Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
Who is the “him” who judges justly? And what does it mean to “judge justly?”
I gotta be honest about the “him” part of this. The Bible does not talk about God “judging” a lot. It is mentioned a few times, but the references are oblique for the most part. So if you don’t mind, I am going to fudge a bit on this one.
There are two reasons I am fudging on this. One is that God and Jesus are one. (John 10:30) I don’t know quite how to separate them. Secondly, the word “judge” applies to God differently than it does to a man.
As members of the family of man, we make judgments by gathering as much information as we can and then making a decision based on what we know. God, being omniscient, already knows everything. God doesn’t have to wonder if he is right in his judgment or not. God knows. (Job 34:23)
When Scripture tells us that Jesus trusts himself to “him who judges justly,” he is putting something heavenly into human terms. He is also showing us how we can do the same.
God knows about every injustice. Not only does he know about every injustice done to us, but also every injustice we have ever committed. (Ouch!) Jesus knows that at the end of the day, justice will be done. For everyone who humbles themselves before Jesus, there is forgiveness and salvation. For those who are not his, who do not belong to his flock, there is only God’s wrath.
The interesting thing is that we could end up in heaven with people who insulted us and caused us to suffer while on earth. Is that a good thing? Yes, absolutely! It means that God’s forgiveness has been shared with another soul. It means another person recognized their need for Jesus before they died. It means that all who are in heaven will have a lot in common. We will all have been forgiven for our sins, including the times we have insulted others and caused suffering.
And what about retaliation? Jesus did not retaliate nor did he make any threats. What if we allowed ourselves to indulge in retaliation? Do you want to stand before the Creator of the universe, hat in hand, in the company of people you tried to “get even” with, and ask God’s forgiveness? (I’m not suggesting there would be no forgiveness, but think of how you would feel!)
Application: Trust in God, don’t try and be Him.
Food for Thought: What does it mean to entrust ourselves to God?
What does it mean to entrust ourselves to God?
We grow from childhood to adulthood listening trusting the judgements of those around us. You’re a Good person, talented person, a naturally high achiever, YOU have done well, YOU will go far. Maybe it was the other way. Bad person, YOU have no talent, can’t do anything right, YOU will never make it, or maybe a mix of both. We live in a culture where acceptable conduct changes daily, trust me is a matter of degree, promises are broken, and lives are damaged by others.
1 Corinthians 3:19a, For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
Only Jesus is unshakable, unchangeable, unbreakable and worthy of all our trust. Christ gives new hearts to all believers through the Holy Spirit. We grow by under His guidance in meditation on Scripture, time in prayer, and companionship with other believers. We have access to God who brings healing, wisdom, and love to all who give themselves to Him.
Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust the Lord all your heart, not your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Our trust in the Lord is a faith that motivates us to boldly serve, in whatever capacity God desires. All of our knowledge, wisdom, and will should be saturated in and focused on actions which produce increased assurance of the Lord.
Ron,
You paint quite a contrast between the world’s promises and God’s. Our God / Jesus is indeed unshakable, unchangeable, and worthy of our trust.
Thank you Jeff, and Ron.
Trusting God is always the best course. Sometimes we need to make a course correction because we are trusting something else. We should not ultimately trust in government, science, nature, ourselves or other people. We trust God
because He is reliable and we answer to Him.
We trust a chair when we sit in it. What it means to trust the Lord is to lean on Him with all our weight and remove any competitors.
Rich
That is a nice image; leaning with all our weight on our Lord. Thanks!
With the part of being in heaven with the people that have insulted us, if they are in heaven they are not the same person that has done wrong. That person is a new creature born with a new heart no longer that same person you once knew.
Tim,
You make a GREAT point! We are all new creations in heaven. What a blessing! What a divine hope!
Good point Tim. They are a new creation and so are we (2 Corinthians 5: 17). And while we are a new creation now – when we see Jesus face to face things will be altogether different and glorious. Now these three remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13: 13).
Trust means to believe, to be confident,..so I would think that entrusting myself to God would be believing and being confident in what He said to be true,..why question Him,..Hey God? I know the bible say’s that you gave Jesus as a propitiation but come on, really,.. why would You do something like that? That’s just foolish,..
Why would I have to accept Jesus if I didn’t entrust myself to God,..again foolish,..God said that He gave His one and only Son,..and that’s that! Well at least it should be anyway,..but then again faith without work is dead,..gotta keep working my faith to keep Christ alive within my heart,..it’s been over 2,000 years since He said He was coming back,..thankfully He left us His Holy Spirit to keep our faith alive until He returns,..
Believe,..be confident,..in God and what He has said to be just and true about His One and only Son Jesus,..
John,
You bring to mind 1 Corinthians 1: 18,
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
👍🏻