As a disciple of Christ I must not feel ultimately responsible for myself at any time. That is clearly brought out in the hearing of Jesus before Pilate. “Don’t You know,” said Pilate, “that I have power to crucify You and power to release You?” (John 19:10, author’s trans.). That was a fatal deduction on the procurator’s part. The power was not in him, but in God (John 19:11). It is true that Pilate did exercise crucifying authority against Jesus, But he was only the instrument, not the source of that authority.
I am absolved from the responsibility of my destiny. What happens to me is not the whim of sickness, accident, my employer, my loved one, or a chain of circumstances. In this I am not guaranteed comfort (the cross of Jesus was not exactly comfort), but I am guaranteed certainty, security, and the exact fulfillment of God’s will in me as a person.
Since I am molded by, but not ordained by, my circumstances, there will be times when the engineers of such circumstances will be covered with confusion. Can you imagine Sennacherib’s face when he was told that he had lost 185,000 elite soldiers in one night (Isaiah 37:36)? Can you imagine the horror of Herod’s court when they were told their monarch had been eaten by worms (Acts 12:23)? Those are reminders that God is alive and well!
I need not fear the hands of men as long as I am in the hands of God. In a certain sense, Pilate was only incidental in the life of Christ. That is how I must relate to my “Pilates”; they are necessary ingredients in God’s pattern for me, but I am not a victim of their wills, attitudes, or decisions any more than Christ was a victim of Pontius Pilate. “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
“Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you (James 4:10).
Daily with the King 