The whys of life...and TRUST

I love Google.  I am interning at Channel 8 this semester, and one of my responsibilities is to monitor the switchboard/front desk for an hour on the days that I’m there.  This morning, a gentleman called and asked me for a number which I had no earthly idea how to locate.  I calmly asked him to wait while I pulled up Google, typed in the equivalent of How am I supposed to find a contact number for this company? and within I had the desired digits. 

My addiction to Google may borderline on pathetic, but it helps me explain things I can’t understand.  It gives me answers when I don’t have the right ones.  Tonight, I don’t have a lot of answers.  I don’t know why something called cancer exists.  I don’t know why it can break the youngest and the best.  I don’t know why it is about to take the life of one of my friends…unless God chooses to act and work the miracle I selfishly long to see.  

When my roommate Cheyenne called me this afternoon and gave me the update on our friend's rapidly declining condition, all I could think was Why?  The above whys and many others started swirling around in my head.  I didn’t have answers to them, and I knew I couldn’t find them on Google.

I’m at work tonight, and the tornadoes in the area have kept all the smart people in Knoxville away from the gym.  The quieter-than-usual atmosphere has given me the chance to pray…and think.  I’ve thought about why I have so many whys, and why I probably won’t get all the answers to them this side of heaven.

When it comes down to it, the remedy for the unanswered why’s of life is found in TRUST.  Trust in God.  Trust in Jeremiah 29:11 – even when everything around us is screaming that it can’t be true.  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.  Trust is making the choice to believe this, even when your head – and maybe everyone around you – is screaming out that you shouldn’t.  

Can you guess what I did when I started meditating on the word trust?  Yep…I Google-ed.  And my bff provided the following definition from Merriam-Webster: an assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. 

In hindsight, it’s always amazing how God prepares those He loves for the day ahead…whatever it may bring.  The Jesus Calling devotional I am reading this year had the following quote for today’s passage: The level of peace you experience corresponds with the level of trust you have in Me.  

Trust.  Reliance that is assured, steadfast, on the unchanging, constant character of God.  Reliance on His strength and power.  Reliance in the truth that He is acting out of a love for His children that cannot be measured.  Reliance in the truth that He is acting in their best interest…even though it doesn’t look like it at the moment.  

Here’s another definition for trust that Merriam-Webster provided: something committed or entrusted to one to be used or cared for in the interest of another.

Did you catch that?!  We can entrust our faith, our hope, our love to our Father because He is trustworthy.  He won’t manipulate our trust or take advantage of it.  He will guard it, and it will ultimately serve in our best interest.  

Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:6,7)

The peace He provides – which we experience in correspondence with the amount of trust we place in Him – is unexplainable.  It transcends all human understanding.  We won’t be able to fathom why we have it when everything around us is screaming that we shouldn’t.  

But we can.  No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in the middle of, He is greater.  His peace extends to the most violent, most devastating of them all and longs to encompass us.  All we have to do is trust Him.

What's Your Birthright?

Hey friends!

I felt the urge to write down  the following ramblings from my quiet time the other morning.  I pray some of it will be relevant to whatever you're going through this week, or this season of your life!  Enjoy them...and enjoy this WEDNESDAY from the WORD!

“Is not the Lord your God with you?  And hath He not given you rest on every side?  For He hath given the inhabitants of the land into Mine Hand; and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before His people.  Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God…” – 1 Chronicles 22:18-19

My favorite song by Casting Crowns is Who Am I?  Take a moment to read these beautiful lyrics:

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name

Would care to feel my hurt

Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star

Would choose to light the way

For my ever wandering heart…

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin

Would look on me with love and watch me rise again

Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea

Would call out through the rain

And calm the storm in me?

Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You are.

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

Vapor in the wind

Still You hear me when I'm calling

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling

And You've told me who I am

I am Yours. 

Hearing this song and reading the verses from 1 Chronicles this morning, I was reminded of the following passage from Psalms: “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places…Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” – Psalm 16:6,11

Solomon must have felt awed by what his father, King David, told him.  Because of David’s tireless work and great effort, Solomon was able to live in peace and focus his attention on building the House of God.  Because David had battled and fought great wars, Solomon was able to live in peace.  I’m sure Solomon must have wondered, “Why me?  Why have the lines fallen for me in such pleasant places?  Why am I the lucky one?”

On the flip side, I wonder what David thought.  “As hard as I’ve served the Lord; as close as I am to Him; as much as He calls me a man after His own heart; why not me?  Why have I not been chosen for this great task?”  David might have had these passing thoughts, but his actions revel that he didn’t dwell on them (1 Chronicles 22:14-16).   Instead, he did everything in his power to help Solomon, making his son’s task as easy as possible.

In church this past Sunday morning, my Pastor discussed the text from Genesis 25:29-34, where Esau despised his birthright and sold it to his brother Jacob for a single meal: lentil stew and bread.  For instant gratification that lasted only a few minutes, Esau gave in the lifelong blessings and privileges of his birthright.  Pastor Dan explained that we, as children of God, likewise have a Christian birthright.  We are privy to the riches and rights of our Heavenly Father! (Romans 8:17) In addition, we each have a spiritual birthright, a spiritual gift that God has specially endowed to each of His children.  For some it might be ministry; for others it might be a career; the list can go on and on.

But each of us is guilty of following in Esau’s steps.  We have succumbed to our hunger pains; desiring fulfillment in the moment, we have been willing to give up whatever our birthright is for our own version of lentil stew.  Satan knows what our weak points are.  They look different for each of us, and he want use the weakness of person A to tempt person B.  He is much to cleaver for that (1 Peter 5:8).  Because of that, we must constantly be on guard, never naively assuming we are above falling into sin and capable of trading in our God-given birthright. 

I encourage you to prayerfully consider what God has given you.  What is he calling you to today, this semester, this year…for your lifetime?  Claim that birthright.  God is fighting for you; and if He is on your side, nothing and no one can get in your way (Psalm 46:1-3, Romans 8:31)!  What a promise!

You might be like Solomon.  Your life may look beautiful and carefree.  Thank God for that, and use your smooth life for His glory.  Or you might be like David.  You life might be full of wars and battle scars.  Don’t resent God for them, and don’t resent the “Solomons” around you for their bump-less lives.  Whatever your birthright is, whatever God is calling you to, trust that He in His sovereignty has lovingly and carefully selected that for you.  Who are we to know what that is, what our life should look like?! 

I had dinner with my dear friend Allison last night.  As I was sharing with her my current frustration with my convoluted life, and how confused I was that none of my jobs and internships to date made sense with my future career goals, she said this to me: “God may want you to serve Him for the rest of your life doing odd jobs rather than having a prestigious, lifelong career.  That may be how He is most glorified through you.  And don’t rob Him of His glory!”

Wow.  I’m still in the process of digesting that, of taking it all in.  One thing I do know:  I don’t want to rob God of His glory, the glory I am privileged enough to play a part in.  And whatever He is calling me to that brings Him glory, that’s what I want to do. 

Father, give me the strength to do nothing as I let you be God (Psalm 46:10).  Give me the peace to rest in You with open hands – resting in Your plan as You take or put in them whatever you see fit.