently leave other persons to God? (again, we place them lovingly in God’s arms in prayer and trust, not in an attitude of superiority or haughtiness).
The nasty thorn in everyone’s side—pride—will usually have no trouble humbling itself to a trust in God throughout the conspicuous strains and vulnerabilities of life.
But when we are insulted, be it passively, aggressively or imagined, what then? Does our pride submit to God in unequivocal trust, or suddenly justify itself to take matters into its own vengeful hands?
When we decide to make the exception that our “run-ins” and personal sufferings do not fall under Christ's Lordship, we jump from God-mode to privy-pride mode where we stingily trust in our right to ourself, giving ourself permission to take on an identity of valiant victimhood.
Paul says that he can be content in any situation (Philippians 4:11-13). I believe one reason for that is because Paul implicitly trusts in God in any situation, so that offense and retaliation cannot darken the door of his thought-life in Christ.
This contentment is a discipline that God will train us in when we trust in Him to do so, desiring for Him to do so.
Like Paul, though we are “afflicted in every way,” we are not “crushed;” though “perplexed” we do not “despair;” if “persecuted,” we are not “forsaken; when “struck down,” we are not “destroyed;” in everything we are “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).
In the example of Christ and the innate power of His Spirit, we die to retaliation. We die to threats. We die to haughtiness and sour grapes.
We live now in the new life and grace Jesus seeded and continuously grows within us (John 1:16), trusting Him with—not just the obvious parts of this new life, but all of its parts, especially our deep inner unloveliness that lingers, tempting to entangle and entice us to sin (Hebrews 12:1).
copyright Barb Harwood
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