The Bible is a book of repetition. The same message is vehiculated in different ways all with the hope that it will sit in our hearts and produce fruit. I often wonder how slow we can be for God to repeat the same thing over and over and over again. The irony in all this is that we usually think we got the message the first time and believe we don’t need to be repeated the same thing again and again but then a situation arises, and our reaction remains unchanged revealing then that we never understood the message. Truly, we ought to be humble when we come before the Ancient of days, when we approach the uncreated God who created all things. This week, as I was meditating on God’s ways we us, I realised that it is a process. Unlike us, God is never in a hurry. He does not rush things off to get them completed because time is of essence, nor does He get pressured by anyone or anything including our petitions to do something. He is God alone and He does all that He pleases in His time (Psalm 115:3). Everything has a set time and the sooner we, His creatures realise that, the better (and maybe easier) it will be for us as we submit to His process. I will be the first to admit that one of the most frustrating ways in this process of God is our inability to trust in Him and wait for Him even when we know He is good. This post, rather than seeking to give you a cookie-cut answer on how to trust in the LORD with all your heart simply encourages you to try again.
There are not many ways humans are wired to trust another one except by learning about the other person, being around them and testing them in their lives. Our relationship with the LORD is not any different. The more we get to know Him through the reading of His words, the singing of His words, the meditating of His words, the eating of His words, the more our trust or “faith muscle” as a preacher puts it grows. You see, there is no formula for trusting the LORD, it is simply to abide in Him. The more we abide in Him, the more our faith in Him grows. Consequently, the more we run away from Him or are far away from Him, the more our distrust grows. What I am saying now is not new knowledge for many, yet many do not do that. Where in lies our issue? I suspect it is in ourselves. When Jesus commanded us to abide in him, he meant it for real. He knew that apart from him we could do no good and he also knew we were no good either (John 15:5). This saying of Jesus as he was going to die is one we hear as an exhortation or an encouragement, but I believe we should hear it as a command of utmost importance. The type we know our lives depends on because it actually does. Jesus was basically telling us that if we want to live, we should remain in him, not in our problems, our circumstances as tragic as they may be, but in him. Many of us don’t even stop to think about Jesus when we go through hardships, we just go into auto-fix mode where we try to resolve the issue at hand before even thinking that we could have called upon the LORD. These are the types of habits the book of Hebrews calls us to lay aside as we run the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1). The Bible patriarchs who prospered in their faith are the ones who always remembered to bring God into the forefront of their issues.
Think of Jeremiah, called at a young age to be a prophet to the nations. In fact, Jeremiah was told by God that he was known by God before he was even in his mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5). This goes to show that Jeremiah was called by God before the world including him even got to know. In accepting this call of God upon his life, Jeremiah went through difficult times with his own people. You see, Jeremiah was a “prophet of doom”, everything he preached was just fatality upon Jerusalem and Judah, God’s own people. Whenever the people wanted to hear the word of the LORD, if it came from Jeremiah, it was always “judgement” or “destruction of Jerusalem”, in a nutshell, nothing pleasant. Obviously, such messages became heavy for the people who ended up hating Jeremiah to the point of wanting him dead (Jeremiah 26:8). Jeremiah’s life must have been very lonely life seeing that he was likely not invited to places since he only had “bad” words for Jerusalem. Many, even fellow prophets and priests saw him as someone who did not want the welfare of Jerusalem but its destruction. I cannot begin to imagine the level of trauma Jeremiah went through, the pain he incurred for wanting to live a normal life and not being able to do so. It is evident that this journey was difficult and took a toll on him. As he says “O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction” (Jeremiah 20:7-8). This “speaking in the name of the LORD” happened for more than three decades if not four as some scholar estimate. However, what I want you to note is that Jeremiah went to the LORD with his difficulties, with the tragedies of his life and laid them there. Moreover, he did not give up but kept on speaking in obedience to the LORD. The LORD was Jeremiah’s refuge even when he did not understand what the LORD was doing, Jeremiah abode in the LORD. Jeremiah had the word of the LORD to sustain him when his very foundations were shaken (can you imagine being treated like a criminal by your mentors or people you look up to and who are more advanced in the LORD’s work for doing what God told you to do?). The beauty of the Bible is that it was written for our edification, that through the lives of others we would learn from their mistakes, see that our case is not a unique one and know that the LORD can still be trusted. That is why the lives of the biblical characters are recorded “as-is” with all their flaws, mistakes and wins. As Romans tells us “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
As I was reflecting about my life and what I have seen going on, it dawned on me that God’s modus operandi is my learning and understanding. He wants me to learn from the world around me, from people’s struggles, from what He brings my way. It is up to me to accept my “lot” knowing that I did not choose Him, but He choose me and appointed me to go and bear fruit, and not any type of fruit, fruit that will last (John 15:16). Trusting in God requires that I hold on to His love for me which was displayed in Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. You see, the greatest expression of God’s love that exists is Him sending His one and only son Jesus, who was without sin, perfect in all his ways to become the sacrificial lamb that was needed to take away our sins. In dying on the cross in our place, Jesus made us friends with Him and with the Father. He cleansed us from all unrighteousness and gave us access to the presence of God (1 John 1:9). Unlike Jeremiah, we do not need any sacrifice to enter the presence of the LORD because Christ has made the sacrifice that was necessary. Moreover, unlike Jeremiah, we have a better picture of what God was planning to do, we now know what His salvation looked like and we can better trust His future plans. I do not know what you are going through and what is making you want to “throw in the towel” or doubt the love of God for you but let me tell you, the love of God is wide, long, high, deep and surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:18). It is that love that sustains you, that love that brought the reconciliation that you and I needed as sinners and enemies of God who deserve punishment for our actions. It is that love that help us abide. As the hymn says
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.”
May you take a moment daily to do just that in the midst of your trials. Amen.
A Word Aptly Spoken 