Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus
Oh for grace to trust Him more
-Louisa M.R. Stead
This one has been running through my head off and on for weeks. Actually, it's been running through my head off and on since I first heard it some number of years ago. On countless occasions, burdened in heart and unable to express what I feel, this has been my song.
I trust You, Jesus. I've tested and You've proven Your faithfulness time and time again. You're precious, Jesus. Give me the grace I need for more trust in You.
Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus
Just from sin and self to cease
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest and joy and peace
Days like today, I long to set myself and my failings and worries and strivings all aside and just let Him fill me with all He offers-- life and rest and joy and peace, held out freely by a loving hand.
Another thought I often return to is from Thomas Browne:
If thou could'st empty all thyself of self,
Like to a shell disinhabited,
Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf,
And say, 'This is not dead',
And fill thee with Himself instead.
But thou art all replete with very thou
And hast such shrewd activity,
That when He comes, He says, 'This is enow
Unto itself-- 'twere better let it be,
It is so small and full, there is no room for Me.'
I have a vague memory of writing or referring to this poem at some point in the past and having an argument arise over whether Christianity means dying to self in the sense of individuality and becoming an automaton, and whether there is any worth to such a practice. That is not the point that I (or, I think, Thomas Browne) want to make. Indeed, I would argue exactly the opposite, that truly following Jesus means truly coming into the fullness of your specific, God-given individuality. My point is this: if Jesus is life and rest and joy and peace, and I am, at the moment, frustration and worry and work and anxiety, how much would I love the grace to set myself aside, take His self up, and trust Him a little more!
Showing posts with label trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trust. Show all posts
Monday, November 8, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Doing our part and letting go
"Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in His sight."
-Joab to his brother Abishai, in 1 Chronicles 19
Maybe this isn't the most commonly referenced story in all of Scripture, but there's a principle here that hit me today. Joab and Abishai prepare their armies and agree to give the battle everything they've got for the sake of God. At the same time, they also accept that their resources are finite and the ultimate outcome is in the Lord's hands. Are there circumstances in our lives where we could be putting this into practice? I know I tend to either try to take it all into my hands or take a fatalistic view and resign myself to whatever happens. I think, though, that the key to this is in the balance. Isn't it always?
-Joab to his brother Abishai, in 1 Chronicles 19
Maybe this isn't the most commonly referenced story in all of Scripture, but there's a principle here that hit me today. Joab and Abishai prepare their armies and agree to give the battle everything they've got for the sake of God. At the same time, they also accept that their resources are finite and the ultimate outcome is in the Lord's hands. Are there circumstances in our lives where we could be putting this into practice? I know I tend to either try to take it all into my hands or take a fatalistic view and resign myself to whatever happens. I think, though, that the key to this is in the balance. Isn't it always?
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Trustworthy
"Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow... Each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:7,11
Is there any experience so earth-shattering as trusting someone and having that trust betrayed? Especially when that person is a leader, a mentor, someone you look up to and aspire to be like. You put your confidence in that person and start to build parts of your life on that foundation of trust, so that when the foundation crumbles the rest comes tumbling down as well. Is anyone truly trustworthy? "There is no one righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10) But trust is necessary-- in ministry, in friendship, in marriage and families-- so how do we walk that line?
Let us put our confidence in the only One who is trustworthy. If we follow anyone, let it be Him. Let us weigh every decision, every relationship, every step against His Word and His guidance. And He, in turn, will show us where to stand, where to lean, where to walk. If we build anything in this life, let it be on the foundation that is the solid rock of Christ, the one foundation that will never be shaken and cannot be moved. If we trust in Him first and foremost, we have a firm place to stand and build all other things. When the sand shifts, as it always will, we will still find ourselves on the Rock.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:7,11
Is there any experience so earth-shattering as trusting someone and having that trust betrayed? Especially when that person is a leader, a mentor, someone you look up to and aspire to be like. You put your confidence in that person and start to build parts of your life on that foundation of trust, so that when the foundation crumbles the rest comes tumbling down as well. Is anyone truly trustworthy? "There is no one righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10) But trust is necessary-- in ministry, in friendship, in marriage and families-- so how do we walk that line?
