Trust in God
Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing alarm you.
While all things fade away
God is unchanging.
Be patient
And you will gain everything.
For with God in your heart
Nothing is lacking,
God meets your every need.
–St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Today at church the Collect for the 12th Sunday after Trinity was read:
Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
This reminded me of that famous snapshot of the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, the Creation of Adam, and an observation a friend of mine made. If you look closer you’ll see that God is fully outstretched, straining every muscle in reaching out to Adam. You can even see His angels pulling him back, like an anchor to keep Him from falling out of Heaven. Meanwhile Adam is reclining, his wrist limp. He could easilty traverse the distance between himself and God, but he is not willing to put forth the effort.
I found myself humbled and convicted as the Collect was read this morning. How unworthy am I to receive anything from God, yet how richly does He bless me?
I just started reading the Gospel of Luke for my devotion time not too long ago, and it is a book I’ve read quite a few times. As I was reading through the first chapter I was moved by Zacharia’s prophecy following the birth of his son, John the Baptist.
I don’t think I’d ever realised how beautiful a description of God it is. How He showed mercy toward his people, how He remembers His covenant, how He offers us salvation and forgiveness “that we…might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.”
But what humbled me the most were verses 78-79. In the moment I read them I understood again the wonderful love of our God.
78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
79 TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Think about God’s tender mercy that caused Him to send His Son into this earth. I love the imagery of the sunrise here because it shines upon the whole earth. That the sun would stretch its beams into the darkness of this world, so we may be led to peace. It does not favor one land or people, but spins its way around the globe. And people now squint into the horizon of new life and find a Savior. A Savior sent because of the tender mercy of our God.
My Bible study ended our semester with a discussion of Jude's epistle to believers. Most of this letter is spent warning his readers about ungodly people and God's response to them. Not good for the ungodly, by the way.
16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts… 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.*
This section hit home for me. I am a critical person by nature, which is good for discerning truth but not always good for people. How often do I fall into complacency, finding fault with people, seeking my own selfish desires? How often do these actions cause divisions? Divisions in community and in friendships. When I am worldly-minded and not being moved by the Spirit, this is where I am, and this is what I'm doing.
Instead of holding up my brothers and sisters with encouragement and prayer, I tear down with grumbling and selfishness. Instead of being filled with the Spirit, I am filled with arrogance and worldly cares.
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.*
Too often I get caught up in trying to live my life and do God's work without God. Instead of building myself up on faith, I build myself up on my accomplishments or on how much other people like me. Prayer takes a backseat to busyness and lethargy. I do not always endeavor to act in and out with God's love, and am cynical and unkind.
But here is the key:
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy;*
It is never anything I do that makes me right with God. It is never anything I do that accomplishes anything for the kingdom of God. The solution is not to live a better life, but to trust that God can sanctify me. To understand that He keeps me from stumbling, He is the reason that I stand before His glory blameless. He is the reason I have joy.
As a Christian, I must abide in the love of Christ. And this means placing my cares and my focus upon Him. Not worrying about money or whether people like me, etc., but falling to my knees and fellowshipping with my Creator and Savior. The more this happens, the closer I walk with God. If I am letting God have His way with me, then my complacency and selfishness are dispelled and people are built up instead of torn down. When His love fills me, it is sent out to the world through me. This is the only way I truly love my brother.
Please pray that I will spend more time in the presence of God, and that I will be always full of His love.
*All Biblical references taken from NASB
This past Sunday, one of the Psalms read was Psalm 4. Well this one was kind of sung actually, but that's another story.
A few of the verses really hit home with me:
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the LORD.
6 Many are saying, "Who will show us any good?" Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD!
7 You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound.
I find that too often I am stressed out about finances, especially recently. Starting a grad program this summer is sinking me further in debt and sometimes I wonder what I'm doing. Trying to live a normal life on a shoestring budget is often exhausting and I just get tired of cutting corners on everything. And with the dollar's recent downward trend, I have even more corners to cut.
I'm almost 28 years old. I have no savings, no retirement plan, student loans leftover from undergrad, nothing to fall back on. My mom bugs me about not getting married, but I think, how could I possibly support a family when I can barely provide for myself? Anytime I want to do something like travel or pay the registration fee for softball, I am relegated to eating mostly peanut butter sandwiches for a few months.
But then I read this Psalm, and I know that I need to be more diligent about trusting in the Lord. But more than that, verse 7. The joy that God puts in my heart is greater than the joy of having plenty. Think about that for a second. How much of our lives revolves around acquiring money? How much do you worry about it? Isn't it odd that it never seems to matter exactly how much money you make either? It could be $20,000/year or $100,000/year. Either way you're still worrying about how to make ends meet.
So really I should be seeking God and the joy He brings instead of worrying about the future and how I'm going to pay for it. Being content with what I have and being anxious for nothing is the key to joy, so why is it that I so crave the comfort of a stable income?
God has never let me go hungry. He has always provided my every need, but often instead of using that as evidence to trust Him I find that my doubt persists. I think my doubt persists because I know that I am unable to meet my needs, and that is a bit of a scary place to be. Either God comes through or He doesn't, and if He doesn't I'm living on the street. The thing is though, He always comes through. So I should just get used to expecting that.
Sounds simple, right?