journey onWord with us

About this time every two years we all come to the same conclusion: Thank goodness the elections will soon be over. If you and I believed all the advertisements that are paraded before us, there would be absolutely no one to trust. Just last night as a television ad started, I asked my wife to change the channel (it was her turn to have the remote). It doesn’t matter what our political leanings are: by the late evening on the first Tuesday of every election year, we are just glad the elections are complete. But at that moment, we are left to question, “can we trust our leaders?” Wisdom would lead us to pray for our elected officials (even those who are not our favorites), and give them every chance to be proven trustworthy. However, our real trust for life, joy, and hope for this moment and all of our tomorrows, can only rest secure in the Lord.

Trust is a key word in the Christian vocabulary. Most reading this article have trusted Christ as your personal Savior. You probably even live with a conviction that you can trust all of your cares to the Father. Intellectually, the Christian world has a great handle on trusting, but our shared experience of living out that trust is woefully lacking. Make no mistake; we all struggle in this area. Think about what you have staring you in the face this coming week. Do you have a sense of calm that He is in control, or are words like stress, worry, and maybe even frustration, a better measure of your feelings? Take heart, there is hope!

Often, as we look forward, it is easy to be overwhelmed. Admittedly, we cannot fix all of our family problems, work issues, and simply make everyone see life as we do. Nor should we try! But we can trust Him in each moment. It is my feeling that we often look at life with too broad a lens. Any of us can get worn out just considering the next week and all it entails, much less dealing with the associated events and people in our lives. Could it be that the Lord doesn’t want us to manage our lives this way? Hudson Taylor found a secret that may give hope for this week and beyond. In the book, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret we find words that helped change his life.

“Abiding, not struggling; looking off unto Him; trusting Him for present power…”

When we look at tomorrow, life and it’s issues can be overwhelming. Taking a shorter-term view (this moment, this hour, this day) of trusting the Father can be liberating. We absolutely know He will give us all we need in this moment. Trusting Him for present power keeps giving us confidence when it is needed, right now. Two hours from now, or tomorrow morning will come soon enough. But to enjoy, trust and feel confident moment-by-moment can change our perspective from worry to joy. David gave us great words in Ps: 55:22:

Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

Doesn’t it make sense to give Him today’s cares and then trust Him for present power throughout the day? Obviously, planning and having strategies for the future is important. I feel however that the weight of tomorrow is robbing far too many Christians of joy today. We may not know which politicians to trust, but God is absolutely trustworthy. If you have great trust in our God, but are struggling with internal rest, simplify your journey. Trust Him right now for present power, and then tomorrow, trust Him for present power again. And eventually the elections will be over!