Let us put our confidence in the only One who is trustworthy. If we follow anyone, let it be Him. Let us weigh every decision, every relationship, every step against His Word and His guidance. And He, in turn, will show us where to stand, where to lean, where to walk. If we build anything in this life, let it be on the foundation that is the solid rock of Christ, the one foundation that will never be shaken and cannot be moved. If we trust in Him first and foremost, we have a firm place to stand and build all other things. When the sand shifts, as it always will, we will still find ourselves on the Rock.
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Trusting God with the finish
In the weeks before I left Costa Rica (almost four years ago now), my heart broke as I watched the kids start to realize the time was approaching. I wanted them to know the depth of my love for them, to know that I would carry them with me through the rest of my life, to understand that they weren't just a summer to me. I would have stayed if I could, but that wasn't where God had me.
As we were leaving La Cuenca one day, Hugo turned to me and, knowing what I was thinking, said, "You just have to trust, because God tells us that we will reap what we sow. So every one of those kisses that you give the kids, every time you open yourself up and love them, those are seeds that will be planted deep down in their heart. And you have to trust that years from now, even though they might not remember all the specifics of who you were or what you did, they will remember that one time, someone really loved them. And that's the best legacy you can leave behind."
I don't like to start projects that I won't be able to see through to the end. If I can't fix a situation completely, I don't like to get involved. For a long time, this has kept me from pursuing the path closest to my heart. Don't get me wrong-- having the drive to stick with something to the end is a good thing. But there are some projects we won't be able to finish. There's a Jewish proverb about working for justice in the world that goes something like this: "The fact that we will not, in this lifetime, be able to finish the work, does not give us permission not to begin." I'm paraphrasing, but the point is there. If we refuse to try our hand at any good work for fear of failing, we are motivated only by selfishness, by the desire to maintain our own good name.
It is God's to see the work through from start to finish; we are to plant or water or reap as He calls us. We may not see the completion of it in our lifetime, but we will see more than if we never begin.
As we were leaving La Cuenca one day, Hugo turned to me and, knowing what I was thinking, said, "You just have to trust, because God tells us that we will reap what we sow. So every one of those kisses that you give the kids, every time you open yourself up and love them, those are seeds that will be planted deep down in their heart. And you have to trust that years from now, even though they might not remember all the specifics of who you were or what you did, they will remember that one time, someone really loved them. And that's the best legacy you can leave behind."
I don't like to start projects that I won't be able to see through to the end. If I can't fix a situation completely, I don't like to get involved. For a long time, this has kept me from pursuing the path closest to my heart. Don't get me wrong-- having the drive to stick with something to the end is a good thing. But there are some projects we won't be able to finish. There's a Jewish proverb about working for justice in the world that goes something like this: "The fact that we will not, in this lifetime, be able to finish the work, does not give us permission not to begin." I'm paraphrasing, but the point is there. If we refuse to try our hand at any good work for fear of failing, we are motivated only by selfishness, by the desire to maintain our own good name.
It is God's to see the work through from start to finish; we are to plant or water or reap as He calls us. We may not see the completion of it in our lifetime, but we will see more than if we never begin.
Friday, April 23, 2010
The cloudy days
There are days when it's easy to celebrate spring, and there are days when it seems like the broken things of this world far outweigh the glorious. The confusion today prevails much more than the clarity. It's not that anything particularly new or earth-shatteringly awful has happened. It's just one of those days where there are more questions than answers. Friends are hurting; prayers seem to go unanswered; situations remain the same.
But the test is in how you respond. You can be a victim of fate, you can turn an accusing finger at God, or you can trust Him. Trust that the sun still shines above a cloudy day. Trust that the Creator God who formed the glorious spring can redeem situations of hurt and abuse and sin. Trust that, though the world is fallen, it is not spinning wildly out of control.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
-Colossians 1:17
The sun will shine, the spring will come, and there will be both justice and rest.
