Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Just Trust

 


Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6

 

Do I trust you?  One of my favorite stories years ago was about a little girl named Starla Chapman, who was once stricken with cancer.  There were two things that brought her joy; God and the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.  On the night before she was to undergo chemotherapy, she uttered these two words to her parents.  Just trust.  She was only three years old, but clearly, she understood there was a higher power involved.  One might ask how could a three-year-old understand God better than others particularly at a time like that.  God after all gave us a wonderful mind for which we can use the process of deduction, put together ideas, be informing, and numerous other things.  With all this, could we be trusted to know what God needs us to know?  Then I remembered what Jesus said about children.  “Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.”” (Matthew 18:3) The heart of this verse (become like little children) referred to dependency and trust.

 

Being a servant of God deals with our ability to trust in Him and His word.  One of my favorite bible verses comes from 2 Corinthians 5:7, where Paul says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (KJV) The reason it has always resonated with me is that it explains what many people would not understand.  We choose to believe in God’s existence unequivocally and without question even though we have never physically seen God nor heard Him speak literally to us.  In a world that creates false heroes and imaginary people for relationships, one could certainly understand the world’s skepticism.  This is where our own understanding can be a stumbling block.  Logic would dictate I have not seen Him, thus, how can He exist?  No one has ever come from the grave.  How could Jesus?  We could continue to go down this path of deductive reasoning to ultimately stop to say God cannot exist.

 

But our experiences with God teaches us how real He is for there are so many testimonies as to how He just showed up where no other explanation makes sense.  How many of you have heard these testimonies?  “I was at rock bottom, I had nowhere to go, I was ready to give up,” are among many of the opening stories about where God found someone.  Each of those stories end with, “I have a brand-new life, God brought me home, and now I live for Him.”  There is no doubt that despite what people have said about God, no one can create true life transformation like Him.  None of us can admit to truly understanding that, but deep to our core we know it is true.  It is why when then atheist questions my faith, I simply remind them that God is not just one thing or experience.  He is a lifelong relationship that is a constant.  He is always with me, and as the verse says, “Make your paths straight.”  Ask the drug addict or alcoholic who turned their life to God or the homeless person having found a job and apartment to live at. What about when one needed a miracle, and then God delivered abundantly in their favor.  It is hard to imagine from the outside what God can do, but for those of us who know Him, we accept and submit to Him unconditionally not because of our understanding.  Instead, it is because of how He shows up not only consistently but also without fail

 

Trusting God is as important an aspect of our faith as loving Him.  We often hear loved ones say, “If you love me, you will trust me.”  Many times, that is done to manipulate others, but if you love someone, why would it be necessary for that to be said?  God is faithful to His word, and through our journey of faith, He has proven repeatedly just how committed He is to us.  Why would we have doubts now?  Let us trust Him and be worry free for as Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing,” (Matthew 6:25) Where does God require more trust from you?  What causes you to question God’s faithfulness today?  My prayer is that when we have questions or doubts about our situation, we follow little Starla's example and simply 'Just Trust.'  Amen,

 

Starla’s story: https://www.espn.com/college-football/bowls12/story/_/id/8812751/aj-mccarron-special-bond-starla-chapman-college-football

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