The Accidental Pharisee

Monday, August 11, 2008

Choosing to Trust

"On days when life is difficult and I feel overwhelmed, as I do fairly often, it helps to remember in my prayers that all God requires of me is to trust Him and be His friend. I find I can do that." ~Bruce Larson

I liked the simplicity of this quote.
But, true confession time again: I have not always found trusting God to be that easy.
Maybe it's because I have not always thought of God as my friend.
God, the friend of a pharisee, accidental or otherwise?
I don't think so.
And yet . . .
Was it that God wouldn't be my friend OR was it that I wouldn't let God be my friend? Was it, as someone once said, that my God was too small? Surely a great, big God could be gracious enough to love a pharisee.
If there wasn't enough grace for pharisees, why did Jesus talk with Nicodemus? He was a pharisee, after all.
If there wasn't enough grace for pharisees, then Saul (a.k.a. Paul) would have just kept walking the Damascus road--and never been brought to his knees by the power of a powerfully gracious God saying in an unmistakable way, "I have other plans for your life, Saul."
But back to trust . . .
Life is so crammed to the edges with hardships--mine and others. Sometimes I don't want to check my e-mail or answer my phone or read the headlines because, well, I'd just rather not know.
You know what I mean?
And yet, each conversation with a friend who is hurting or struggling with a physical or emotional heartache is another opportunity to trust God.
I can be overwhelmed by circumstances--and still choose to trust God.

Just Thinking Out Loud: This Accidental Pharisee likes the clarity of black and white--and yet, that is not the world I live in. Truth is, there are parts of God that are black and white--times when God makes complete sense to me. And then there are times when I have no idea why he said "No" to that prayer or "Yes" to that one . . . or why I'm still waiting for an answer.
And I have a choice.
To trust or to not trust God.
Trust is the better place to rest when life isn't making sense.

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