But the test is in how you respond. You can be a victim of fate, you can turn an accusing finger at God, or you can trust Him. Trust that the sun still shines above a cloudy day. Trust that the Creator God who formed the glorious spring can redeem situations of hurt and abuse and sin. Trust that, though the world is fallen, it is not spinning wildly out of control.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
-Colossians 1:17
The sun will shine, the spring will come, and there will be both justice and rest.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
On the move
"Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. At the Lord's command they encamped, and at the Lord's command they set out."
Numbers 9:22-23
The Israelites didn't get to plan. They didn't get to look a month or six months or year or ten years down the line. There was no five-year plan on which they could base their days. They had promises from the Lord, they had commands from the Lord, and they had the Lord's presence, and that was to be enough. They were to honor Him daily, observe the statutes He had put in place, and watch for His presence to move. They were to be ready at all times to follow Him wherever He led, and ready at all times to stay however long He asked. The emphasis, in their daily lives, was not on God's big plan for the Israelites. The emphasis was on honoring Him and obeying His commandments every day, trusting that He had a plan and would give them the information they needed.
"If You say go, we will go;
If You say wait, we will wait.
If You say step out on the water
and they say it can't be done,
we'll fix our eyes on You and we will come."
Numbers 9:22-23
The Israelites didn't get to plan. They didn't get to look a month or six months or year or ten years down the line. There was no five-year plan on which they could base their days. They had promises from the Lord, they had commands from the Lord, and they had the Lord's presence, and that was to be enough. They were to honor Him daily, observe the statutes He had put in place, and watch for His presence to move. They were to be ready at all times to follow Him wherever He led, and ready at all times to stay however long He asked. The emphasis, in their daily lives, was not on God's big plan for the Israelites. The emphasis was on honoring Him and obeying His commandments every day, trusting that He had a plan and would give them the information they needed.
"If You say go, we will go;
If You say wait, we will wait.
If You say step out on the water
and they say it can't be done,
we'll fix our eyes on You and we will come."
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Trusting Him today for tomorrow
"If we are careful to do our duty, we may trust God with our comfort... Many Christians anticipate evils, questioning what they shall do, and fearing to proceed in the way of duty. But we have no right to anticipate evils, so as to distress ourselves about them. To carnal minds we may appear to act absurdly, but the path of duty is ever the path of safety."
Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Leviticus 25
"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Jesus, in Matthew 6:33-34
"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
Micah 6:8
Little by little, I get glimpses of the future, fragments of plans among the oceans of possibility. But more common still is the sense that for the moment I am precisely where I need to be, and my lot at present is to live it out well. There are times of action and movement and change in life-- may we act boldly when required to! But so much of life is to be where we are and to live it well. Tomorrow will come, and we will receive it and make our plans and adjust accordingly, but God has given us only today. What will we do with it?
Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Leviticus 25
"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Jesus, in Matthew 6:33-34
"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
Micah 6:8
Little by little, I get glimpses of the future, fragments of plans among the oceans of possibility. But more common still is the sense that for the moment I am precisely where I need to be, and my lot at present is to live it out well. There are times of action and movement and change in life-- may we act boldly when required to! But so much of life is to be where we are and to live it well. Tomorrow will come, and we will receive it and make our plans and adjust accordingly, but God has given us only today. What will we do with it?
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The gift of uncertainty
"My part is to receive whatever He gives. Guidance for a decision that need not be final until next Wednesday may require one small move or commitment today. I accept that and act on it without haggling with God because He has not yet granted me all the information I'm itching for. Perhaps patience is His gift of bread for today, or quietness, or the gift of uncertainty, that I may rest in His love, confident that when the time is ripe, the guidance will be clear."
