Friday, June 25, 2010

Will you choose to trust Me?

Monitors blinked the stats of life – heartrate, blood pressure, respiration rates. Tubes carried various medications into the still form of my friend, who was standing at the edge of this life and eternity. His family stood round him, some kneeling, some just touching, tears falling quietly. The semi-darkness of that Intensive Care room was very much the ‘shadow of the valley of death.’ Each of us in that room wrestled in our own way to come to grips with the reality of the approaching end of a life. Several asked me if it was right to question God, to wonder why. I affirmed my conviction that our Lord is never offended by an honest question. Yet, He asks us to trust Him, to realize that there are things we cannot know.

Disciple, the most important choice is obedience, even when our world goes awry.
Noah didn’t fully understand the coming flood, but he heard God’s voice and built the ark in faith anyway. Job didn’t grasp the cosmic battle swirling around him. His losses were staggering, his questions many; yet he remained faithful to his Lord.
Jesus questioned His Father if there was another way to accomplish the work of man’s redemption, but committed Himself to the plan saying, “not My will, but Your’s be done!”
Paul went through a terrible time of persecution that caused him to conclude that his death was imminent and he kept the faith! He summarized his response writing "as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:9, NLT)

The question that confronts you and me, in big and small ways, in hospital rooms and corporate offices, in our family room and the hidden corner of our hearts is this: will you choose to trust Me? The Word reminds us that ‘without faith it is impossible to please God.’

Here’s a word from the Word for this day.
"Trust in the Lord and do good.
Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Commit everything you do to the Lord.
Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act." (Psalm 37:3-7, NLT)

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Day By Day - Berg, Carolina Sandell / Ahnfelt, Oscar / Skoog, Andrew

Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Give unto each day what He deems best;
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Ev'ry day the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,
He whose name is Counselor and Pow'r.
The protection of His child and treasure,
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
"As your days, your strength shall be in measure,"
This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in ev'ry tribulation,
So to trust Your promises, O Lord;
That I lose not faith's sweet consolation,
Offered me within Your holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E'er to take, as from a Father's hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.

© Public Domain; CCLI License No. 810055

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