Trusting to Lean
At that time Jesus, full of joy through
the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to
little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. Luke 10:21 (NIV)
Have
you ever watched a small child transition from the infantile state of total
dependence to relative independence? As he/she learns to dress themselves,
brush their teeth and so on, they develop an attitude that declares, "I
can do it myself!" This attitude, encouraged by parents and reinforced by
a culture that prides itself on its own resourcefulness, can become a
stronghold of self-reliance. And self-reliance shuts out God.
Here
the disciples were happy that they could drive out the demons heal the sick and
work miracles among the people.
And
they knew that they were able to do all this because they did it in Jesus’
name (10:17). But
Jesus wants them to continue this faith even when things won’t be as they
desire. He is on his way to take up the cross and the disciples too will have
to take cross in their journey.
Many
of us lose faith when life’s hard circumstances make no sense and God fails to
intervene as we think He should. It’s easy to begin depending on our own best
thinking when we lose heart in expecting God to answer our prayers. Trusting
God, when our path in life grows muddy, is not an easy task. The mud of
weariness, busyness and hurt can cause us to trip and even fall. We wonder how
we will ever get up again. Faith can feel like a thread that threatens to
break.
Trusting
God with our lives, even when it makes no sense, is to choose to grab hold of
the pearl of wisdom. We must be deliberate in choosing to cling to it. There is
great wisdom and reward in depending on our God even in the silence.
Maintaining
that vital connection to God is a choice. Step by step, through the fog on our
pathway, we can choose to trust that God has our best interest at heart and
lean on His strength to get us through our day, or we choose to shrug Him off
with little expectation and lean wearily on our own understanding.
This
day let us choose to Trust not like an independent child of this generation but
like a dependent child of yesteryear's.
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