trust (again)

Why is it so hard to completely trust God? Why do we as humans think that trust is some sort of ability- a skill that must be honed to perfection before it can be utilized? 


Perhaps it is because it gives us an excuse to avoid using that 'tool' until it has arrived at perfection- which we know will never happen (but that's the point of excuses, isn't it?). So, we never fully trust God because, honestly, we don't think that we think we know how, and we know that we don't know all there is to know about it. Two words: so what?


Why do we have this conception that God only wants us to do what He calls us to if it is in a perfect way? "I shouldn't witness to my co-worker yet; I don't have that one track memorized yet." "I don't want to start reading through that book of the Bible yet- I don't think I have time to read a chapter everyday." Trust me, God would much rather have our co-workers hear the Gospel now than in several months when we have finally gotten around to memorizing that track; God wants us to enjoy reading His word- He doesn't necessarily ask us to hold to the legalism of reading the Bible at a certain time every morning. After all, God opens up opportunities to witness and to read and to love because He wants us to trust HIM in those situations instead of relying on our own imperfections and inconsistencies. 


In the same way, we cannot wait to trust God until we completely understand Him or until we completely understand trust, one, because we never will do either and two, because our God is a god of believing and trusting Him in the NOW. God is trustable whether or not we trust Him, yet He wants a relationship with us that includes trust. 



 "You will keep in perfect peace
    the mind [that is] dependent [on You],
    for it is trusting in You.
  Trust in the LORD forever,
    because in Yah, the LORD, is an everlasting rock!"
                                 -Isaiah 26:3-4


This is one of my favorite verses. God is an unchanging rock- firm and steady and faithful and true. We have no reason NOT to trust in Him today! We should have no doubt that He will continually show us how to trust Him more fully. 
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"Hezekiah trusted in the LORD God of Israel; not one of the kings of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.  He held fast to the LORD and did not turn from following Him but kept the commandments the LORD had commanded Moses."
                                - 2 Kings 18:5-6

oh, just read a book

I was listening to someone talk the other day about how to connect with youth. He recommended certain books and videos for those who aren't often able to observe the radicals frequently. At first, I was slightly offended. The older generations want to learn about my generation- about ME- via generalization and stereotypes in videos and books? They want to learn from a secondary source instead of simply asking any 'youth' what they think about their own culture?

Then I realized that this idea of reading a book or watching a video to constantly build up knowledge instead of acting is nothing new. I mean, I do it practically all the time. I can't go there, do that, talk to that person, etc, because I do not know enough yet. I don't want to ask my friend with a different religion about their religion firsthand because that might be offensive and I don't want to look stupid. I can't try to communicate with the Hispanic at my work place because I need to learn more Spanish first.

Why is that? Why can't I use the knowledge and gifts that God has given me right now, at this moment, to begin impacting the people around me, instead of waiting to feel better equipped?

In John 9, Jesus heals a blind man. The Pharisees question the healed man about Jesus and what he knows about Him, and this is how the conversation continues:


 ²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
 ²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
 ²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
 ²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
 ³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
 ³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

-John 9:25-34

Isn't it amazing that the blind man who was JUST introduced to Jesus' power and goodness understands more about Him than the Pharisees? The blind man physically interacted with Jesus and then understood how He could not possibly be a sinner. The Pharisees, for all their book knowledge and studying, still did not understand this!

May I not be a Pharisee. May I choose to learn directly by interacting with people and touching their lives instead of basing my world view on books that I have read that are written by people I will never meet. The people around me are walking stories that I need to learn to listen to.

Understand, I am not saying that reading books or watching informational videos is a bad thing. But I pray that I never learn to stereotype people, religions, or anything else by what I learn via those resources. Generalization is a dangerous thing. The beggar realized that Jesus wasn't just another sinner because he had an actual encounter with Jesus and was open.

Be open. Make encounters. Change lives. Don't just read books about ideas and religions, ask the people involved directly.

"ONE thing I do know. I once was blind, but now I see."
- the beggar.

I guess that's all I really need to know to effectively change lives.

what if?

What if?

That phrase makes me think of the insurance commercial with Snoopy; the commercial basically assures you, the audience, that if you use this insurance, you will never have to worry about the "what ifs" of life because you are covered and taken care of.

Does that sound like any other scenario to you? I immediately think of my amazing Heavenly Father, who goes to lengths to remind me not to worry because He's got me 'covered' (pardon my extremely bad metaphor). Here are some of my favorite examples:

"This is why I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky...Aren't you worth more than they?" -Matthew 6:25-26

"I look out the window; the birds are composing. Not a note is out of tune or out place. So why do I worry? Why do I freak out? God knows what I need." -Jon Foreman

"So when they arrest you and hand you over, don't worry beforehand what you will say. On the contrary, whatever is given to you in that hour- say it. For it isn't you speaking, but the Holy Spirit." -Mark 10:10-11

"On days when life is difficult and I feel overwhelmed, as I do fairly often, it helps to remember in my prayers that all God requires of me is to trust Him and be His friend." -Bruce Larson

The thing I love about these quotes and verses is that they all point back to the fact that God simply asks us to trust him because He knows what we need and He wants to give it to us. We are not called to look at the "what-ifs" alone. God will provide the food, just as he does for the sparrows; he will provide the words, through the Holy Spirit; and God will provide the friendship so that we are never alone.

We are also supposed to remember God's faithfulness even in our mess ups and overactings and exaggerations:

"What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all!..." -Romans 3:3

God wants to use my worrying and "what if" thinking to turn me to Him and His hope that I would trust Him. Even if I am unfaithful and choose to ignore His friendship and provision, my unfaithfulness does NOT define him. God wants to protect me from worrying because when an all-powerful God rules the universe, placement of control is not a questionable issue.

I once heard a speaker put it the following way: you are holding a quarter in both your hands- covering it completely. Then imagine another set of hands on top of your hands, holding your hands in place over the quarter. We are the quarter. Your heart is the quarter. God is the hands. You and I are so completely protected by God that worrying becomes really quite silly.

I no longer have to think about the "what if"s of life. I am protected and I am cared for. God provides.