Trust. The Webster dictionary defines it as “the assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of something or someone. One in which confidence is placed.”
Lately, it doesn’t seem like there is much to put our trust in. Certainly, doctors, our government, media, just about everyone, all seem to have lost credibility. We don’t feel we can trust anyone or anything they say. We trust only ourselves and what we can see and touch. What our minds can grasp and understand. What we can plan for ourselves.
We are Lord and Master of our fate. Even as Christians we struggle in this area. When things are going well, right on our schedule, following our plan, we often see little need for God and think we’ve got it all under control. Right up until we don’t. Plans change. The diagnosis comes in. The job is gone or maybe a Pandemic comes along and changes everything.
And we forget. We forget the God we serve. The God we say we trust. The One, we believe in. We forget His power, His goodness, His faithfulness, His strength, The Truth of who He is. But we aren’t the only ones. The Old Testament is full of the stories of Israel forgetting.
Psalms 78 is a call to Israel to remember God. A call to repent of their doubt. It recounts all the ways God delivered them from Egypt. The signs and wonders He performed on their behalf. How he cared and provided for them all the years in the desert. How He brought them into the very land He had promised the ancestors. And yet, they forgot all this and continued to grumble, complain and doubt.
Verse 22 says “for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance.” Youch. It wasn’t that they didn’t believe there was a God. They believed. They just didn’t believe IN Him. They doubted His ability to provide and care for them. They doubted His goodness. His character. They doubted His strength. And many times we do the same.
This year has been one of constant change, upheaval. Things we took for granted as normal daily occurrences like work, school, shopping, or meeting friends, came to an abrupt stop. Over and over again what we thought we knew was challenged and cast aside. Many times, I’m sure we felt like all we knew was tossed out the door and we were left to pick up the pieces. Everything changed in a moment. Everything that is, except God. He stayed exactly the same. We just forgot.
I had to work through my own doubt and fear earlier in the year when the airline industry was hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Being a Flight Attendant meant that since fewer people were flying, there were fewer flights, and so, fewer of us were needed. Many of us took the unpaid leaves that were offered in hopes of keeping mass furloughs from happening down the line.
One thing this affected was when I was planning to retire. The plan my husband and I had made was to retire in 3 years, together. That would give me the time needed to keep my flight benefits. Something we’ve come to enjoy and rely on to visit family and friends scattered across the country. Now that plan was in question since being out on leave would mean I would need to work longer to make up for the time I was out. Maybe even as much as a year longer. And what about the possibility that the industry wouldn’t recover. What if I lost my job altogether? What then?
I wish I could tell you that I handled this well and I put my full trust in God immediately, but I didn’t. There were many anxious hours and sleepless nights spent with the what if’s running rampant through my mind. I had forgotten, too. Forgotten who really is in charge of my life. Who I can trust and put my full weight on.
Psalms 37:23 says that ‘The Lord directs the steps of the godly, He delights in every detail of their lives.” And Colossians 1:17 reminds us “He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together.”
Did you see that? He’s holding it all together. Not me. I don’t need to come up with a new plan, I just need to trust His plan. Because He is trustworthy. He is faithful. He is able to provide for all my needs. He’s done it every year for the 59 years of my life. Over and over again He’s shown me in countless ways I can trust Him.
And, while I can’t even begin to imagine what surprises 2020 has yet in store for all of us, I do know with all my heart that if I can trust Him with my eternity, I can certainly trust Him with this day.
I pray that same assurance for you, my friend. That you know without a shadow of a doubt that you can put your full weight on Him. He is worthy of your trust. He will never leave you. He will never let you down. You can trust His plan for you.
XOXO,
Shan