When life throws you a curveball

Trusting in the Lord is what the Christian should do. There is no other way around it. The fact that the bible repeats it often also means it is not the norm yet it is crucial if we want to live under the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Something that I have come to notice is that trusting in the Lord presupposes that things will not go your way and you should be okay when that happens, hence the trusting. Sayings like “Trust in the Lord” or “The Lord knows best” or “Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you…’” are very common in Christian circles and often easier said than done. Because we are by nature creatures of control – after all, we were created for dominion over all other creatures of the earth except our own kind but sin perverted that original drive (Genesis 1:28) – we tend to react instinctively by wanting to fix the situation ourselves instead of relying on someone else to fix it for us. Even in cases where we know we cannot fix a situation ourselves, we will go where there is help as a last resort because of our pride and our lack of vulnerability. The bible makes it very clear for us that we are not righteous people, we are quite the opposite. By nature, we are objects of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) which means the wrath of God is upon us from the very beginning of our lives on this earth and if that’s our condition, it’s only natural that we default to doing what is contrary to God’s design for us, like trusting Him. Fortunately, through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection, those who have believed in his redemptive work on the cross are no longer objects of wrath but objects of mercy and they can live in obedience to the Lord. Granted, our default my still be to be in control but the Spirit of God living in us will prompt us to trust and obey. In today’s post, my goal is to remind us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and to lean not on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6) no matter the curveballs life throw at us by looking at the life of Paul from his letters.

If there is a disciple of the Lord Jesus whose life was impressive before and after Christ, it is certainly the life of Paul. Being a zealous Pharisee, he loved the Lord and made sure he followed the Lord with all his heart. He was so zealous for God (or so he thought) that he persecuted the early church, ensuring followers of Christ like Stephen were martyred. However, as God would have it, Jesus met with Paul on his way to Damascus as he continued his quest to extinguish this new cult called the way that was tainting Jewish customs and laws. That encounter Paul had with Jesus changed his life forever and for the better. He became a completely different person, he went from being a murderer to one who submits himself to the very person he was persecuting. I believe Paul understood firsthand what the grace of God means and how vast His love is for sinners. It is on this understanding that Paul decided to give his all to the Lord. Indeed, his trust in the Lord was unwavering. The moment Paul realized that a sinner like him was given a second chance, and not just a second chance, he was given life eternal, yes, when he realized that nothing could separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus, he obeyed and never looked back. Despite knowing that in every city he would have trouble and hardships awaiting him as warned by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:23), Paul kept trusting and walking in obedience. Not once do we see a Paul walking in disobedience! This is quite remarkable. Paul took his assignment of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles very seriously, in fact, for him it was an honour and it was a matter of life and death. Not once do we hear of Paul begging the Lord to send him to a town where he would not face hardship, nor do we hear him pleading with God to take his life because he couldn’t bear it anymore. When you read through Paul’s letters, you only read thankfulness and joy particularly in the midst of difficulties. When his companions deserted him, though it was painful, Paul continued to trust the Lord’s leading. When faced with loneliness, Paul trusted the Lord. How about when he was misunderstood by other Christians or hated by false teachers? Even in those circumstances, Paul continued to trust in the Lord. Although Paul knew he was to preach to the Gentiles, he trusted the Lord to lead him to the places he should go. And in all his letters, he encouraged the church to do the same, that is, to not look at our present circumstances as defining moments but rather to continue to fix our eyes on the Lord. As I’m reading through Paul’s letters, I want to highlight two actions we can take to ensure we are trusting the Lord.

First, we ought to know the Lord we are trusting in. Just like Paul, we need to recognize the might of God, we need to recognize His holiness, we need to understand his sovereignty and power over everything, we need to believe that He exists and believe in His characters and attributes such as: love, faithfulness, patience, justice, self-sufficiency, jealousy, glory, etc. Our foundation must start with God. After all, He is the beginning and all things that were created were created by Him and for Him (Genesis 1:1, Colossians 1:16) which means He knows all things. Not only that, if He did not spare His own Son to save us all, how will He not also with him graciously give us all things (Romans 8:32)? This is the understanding we need to have about the God that has rescued us from the bondage of sin and self to bring us to life abundantly in His Son. I believe when this truth about God is understood and locked in, trusting and obeying the Lord is not a difficult thing to do. Indeed in that light, His commands become delightful, we then learn to count it all joy to suffer for His Name’s sake and we rejoice to have been found worthy to suffer for Him.

Secondly, we ought to be rooted and built up in Christ, strengthened in the faith and overflowing with thankfulness as Paul tells us in Colossians (Colossians 2:7). The words used give the image of firmness, being established, unmoved, unshaken. Paul is telling us that Christ should be our “firm foundation”. This is a continuous action, it is not something we can do only once and check it off our task lists to pat ourselves on the back but it is a daily act until we leave this earth. This is something we must be diligent in, disciplined in and serious about. The stakes are very high, failure to being rooted in Christ will lead us into sin and into the arms of our enemy, the very thing that Christ rescued us from. Essentially, we ought to build our lives on Christ and sticking to the truth of his word. The question is, how do we build our lives on Christ? To make it simple, I believe it is by being intentional about everything that pertains to us including what we do, where we go, where we live, who we marry, how we care about our finances, what church we go to, how we work, etc. Basically by becoming intentional to include Christ in every single thing we do whether for fun, necessity or other reasons. It often surprises me that the same principles we apply in our mundane lives we are incapable of applying in our walk with the Lord. For example, when you see an entrepreneur who has a goal of making it, whether by starting a company or any other venture, something that is common is that the entrepreneur will often be intentional about where his time and energy go. He will focus on and engage in activities that will help him get to his goal. Similarly, when we want to change careers or grow in our careers, we either apply to jobs in the field of our interest or we go pursue further education to get into the field of our interest. Just as we are intentional about the things we want in our life, we should be intentional about being rooted in the Lord. Our intentionality can begin by simply setting time aside to read our bibles, or to pray more or to surround ourselves with brothers and sisters that are likeminded. I am convinced it is not what to do that is our problem, we know what to do, it is simply our elevated love for this world and our flesh that causes us to forfeit Christ.

My plea to us would be to not love the world for those who love the world are enemies of God (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15) and the world’s love is ephemeral and leads to death. This world is not our home so whatever curveballs it throws at us, we can stay the course or “keep calm and carry on” because our Master has taken care of everything. It is finished indeed! Amen!