A Time to Trust

There are several things I absolutely love about travelling, but one that I really hate leaves me reeling: the sheer exhaustion that follows. We did some international travel at the beginning of this year and there were times that it physically hurt to keep my eyes open. Rushing to make connecting flights, juggling luggage and children, anticipation turned into adrenaline, and I’m almost ashamed to say that we all curled up on an airport floor to sleep at one point or another. There’s got to be a more accurate definition for the word “tired,” but I haven’t found it yet.

Others of my generation and those who have come before me have experienced another form of travel that is even worse than international travel. Some say that it doesn’t yet exist, but I beg to differ. Time travel does exist and it takes place right under our noses. Like international travel, it, too, leaves me reeling. We just made it through our eldest daughter’s wedding. Talk about time travel and coming out exhausted!

It seems just yesterday that she was racing her little trike down the hall of our apartment, turning on all of her noisy toys, and using the back of my legs for her brakes. From model horses to designer boots; asking for movie money to budgeting her paycheck. Time really does fly. It’s natural for us to want the best for our kiddos, and it’s very hard to imagine that anyone, especially anyone two decades younger, could possibly know what’s best for our daughter – including our daughter.

The night before the wedding, I was trying to distract myself by mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, getting bored with the repetitive posts regarding Covid, riots, and the argument about which lives matter, when I scrolled onto a post from Paul Ellis. He’s a pastor I follow and, while I haven’t read everything he’s written, all that I have read is spot on with scripture. This is what I read on the post:

“Fear for our children can be a form of bondage. At some point we need to come to a place of restful trust in the Lord. We have to choose to believe that he cares for our kids even more than we do.” ~Paul Ellis

The timing for this showing up on my Facebook feed was perfect. God knew I needed to have this lesson reinforced. But this got me thinking about how absurd it all is – my struggle with trusting God with my children. While I know that it should be a no-brainer to trust Him with everything, it is so common to trust in words only… and sometimes not even in words. Why is it that we struggle to trust?

Oftentimes we will attribute to God the flaws we see in our own parents. Growing up, the illustration of God being our Father was often compared to the relationship between parents and their children. It doesn’t work out very well though because parents (all of us) are far from perfect. There have been times I’ve been let down by my parents, times that my parents didn’t mirror Christ – and times I have let my own children down in a similar fashion. While I understand what pastors and teachers (and parents) are trying to accomplish, unfortunately, we aren’t coming out very successful.

In all of the verses that tell us “do not fear…” they seem to be accompanied with a reason why we should not fear. That reason is always along the lines of something God has done, something God will do, or something God has promised to do. He’ll either keep His word or the world will cease (Hebrews 1:3). Since the world is still turning, the sun is still rising and setting, it’s safe to say that God is trustworthy.

While toiling over what I was going to write, going in a dozen different directions with no specific point, I realized that God isn’t someone I can give a specific response for. Yes, He is love, but what does that really mean? For the better part of my life I’ve stood on the belief that actions are stronger than words; love is a verb – it’s action. Psalm 147 does a good job at expressing who God is. Just listing it out, He builds up, gathers, and heals. He numbers and calls the stars by name. He is understanding and He sustains. He covers and He provides. He delights in and He strengthens. He blesses, grants peace, and satisfies. Further, He reveals Himself to His people. All words of action. Trust Him. Two very loaded words.

In II Chronicles 20:20, King Jehoshaphat encourages the people who are facing war from multiple enemies. This is what he says:

“‘Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.'” abridged (NIV)

Trust the Lord and you’ll be upheld and successful. In Genesis, we read that Abraham was credited as righteous because he believed God (Genesis 15:6) Later, in the New Testament, Paul and Silas explain to their jailer that all he has to do to be saved, he and his household, it to believe in the Lord Jesus (Acts 16:31). Trust. Believe. Have faith in.

While I’m exhausted from the wedding weekend, I’m exhausted from the time-travel experience, and I feel unsettled entering into this new normal of life, I’m comforted in that God is still on His throne. He has never left anything undone and even made the ultimate sacrifice to get back that which we so flippantly gave up. He began a good work and will continue it through to completion (Philippians 1:6). I can rest because He labored. I can trust Him with that which is precious to me because He sees the value as far more than I can fathom.

“But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.'” Isaiah 43:1-2 (NIV)