Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. (Isaiah 26:4 NIV)
I experienced a great loss recently. A dream of mine was squashed. A possibility that I was very excited about, a hope that was seemingly tangible dissolved into nothingness with a single phone call. It stung wildly.
Strangely, even in the moment of disappointment, I knew that God was bidding me to trust that He has a greater plan. God often calls us to trust Him in the thick of our struggles -- before anything makes sense. While my heart ached and was weak from the blow, my soul called on God for strength. I needed His strength so I could choose to trust Him. It was not a "gimme". Trusting in this situation was work.
I made a deliberate choice to trust God. It was hard. There were not too many feel-good moments in the choosing. But, ultimately I conceded that God is in control. I am not. It is surely best that way. (Amen?)
Once I chose to trust, I felt God leaning in, wanting more from me. Confused, I prayed and sought His heart. Then I got it! God didn't just want me to trust Him. He wanted me to go a step beyond trusting to thanking. I needed to thank Him. For my loss? Well, kind of. More for my gain...which is God's best for me.
In Jeremiah 29:11, the prophet Jeremiah sent a message from the LORD to the surviving captive Jews that had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. These people were greatly distressed. They were prisoners and slaves in a pagan society facing harsh and seemingly hopeless circumstances. Their futures looked bleak. Their dreams had surely faded.
Yet, God had not forgotten them as they might have thought. In fact, to the contrary, He remembered them and had big plans for them to accomplish in life. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
Is God calling you to trust Him for something today? Or perhaps even go a step beyond trust to thanks? He didn't forget His children, the Israelites, and He surely has not forgotten you. He has plans for your life to bring Him glory. Good plans...plans that are for your best.
Have you ever clung to a dream that failed to turn out as you had planned?
In other Biblical shake-your-head moments, Abraham accepted God's promise as truth. He trusted beyond his circumstances when God told him that Sarah would bear him a son. Romans 4:20-21 tells us that, "Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."
This is a hard one, isn't it? To trust God and keep walking... even when the dreams fade and my faith is weak.
Father, my faith is so small and yet You are so big! Help me to trust You -- even when I don't understand the work of Your hands. I recognize that amazing truth that Your plans for my life are better and higher than any plan I could possibly create. I choose to praise You and to thank You for the good works you have stored in every tomorrow. Help me to recognize the work of Your hand and the love from which those works were created. Today, I lay my dreams at Your feet and ask that what is of You will stand and what is not will fall away! I will praise You and give You glory. I love You Father! In Jesus' name.Amen.
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