Trust

Proverbs 3: 5-8

1 Peter 5: 6-8

Matthew 6: 25-34

Trust

 Some years ago when I was learning to fly, my instructor, Dana Sutton,  told me to put on a parachute for that day’s lessons. I was reluctant to do so, but did as was told. I was not sure I could trust the parachute, and more than that I was not at all sure I could trust myself to bail out if it came to that. I do not like heights when I feel I can fall. 6 feet up on a stepladder is the extent of my comfort zone.

We went up that morning, did some aerobatics, rolls and stuff, which were okay and then all of a sudden Dana put the plane into a steep and extended spin and dive. I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. After another second the engine stalled, and the plane seemed fully out-of-control. It was evident that Dana was not going to help me at all. After a few seconds, which seemed like eternity, my brain began to function again. I quickly corrected the situation as I had been taught. The plane leveled off, the engine restarted.

When I could speak again I turned to Dana and began to vent my frustrations on him. He very calmly said to me, "There is no position you can get this airplane into that I cannot get you out of.  If you want to learn to fly, we will go back up there and we will do it again. And, even if you cannot trust the parachute, you know you can always trust me.”  I did trust Dana. I trusted him with my life.

God tries to tell us the same thing.  "Remember this. As you serve me, if you trust me, you will be all right. You can trust me with your life, now and forever.” Too often we try to depend upon our own parachute and fail to trust the one who is fail proof—one  to whom we can trust our eternal life .

In reflection I find it strange that at that time of my life I was very willing to wholeheartedly place total trust with my physical life to Dana, another fallible human being, and a parachute packed by someone I didn’t even know, but at that same time I was still reluctant to fully trust God who is infallible and can hold my life safely for eternity. Part of it was I wanted to control my own life, rather than be obedient to God’s pull on me.

There is a well loved old gospel song that says, "Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey." There is a reason that the hymn had both words trust and obey. Whoa! We were afraid of that. We don't much like having to obey anybody else. We like to be free to do our own thing.  We cannot be fully obedient to God unless we fully trust him. We cannot fully trust him if we do not truly believe in him.  We have to believe in God’s love shown to us through Jesus, and learn to trust God’s promises, even when things do not look promising, before we will be obedient to his call on our life.

The oldest book of the Bible is Job.  And the first lesson the oldest book of the Bible chronicles is a blistering account of a man’s life in turmoil.  It reveals the tragedy that befalls the most righteous man in the world.   And then, suddenly, when Job is at his lowest point, it shows how God intervenes and equalizes everything that Job has suffered.  

That’s why James said in his letter in the New Testament, “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful”.  God did not undo the tragedies Job suffered but in the end he gave Job an abundant life.

The first message God publicly demonstrated to mankind was that he is completely trustworthy and faithful.  And when we trust God like Job, it supplies a visible witness to the world that God is reliable. Whenever you are tempted to distrust God, pull apart from all the distractions, get quiet, and reflect on his character.

We all go through times in our lives when things look bleak and we are not sure we will find a way out.  Many, if not most of us can have faced situations that appeared desperate.  Myrna and I have faced several situations in our life together when we wondered how we might endure. But looking back on those times we see that through prayer and trust in God, even though we had doubts at times, he guided us, and did not leave us orphaned.  We may have made mistakes, bad choices, but when left to God he turned those situations into something good.  That is God’s grace at work, not our brilliance at packing our own parachute.

The Lord said in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  He pledged through the prophet Isaiah that “though a mother might forget her offspring, I will never forget you.”  Just before Jesus ascended into heaven he said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” These are just a few of God’s promises to us.

We lose loved ones. People lose jobs. Some have physical problems. Others are lonely and depressed. We experience all kinds of troubles. But Jesus says the solution to a troubled heart is trust, and he tells us to trust in 3 things. "First of all, trust in my presence. Secondly, trust in my promises. Thirdly, trust in my person." 

Jesus is always present for us. We know God’s promises are true because of the resurrection. And we can trust in Jesus the person because Jesus was God incarnate.

We must believe in God and in his grace. But belief in God is not enough. The vast majority of people in this country say they believe in God.  Unfortunately, the vast majority do not place their trust in God. That is evident by the situations we see on the news every night, from violence to greed to prejudice to hatred and divisiveness. They all illustrate how most people try to live their lives trusting to themselves and obedient to their own desires. Belief in God is not enough. We must trust him fully, and then work to become obedient to his will for our lives.

Not sure if you have ever heard of a man named Blondin before, but this true story is a good example of trust. Blondin was a 19th century acrobat, famous for his tightrope act 160 feet above Niagara Falls on a rope which was stretched over a thousand feet long.

In 1860 a Royal party from Britain saw Blondin cross the tightrope on stilts, and again blindfolded. After that he stopped halfway and cooked and ate an omelet. Next he wheeled a wheelbarrow from one side to the other, and returned with a sack of potatoes in it. Then Blondin approached the Royal party. He asked the Duke of Newcastle, "Do you believe I could take a man across the tightrope in this wheelbarrow?"

"Yes, I do", said the Duke.

"Hop in, then", replied Blondin. The Duke quickly declined Blondin's challenge. He might have believed Blondin could do it, but he wasn't about to trust him with his life.

When it comes to God, this kind of belief is not much good to him. God is looking for followers who will trust him fully with their lives.

Amen