Entrustment

On all of our Healing Retreats we teach about the Lord’s desire and ability to restore us, even after we have failed. Simon Peter is one of the best examples of this dynamic. After having failed miserably, he expects nothing from his resurrected Lord. He knows he let Jesus down. As Jesus restored Peter, He ended up saying something completely unexpected - He entrusts Peter with a huge responsibility!
As Jesus told Peter that He was delegating responsibility for His flock to him, He was entrusting an incredibly precious job to him. How amazing! I think this is the step that completes Peter’s restoration: entrustment. Jesus indicates He trusted Peter with those precious to Him - even though Peter did not have any reason to have confidence in himself.

We see something similar when God called Moses, after he had spent forty years in the desert. God calls Moses to confront Pharaoh and lead His people. Moses has every reason to believe God picked the wrong person - he has no confidence left in himself. But God corrects and even rebukes him. He is entrusting this responsibility into Moses’ hands, because He knows Moses better than Moses knows himself. After all, God is His Maker!

Then we see Moses rise up from a stammering and seemingly timid person, filled with self-doubt, to go on and become the leader of God’s people. The turn-around point came when God gave Moses a job.

You too might feel unqualified for service in God’s Kingdom. You might have good and valid reasons to feel that you’re not the right person to be entrusted with God’s work. But I encourage you to be open-minded. God sees things in you which you cannot see yet. He longs to restore you and, when the time comes, to restore your confidence by giving you precious work to do. God desires to entrust you with the things which are special to Him.

A role of responsibility in God’s Kingdom is not something we can ever earn. We can never be ‘good enough’ to qualify. In fact, we have to acknowledge our failures and own our shortcomings before we can be of any use to Him. When we have contrite hearts, we find that God wants to create something beautiful out of a marred and tarnished life.

As we discover the incredible privilege of being entrusted with the holy things of the Kingdom of God, we can respond in our hearts as King David did, when God revealed more of His plan for him: ‘Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?”’ (1 Chronicles 17:16).

Prayer: Thank You, Father, for the restoration You bring into my life. Show me Your calling and help me do my bit in Your Kingdom. Thank You for the enormous privilege of being allowed to serve You, not because I am worthy, but because of Your amazing grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.