When you come to serve the Lord,
stand in justice and fear,
prepare yourself for trials.
Be sincere of heart and steadfast,
incline your ear and receive the word of understanding,
undisturbed in time of adversity.
Wait on God, with patience, cling to him, forsake him not;
thus will you be wise in all your ways.
Accept whatever befalls you,
when sorrowful, be steadfast,
and in crushing misfortune be patient;
For in fire gold and silver are tested,
and worthy people in the crucible of humiliation.
Trust God and God will help you;
trust in him, and he will direct your way;
keep his fear and grow old therein. (Sir 2:1-6)
Trust.
It goes against everything we have learned, does it not?
When we were very young, we began to learn the lesson that, if we wanted something to be done, we would have to rely on ourselves. We may have been taught that, if we relied on others, we were weak.
It seemed to be true. There may have been times when we trusted someone else to get something done for us or to be there for us only to be left high and dry. Those times just reinforced the notion that we would be better off going it alone.
But that is not what we learned in church. There, we have always been told to trust in God. When we place our trust in others — whom we can see — and find that trust broken, it becomes increasingly difficult to trust God whom we cannot see.
That, truly, is the dilemma of life.
However, the plain and simple truth is that we will never get anywhere in our faith lives (or in our earthly lives, for that matter) until we place our total trust in God. He will lead us through the chaos that this world throws at us and He will guide us gently and safely home to Him.
Trust God.
FAITH ACTION: Place your trust in the Lord and ask Him to give you direction for this day.