-Elisabeth Elliot in God's Guidance
The gift of uncertainty? I'll be honest, I almost chuckled to myself upon reading that part of the paragraph. But the words that follow confirm that it is, or can be, a gift-- "that I may rest in His love, confident that when the time is ripe, the guidance will be clear." Uncertainty is a gift because it disallows self-sufficiency and forces us to wait on the Lord and to actively trust in Him. I say actively trust to distinguish between this kind of trust and another: the everyday, passive trust where we say we trust the Lord, and maybe we do, but we feel we've got a pretty good hold on the present circumstances and the immediate future. Trust, in that sort of environment, is on the back burner. It's there to fall back on, but it's not terribly relevant at the moment.
When given the "gift of uncertainty," though, trust becomes active. God may not give us tangible steps to take or leading in one way or another. It may be that all we are able to do is to trust Him, and trust becomes the action-- every minute of every day, committing our future into His hands and trusting. Taking worries captive and exchanging them for trust. Letting go of the fallback plan and choosing trust as our only plan. It makes me uncomfortable just to think about it. But when we choose discomfort for Christ's sake instead of the immediate comfort the world has to offer, we are given the opportunity to know God's comfort. I trust it will be worth it.
-Elisabeth Elliot in God's Guidance
The gift of uncertainty? I'll be honest, I almost chuckled to myself upon reading that part of the paragraph. But the words that follow confirm that it is, or can be, a gift-- "that I may rest in His love, confident that when the time is ripe, the guidance will be clear." Uncertainty is a gift because it disallows self-sufficiency and forces us to wait on the Lord and to actively trust in Him. I say actively trust to distinguish between this kind of trust and another: the everyday, passive trust where we say we trust the Lord, and maybe we do, but we feel we've got a pretty good hold on the present circumstances and the immediate future. Trust, in that sort of environment, is on the back burner. It's there to fall back on, but it's not terribly relevant at the moment.
When given the "gift of uncertainty," though, trust becomes active. God may not give us tangible steps to take or leading in one way or another. It may be that all we are able to do is to trust Him, and trust becomes the action-- every minute of every day, committing our future into His hands and trusting. Taking worries captive and exchanging them for trust. Letting go of the fallback plan and choosing trust as our only plan. It makes me uncomfortable just to think about it. But when we choose discomfort for Christ's sake instead of the immediate comfort the world has to offer, we are given the opportunity to know God's comfort. I trust it will be worth it.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Waiting quietly
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for Him."
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him,
to the one who seeks Him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:22-26
For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.
Though He brings grief, He will show compassion,
so great is His unfailing love.
For He does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.
Lamentations 3:31-33
The valley is filled with sorrow and worry at the moment. Grief is almost uniform, with so many people in the church hurting in so many ways. It was striking at the Bible study this morning to discover just how many people had come in the door with heavy hearts, myself included.
But when all of our hopes and plans and the things in which we trust are stripped away, we are left with one question: do we trust God? Faced with trials, will we curse Him or cling to Him? Will we proclaim His goodness or doubt it? We don't have to put on a facade and pretend everything is fine when all is not fine, but will we stand with God as we look at our circumstances and ask our questions, or will we turn on Him and be quick to blame and slow to accept His comfort? He offers it so freely, and it is so good.
for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for Him."
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him,
to the one who seeks Him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:22-26
For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.
Though He brings grief, He will show compassion,
so great is His unfailing love.
For He does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.
Lamentations 3:31-33
The valley is filled with sorrow and worry at the moment. Grief is almost uniform, with so many people in the church hurting in so many ways. It was striking at the Bible study this morning to discover just how many people had come in the door with heavy hearts, myself included.
But when all of our hopes and plans and the things in which we trust are stripped away, we are left with one question: do we trust God? Faced with trials, will we curse Him or cling to Him? Will we proclaim His goodness or doubt it? We don't have to put on a facade and pretend everything is fine when all is not fine, but will we stand with God as we look at our circumstances and ask our questions, or will we turn on Him and be quick to blame and slow to accept His comfort? He offers it so freely, and it is so good.
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