Last Saturday the topic of Faith was introduced with the question Faith or Hope? This week topic of Faith is continued with the introduction of Trust and what it means to have Trust.
Here is a little story that explains this simple statement so much better than I can do and certainly in a lot less words.
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Me (Upset): God, can I ask you something?
GOD: Sure.
Me: Promise you won't get mad?
GOD: I promise.
Me (frustrated): Why did you let so much stuff happen to me today?
GOD: What do you mean?
Me: Well I woke up late,
GOD: Yes
Me: My car took forever to start,
GOD: Okay....
Me (growling): At lunch, they made my sandwich wrong and I had to wait
GOD: Hmmmm..
Me: On the way home, my phone went dead, just as I picked up a call
GOD: All right
Me (loudly): And to top it all off, when I got home, I just wanted to
soak my feet in my foot massager and relax, but it wouldn't work.
Nothing went right today! Why did you do that?
GOD: Well let me see..... the death angel was at your bed this morning
and I had to send one of the other angels to battle him for your life.
I let you sleep through that.
Me (humbled): Oh...
GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on
your route that might have hit you if you were on the road
Me (ashamed): ............
GOD: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick and I
didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to
miss work
Me (embarrassed): Oh.....
GOD: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was
going to give a false witness about what you said on that call, I
didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered
Me (softly): I see God
GOD: Oh and that foot massager, it had a short that was going to throw
out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted
to be in the dark.
Me: I'm sorry God.
GOD: Don't be sorry, just learn to trust me.........in all things, the
good and the bad
Me: I WILL trust you God
GOD: And don't doubt that my plan for your day is always better than your
plan
Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, thank you for everything
today.
GOD: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your Father
and I love looking after my children.
Scriptural References: II Samuel 22:31, Proverbs 3:5, Hebrews 2:13
As for God, His way is perfect.
The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust Him.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding.
Hebrews 2:13
And again:
The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust Him.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding.
Hebrews 2:13
And again:
“I will put My trust in Him.”
And again:
“Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.
HATTIP for the story from a dear friend, Janet Davis.
12 comments:
Beautiful!
what a wonderful reminder. SOmetimes, when I'm late getting to my car to get somewhere, I think "Maybe you missed an accident on the corner because you were late....let it go.....you'll get there, God's looking out for you"
I particularly was touched by God saying in the skit that the "death angel" was sitting by the bed and he didn't wake up the questioner because he had have that death angel fought off first...wow. VERY TOUCHING, isn't it.
Thanks, Ticker....there's only one place to put total Trust, isn't there. xx
Thanks for taking time to read and comment. I hope that you have been blessed.
Yes, Z, there is only ONE where we can place our total trust.
Ticker - I am a Person of Really Strong Faith.
The Main Problem I Have Is That I Am Impatient.
Now I know that I am Impatient - but there just doesn't seem to be any cure for that.
And another Problem I have is that I tend to think that I know what the best Plan is for Myself - and worse - for Others.
Ticker - is there any Hope for an Impatient and Intrusive Person like me?
Does Somewhere Out There anyone else have these type of problems?
I've been in four totals without injury and I don't wear a seat belt.
Grace, faith, fate. Impossible to know.
Duck, not impossible to know. Grace, yes for His grace is abundant and is sufficient for us. Romans 5 says: Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
So you see Duck as the Apostle Paul wrote it is faith by which we are justified and through Jesus Christ that we have access to GRACE by this FAITH. Without faith, there is no grace showered upon us.
So surviving crashes Duck without seat belts is a provision of God's grace. Each individual has a portion of faith. Paul says it this way:
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God HAS DEALT TO EACH ONE A MEASURE OF FAITH.
Duck you may deny that you have faith but without "faith " how could you function.
Paul also wrote that is by grace through faith that we are saved(redeemed). So Duck God's grace has kept you from harm. So the question is Where do you place that trust? Only you can answer that.
Thanks for being civil.Come back a visit again, Duck.
There is a "cure" as you put it Sue, for inpatients. That cure is to put total and complete faith and trust in God.
James 1:3-4
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
When we learn to "lean on Him" and not to our own understanding our faith will produce the patience to make us perfect(yes while we say I can't be perfect, we are instructed to strive for that perfection, Being perfect in HIM as he is perfect.
As for our plans being better we have only to look at the screw up's in our lives when we have set God aside and made our own plans. God will allow us to do such just as he allowed Eve to succumb to the temptation of the Devil and for Adam to follow suit. The results were devastating as we know.
Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."
and He had a plan for each of us even before we were born. By giving total control to Him, and that takes Faith for certain, we can allow His will to become our will and then our plans will no longer matter to us. He will provide through his grace,just as I pointed out to Duck.
I am a very impatient person Sue and have to constantly rein in my impatience. The only way I have found that I can do this is through prayer. When I get that "impulse surge" I have to stop and say, Lord is this what I should do. I have found that when I depend on my 'understanding" consequences are not always pretty.
Prayer will keep us out of a lot of undesirable situations and places where we have put ourselves in.
Hope this helps.
We can put our trust in God because He has shown Himself to be faithful. It's a whole lot easier to put our trust and faith in God when we know that we are walking in obedience and righteousness, but what about when we don't feel like we are measuring up? God showed me that when we measure His goodness and blessing by our own goodness and behavior, we err. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. It really is all about Him and His grace and love.
Ducky, it truly is grace that has kept you, but remember that God also said, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Wear that seatbelt and don't give your life over to fate. We all love you, even if you are sometimes a duckbutt. ;)
Thanks Ticker - That does help - especially the 'impuse urge' suggestion.
I acually wrote it down - a I Really appreciate your advice.
Ticker..I doubt that any of us know, really, just how often God has protected us, without our even realizing it. I, personally, have had the experience of making a wrong turn, or not being able to get on the Interstate at the right place while traveling, driving around, and then getting on, only to come across a terrible wreck which had taken place just about the same place I would have been, had I not been lost, or driving around in circles.
Another example:
My husband had applied for a job as plant manager at a major transit bus manufacturing company (Ikarus buses) and thought he had the job. He had even been called for a second interview, and given a tour of the factory, and introduced to employees, in various departments. They had discussed salary, and he had been given a start date, which was to be two or three weeks, later, when they would do the final paperwork.
Just before he was to start, he called them with a question about something, and was told that they had hired someone else, and gave him no further explanation.
We were shocked, to say the least. I even asked my husband how they could get away with doing something like that, and not even notify him, and he said that he didn't know, but they had, and that was that, and he wasn't going to pursue it.
A few months later, a disgruntled employee left work, went home and got a rifle, and came back and shot the man who was hired, instead of my husband, killing him, instantly!
We knew, then, exactly why things happened the way they did. We were not glad it had happened to that poor man, but we realized that it could very well have been my husband had he been hired, and we rejoiced that he had been spared.
We don't always understand why things happen as they do...but we do know that we can trust God in any situation, no matter how dismal things look.
In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:6
I hope this wasn't too long..
Thanks you Nan, as usual you always add what is needed just as you do in my life daily.
Sue, glad it helped.
Jan, thank you so much for sharing and no it was not too long. Sharing the grace and mercy of God is never too long.
I think one of the great discourses on the topic is the filmography of Robert Bresson.
Au Hasard Balthazar
Diary of a Country Priest
("Anyway all is grace")
A Man Escaped
Pickpocket
One of the great directors and possibly a Jansenist. The discussion is still quite active in film circles.
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