{ Day 266 }

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. —Luke 23:44-46

The truth that empowered David through the obstacle course of opposition on the way to Zion and his destiny is so powerful that it was among the last words of Jesus. When Jesus’s broken body hung on the cross, moments before His final breath, darkness loomed over the soul of the God-man as He who knew no sin became sin. Jesus felt the agony of separation from the Father. He knew that on the other side of the agony was the awesome promise that God would raise Him from the dead and enthrone Him over all created order. But before the fullness of the promise came to pass, He experienced the greatest pressure and opposition any man has faced. In that dark delay, He lifted His voice and cried out, “Into Your hands I commit My Spirit” (Luke 23:46, NKJV). Jesus decided this was the most appropriate heart response He could have while waiting for the light and promise to break forth. When God gives a promise, we usually experience a time of darkness before He brings it to pass. We have a hard time seeing what season we’re in or where it’s all leading. In the hour of the impossible situation, what should you do? Grab hold of those seven words, and commit your spirit into the Father’s hands.

{ PRAYER STARTER }

Father, when I face pain and opposition and death, remind me of the example Your Son gave as He felt the silence of His Father and the cruelty of man. Teach me to say, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.”

“Into Your hands I commit My Spirit.”